During a recent appearance on the One America News Network’s “The Rick Amato Show,” Bishop Council Nedd II, a longtime member of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Project 21 black leadership network, said: “If the election of President Obama is somehow some sort of fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream, you know, maybe, at this point, Dr. King’s dream has become a nightmare. A horrible nightmare that’s sort of run amuck.” Nedd added: “There are hurting people in this country right now. There are a lot of people upset. There are a lot of people who are ill at ease for a variety of different reasons which, in my opinion, all fall on President Obama’s lap…”
Ah, Black conservatives. What would right-wing America do without them?
Read the full story below or @ http://truth-out.org/...
Black conservatives are consistent guests on the Fox News Channel; when the Religious Right and/or secular right needs to add some color to one of their gatherings, they call a Black conservative to the podium; Black conservatives have aligned with Christian Right organizations, leading the charge against Obamacare and same-sex marriage. When it comes to condemning police misconduct, there’s hardly a word from any of the better known Black conservatives.
In time for the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and the national holiday in his name, the Black conservative organization, Project 21, a project of the National Center for Public Policy Research, issued a Press Release titled “Black Conservatives Available to Discuss Importance, Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
The press release provides a series of quotes from the organization’s stable of Black conservatives, and invitation to media outlets to line them up for guest appearances.
The National Center for Public Policy Research
First, a word about Project 21’s sponsor, the National Center for Public Policy Research http://www.nationalcenter.org/. Founded in 1982, the self-described conservative think tank is headed up by its longtime president Amy Ridenour. NCPPR has been involved in a number of controversial scandals including one involving mega lobbyist Jack Abramoff and another involving former Texas Representative Tom “The Hammer” DeLay.
(For more on the DeLay affairs, see “Tom DeLay’s Right Arm: Inside the National Center for Public Policy Research, a right wing foundation DeLay calls ‘the Center for conservative communications’” @ http://www.dissidentvoice.org/....)
The disgraced lobbyist Abramoff sat on the organization’s Board of Directors, and involved the organization in his lobbying activities. According to a Wikipedia entry based on the testimony given by Amy Ridenhour before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, “In October 2002, Abramoff directed the Mississippi Band of Choctaws to give $1 million to NCPPR, and then told Amy Ridenour to distribute the funds to Capital Athletic Foundation ($450,000), Capitol Campaign Strategies ($500,000) and Nurnberger and Associates ($50,000). In June 2003, Greenberg Traurig, the firm that employed Abramoff, sent $1.5 million to NCPPR, of which Ridenour distributed $250,000 to Capital Athletic Foundation and the remainder to Kay Gold LLC, both controlled by Abramoff. Ridenour said in testimony that she believed Abramoff co-conspirator Michael Scanlon was the owner of Kay Gold (Kaygold).”
NCPPR is a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, a network aimed at "dispelling the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific, and risk analysis."
In 1992, the organization established Project 21, which, in 2005, was described by The Nation magazine as “a crucial gear in the right’s propaganda factory. Without [Project 21, its] cadres would probably be at home screaming at the TV. But instead, they’re on TV."
Black Conservatives speak
The purpose of this column is to provide you with a sampling of what Project 21-related Black conservatives are thinking and saying about issues facing Blacks in the US. To be fair, the quotes below are only a small window into their thinking, and are particularly controversial enough to hopefully spark mainstream media interest because of their defamation.
There’s a fair amount of talk about the “great strides” that have been “made in race relations and providing educational and employment opportunities for all”; a heck-of-a-lot of bashing longtime civil rights leaders for their “racial divisiveness,” their creating of a “racial grievance industry,” “bastardizing his mission” and their “huffing the fumes from a bygone era”; the gratuitous slam at President Obama for “champion[ing] special rights for Hispanics crossing our southern border and gays seeking to marry, rather than truly protecting civil rights and ensuring our borders are secure”; and more than a fair amount of hypothesizing about, and/or reinterpreting, MLK Jr.’s words and intentions, to meet their ideological bent.
“The holiday celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King should cause us all to pause and reflect on his historic importance. One of Dr. King’s most important contributions was that he exhorted Americans to resist the gravitational pull of racial identity and famously challenged us all to value the content of character above skin color,” said Joe R. Hicks, a Project 21 member and former executive director of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
“Some contemporary ‘race leaders’ seek to limit Dr. King’s legacy by ghettoizing his impact and identifying him as a black leader. But he was far more than that. He was a great American leader. The value of his wise counsel has outgrown racial limits. Dr. King’s historical contributions stand in stark contrast to the racial divisiveness of today’s self-proclaimed black leaders. In a nation that has passed them by, they now stand as redundancies — living in the shadows of great men such as Dr. King while huffing the fumes from a bygone era.”
“I find myself constantly wondering what Dr. King would think of the current state and condition of America. Clearly, great strides were made in race relations and providing educational and employment opportunities for all. Watching the current devolution of civility, however, I wonder if Dr. King’s dream has become a nightmare,” said Bishop Council Nedd II, the rector of St. Alban’s Anglican Church in Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania and the author of the new book Does America Hate God? Faith Under Fire.
“Racial tensions are certainly higher now than they have ever been in my lifetime. Economic indicators also suggest Black Americans are suffering under Barack Obama’s reign, with black unemployment still high despite overall unemployment falling and black home ownership in decline. President Obama has championed special rights for Hispanics crossing our southern border and gays seeking to marry, rather than truly protecting civil rights and ensuring our borders are secure. And I’m certain Dr. King would not have envisioned a world where the black community would be renouncing, undermining and ignoring the major theological foundations that helped them survive slavery, Jim Crow and segregation.”
“As our nation remembers the birthday of one of America’s favorite sons, let us also remember the faith that compelled Dr. King to action. It was his faith that gave him the boldness and freedom to stand for justice and demand equality,” said Project 21 member Demetrius Minor, a youth minister and the author of the upcoming book Preservation and Purpose: The Making of a Young Millennial. “It is also impossible to commemorate the life of Dr. King without having adoration for the Creator who enabled him to live such a fulfilling life.”
Project 21 member Derryck Green , who is currently working on a doctorate in ministerial studies, added: “Year after year, as we lovingly commemorate Reverend King, it seems that character matters less and color matters more the further we move away from his death. Many of the so-called and self-appointed leaders of the racial grievance industry are guilty of bastardizing his mission. They use his legacy as an instrument to contribute to racial hostility under the false guise of racial justice.
“Black Americans should acknowledge the extraordinary racial progress we’ve made in such a short time. We should also courageously condemn people — regardless of color, but especially those in our own communities — who seek to disparage and overlook that progress in favor of racial solidarity. Our credibility and Reverend King’s legacy are at risk if we don’t. We would do well to remember Reverend King’s own words: ‘[I]f first-class citizenship is to become a reality for [the black man], he must assume the primary responsibility for making it so. [Blacks] must not be victimized with the delusion of thinking that others should be more concerned than himself about his citizenship rights.’”
(Green has written a column titled “The ‘Black Lives Matter’ Slogan Ignores Self-Destructive Behavior” http://www.nationalcenter.org/....)
“I believe Dr. King’s legacy today would reflect the principle that freedom cannot exist without morality. The folly of immoral and free men and women makes about as much sense as dry water! Without sufficient character and moral fortitude, we cannot govern ourselves,” said Reverend Steven Craft, M.Div., a Project 21 member and prison minister. “When morality declines, the abuse of our rights increases and people believe more government is necessary in order to control the population. Dr. King’s legacy teaches us that if we abandon our righteous character and embrace the law of the jungle, we forfeit our freedom.”
It is more than a little strange that during these days of celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Black conservatives have a lot to say pejoratively about what they claim is a "racial grievance industry,” and so little to say about some of the most serious issues of our times: Not one word about the police murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and twelve-year-old Tamir Rice. And, nary a word about turning swords into plowshares.