Taking a Knee on Criminal Justice Reform, by Adrian Norman
The Rev. Al Sharpton was recently back in the news, making statements on a TMZ video blasting rapper Travis Scott for accepting an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. Sharpton equated Scott’s performance as a slap in the face to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has ...
Proposed Federal Retirement Security Rule Supported by Black Activists
Option to Pool Resources Can Help Small Businesses Short on Time and Money Washington, D.C. - Recognizing the benefit of allowing small businesses to pool their resources and share risk regarding 401(k) investment plans, the Project 21 black leadership network offered supportive comments about a proposed federal rule designed to ...
LeBron Shoots Air Ball with NFL Criticism
Despite National Football League owners not imposing a rule to stop players from kneeling on the field in protest while the national anthem is played, professional basketball star LeBron James has still declared the owners to be largely “old white men” with a “slave mentality.” Members of the National Center’s Project ...
Food Stamp Work Requirements Applauded by Black Activists
Work Requirements Encourage Self-Worth, Build on 1996 Welfare Reform Success Washington, DC - Plans to strengthen the work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or "food stamps") assistance eligibility are being applauded by members of the Project 21 black leadership network. This reform is consistent with a recommendation found ...
Watch Your Step on “First Step Act,” by Constable Council Nedd II
Our criminal justice system may need reform, but the “First Step Act” that’s now headed for the President’s desk poses a significant risk to public safety – particularly for the most vulnerable members of our communities. For aspiring criminals, mandatory minimum sentences enforce the memorable advice found in the theme ...
‘First Step Act’ Criticized by Black Conservatives as Harmful to Minority Communities
Bill Undermines Mandatory Minimum Sentencing That Applies Law Equitably, Prevents Lenient Judicial Activism Washington, D.C. - Black conservative leaders are speaking out against the "First Step Act" criminal justice reform bill because of provisions in the bill that would undermine the benefits of mandatory minimum sentencing. Members of the Project 21 ...
Self-Segregated Vacations: Sun, Sand, Racism and Bigotry
Imagine the outcry if there were resort vacation packages being offered exclusively to white men. While that may not have been unusual during the era of “Mad Men,” it’s certainly not something that would be tolerated today. So why is self-segregation okay when it’s other genders and races doing the separating? ...
Watch Your Step: First Step Act Could Harm Minority Communities, by Horace Cooper, Stacy Washington, and Constable Council Nedd II
Senator Mitch McConnell is considering taking the “First Step Act” (S. 2795), a criminal justice reform bill, to the Senate floor for a vote during the lame duck session. He should not. The U.S. criminal justice system is in need of reform, but the First Step Act poses significant risks ...
Shooting Down Tom Arnold’s Allegation Against the NRA
On the heels of a Secret Service investigation prompted by his tweet that challenged President Donald Trump to a fight, D-list celebrity Tom Arnold is now trying to grab headlines by making obviously false allegations about the National Rifle Association. Project 21 was locked and loaded with the truth to set the ...
Teachers Shouldn’t Religiously Avoid Lessons About Faith
In a point-counterpoint for InsideSources about whether teachers in public schools should be allowed to freely discuss religious issues with their students, Project 21 member Derryck Green pointed out that “comprehensive education necessarily includes learning and discussing issues of faith.” But, as he noted in his commentary, which was reprinted in newspapers such ...
Easing Regulatory Impact With the Stroke of a Pen
It sometimes seems like the government has more regard for rocks, trees and animals than it might have for a young black man looking for a good job or starting a business of his own. Building projects must go through a government-mandated process to make sure they don’t have any ...
Roasting the “Heckler’s Veto” of Thanksgiving, Chick-fil-A
Happy Thanksgiving! As is increasingly common, our nation’s traditional day for the appreciation of family, freedom, good fortune and food is under siege by the joyless few who seek to cast our society as racist to the core. Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper, in a pre-holiday appearance on the Fox News ...
Students Miss Out When Religious Debate is Banished from Classroom, by Derryck Green
Teachers should absolutely discuss religion with their students. A comprehensive education necessarily includes learning and discussing issues of faith. This is not an easy process when rules keeping religion off school grounds are rigidly enforced. The underlying question that really seems to be driving the religious education debate is whether ...
“Hound Dog” Singer Accomplice to Dog-Whistle Racism?
Elvis Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump today. According to the Washington Post, this honor was an act of dog-whistle racism. If you ask Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper, the criticism instead shows that “[t]he left has just jumped the shark.” Elvis may have died ...
Detroit School Board Condemned for Blacklisting Ben Carson
Black Activists Say Voting Carson’s Name Off School Devalues Black Achievement, Ignores Hope and History Washington, D.C. - A Detroit school honoring Dr. Ben Carson may be renamed, and activists with the Project 21 black leadership network criticize the effort as a purely political act which willfully ignores the accomplishments ...
Politicians Lose Because of Extremism, Not Race
Racism was “not a factor” in recent election results, says Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper, adding that it is “ridiculous” to perpetuate the notion that racial bias played a major role in influencing people’s voting behavior. On Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle” last night, Horace rebutted allegations made by Senator ...
Pastor Explains “Obligation to Protect My Flock” With a Gun
When Project 21 Co-Chairman Council Nedd II was younger, he remembers his Uncle John – a pastor at a Washington, D.C. church – carrying a gun during services. “I remember thinking it was funny at the time, but now here I am... essentially doing the exact same thing that I laughed at ...
Black Activists Call on CNN Management to Address Don Lemon’s Racial Comments
Host Called White Men America's "Biggest Terror Threat" Washington, D.C. - Leaders of the Project 21 black leadership network are calling on CNN to break its silence about host Don Lemon's radical on-air comments in which he called white men the "biggest terror threat" facing America. The co-chairman of Project ...
Churches Must Provide Spiritual and Physical Protection
In a recent Daily Caller commentary, Project 21 Co-Chairman Council Nedd II – an Anglican bishop and Pennsylvania State Constable – revealed that he decided to keep a pistol on his hip during services after a gunman killed 11 people worshipping in a Pittsburgh synagogue. On NRA TV, he reiterated: “I carry ...
Challenging Sharpton’s Attack on Black Conservatives
Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper is challenging Al Sharpton’s apparent belief that he and others on the left have a “monopoly on outreach” when it comes to black Americans. In a Fox News Channel interview, Horace added that what Sharpton actually seems to have is a “monopoly on the use of ...
