Project 21: Press Releases

As senators and the White House try to resurrect the already-failed immigration reform bill, members of the Project 21 black leadership network warn against betraying the public trust. "If there was ever any doubt about what the elected really think about those who elect them, one need only consider their action on immigration reform," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie.  "Pollster Scott Rasmussen found that 72 percent of the people he polled consider it very important to reduce illegal immigration, yet only 23 percent of the same group support the Senate's immigration reform bill and only 16 percent think it ...
READ MORE

With violent acts - including one death - plaguing several local Juneteenth observances across the nation, members of the black leadership network Project 21 are critical of celebration organizers who deflect blame for what happened. Project 21 members, longstanding supporters of the Juneteenth holiday, say such behavior is inconsistent with the founding principles of Juneteenth and future observances of Juneteenth are threatened if the violence is not condemned in the strongest terms. "It is unfortunate that violent acts overshadowed the Juneteenth events celebrating freedom and empowerment for black Americans," said Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli.  "Clearly, the cause of these ...
READ MORE

President Bush began the work week with an early-morning press conference in which he announced U.S.-imposed sanctions on government and rebel leaders in Sudan and Sudanese-controlled companies due to their role in prolonging the mass murder in Sudan's Darfur region. Stalling on a truce and the insertion of peacekeeping forces on the part of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is the stated reason for the President's action. Specifically, the three men cited individually -- Sudanese state minister for humanitarian affairs Ahmad Muhammed Harun (who is also accused of war crimes), military intelligence and security chief Awad Ibn Auf and Khalil Ibrahim ...
READ MORE

Black activists with the Project 21 leadership network are skeptical of the just-announced compromise legislation on immigration reform brokered between senators and the Bush Administration. "This debate should not be about civil rights.  It should be about law and order," said Project 21 member Geoffrey Moore.  "Politicians buckling to special interests while disregarding the will of the citizens they were elected to represent is very disturbing." The 380-page compromise legislation to overhaul American immigration law and border control was announced on May 17 and will begin debate in the Senate as early as May 21.  A Senate vote could occur ...
READ MORE

In light of popular radio hosts joking on-air about violently raping Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the black leadership network Project 21 is asking: Where are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? Both Sharpton and Jackson protested when the now-fired Don Imus called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," but have issued no comparable condemnations regarding jokes about raping the Secretary of State. On May 9, XM satellite radio hosts Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia laughed and gave encouragement to a guest, "Homeless Charlie," on their May 9 program who said he wanted to have sex with Secretary of ...
READ MORE

Black activists representing the Project 21 leadership network are calling upon the Reverend Al Sharpton to acknowledge and apologize for his inappropriate and insensitive remarks directed at the Mormon faith.  The particular shame of Sharpton making such a statement, Project 21 members say, is compounded by the fact that he recently led the movement that forced the firing of radio shock jock Don Imus for insensitive on-air racial comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. "Reverend Sharpton would like to portray himself as a man of faith and a teacher of tolerance, but his recent bigoted attack upon Mitt Romney's ...
READ MORE

Black activists charged today that premature release of a new study claiming a racial bias by NBA referees will unnecessarily incite racial tensions. Business professor Justin Wolfers of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Joseph Price, a graduate student of economics at Cornell University, are scheduled to release a study at the annual meeting of the Society of Labor Economists May 4 and the American Law and Economics Association May 6.  The study, which purports to analyze 600,000 foul calls over 13 seasons, claims the rate of fouls called against a player can rise by up to ...
READ MORE

Black activists with the Project 21 leadership network are voicing their support for embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz because of his strong commitment to helping ease poverty and suffering on the African continent. "It's unconscionable that, when there is finally someone at the World Bank who is focused on rooting out corruption, bloat and truly helping the people of Africa, his tenure is being threatened by a coalition of the unwilling who want to maintain the status quo at the institution and punish Paul Wolfowitz for what he did at his previous job," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie ...
READ MORE

Veterans who are members of the black leadership network Project 21 are supporting President George W. Bush's veto of the recently-passed emergency military spending bill because it contains a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq. "It was a wise decision for President Bush to veto this bill," said Project 21 member Jimmie Hollis, a U.S. Air Force veteran.  "Liberals are playing politics with the lives of our troops.  While I am not surprised by anything I see in House of Representatives these days, I was somewhat surprised that the Senate passed such a sham of a bill.  Thank ...
READ MORE

Without a hearing, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources is expected to vote on the "Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007" (H.R. 505) on May 2.  Members of the black leadership network Project 21 are expressing concern that the legislation directly conflicts with the spirit of inclusion and equality that civil rights activists fought so hard to create. Similar legislation in the U.S. Senate (S. 485) is scheduled to be the topic of a hearing in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on May 3. "It's a shame that so many continue to risk and suffer ...
READ MORE

Today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a legislative ban on the practice of partial birth abortion is being hailed by members of the black leadership network Project 21 as a victory for the safety and welfare of the unborn as well as a reminder of the importance of having strict constructionists jurists on our courts. "At last, the Supreme Court acknowledges that the right to kill one's baby has limits," said Project 21 member Djana Milton.  "Although abortion itself remains constitutionally guaranteed, all manners of cruelty in the process are no longer tolerable.  This is one of the most civilized ...
READ MORE

Today's announcement that dubious sexual assault charges filed against the three current and former Duke students were dropped has members of the Project 21 black leadership network sharply criticizing those who used the year-long investigation to create racial animosity for personal or political gain. "It's absurd that a year of sex, lies and vilification consumed the lives of three young men now found to be wrongly accused of committing heinous crimes," said Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli.  "It underscores the importance of the maxim 'innocent until proven guilty.'"  Duke students Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and the now-graduated David Evans, who ...
READ MORE

Don Imus has been suspended by CBS Radio and MSNBC for two weeks in the wake of comments made on his April 4, 2007 syndicated radio show.  On that show, Imus called members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "rough girls" and "nappy-headed hos."  Others in the studio with Imus also called the girls "hardcore hos" and compared their looks to the men's professional Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies. Imus has apologized for the remarks and has promised to meet with the team.  The Reverend Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Organization ...
READ MORE

Joe R. Hicks, a Project 21 member who marched arm-in-arm with Jesse Jackson at Cesar Chavez's funeral in 1993, will testify before Congress March 29 in opposition to spending public funds honoring the late United Farm Workers union organizer. Hicks was asked to testify about Chavez as part of congressional consideration of H.R. 359, "The Cesar Estrada Chavez Study Act," introduced by Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA).  The bill would authorize a  "special resource study of sites associated with the life of Cesar Estrada Chavez and the farm labor movement" that could lead to inclusion of sites in the American Southwest ...
READ MORE

Project 21’s Kevin Martin is speaking out in support of President George W. Bush's decision to veto the controversial emergency supplemental spending bill for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan that was approved by the House today by a thin 218-212 margin.  This bill links aid to our military forces serving overseas to a timetable for their withdrawal.  Martin, a Navy veteran, says lawmakers should not tie the hands of our forces serving overseas.  He also objects to using important legislation as a vehicle to approve earmarks, as this legislation does. "Any bill that sets deadlines and is loaded with pork-barrel ...
READ MORE

In calling Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) a "storybook" candidate based on his view that Biden is "articulate, bright and clean," Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) has angered members of the black leadership network Project 21, who say Biden's remarks are elitist, condescending and insensitive. "Joe Biden's comments are completely unacceptable and clearly elitist," said Project 21 member Ak'bar Shabazz.  "By praising Obama as the first 'articulate, bright and clean' black presidential candidate, he isn't only insulting the senator from Illinois, but all black Americans who strive to polish themselves and provide a positive image in the community.  Biden clearly needs to ...
READ MORE

Senator Edward Kennedy's (D-MA) opposition to a proposed revision of the federal "No Child Left Behind" educational policy to allow school choice is evidence of an elitist attitude and a willingness to put the desires of the teachers' unions over the needs of students according to a fellow with the black leadership network Project 21. "When public schools are failing our children, parents should have accessible school choice options to meet their child's educational needs," said Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli.  "To deny children the opportunity they need in order to preserve the status quo is something Senator Kennedy and ...
READ MORE

Calling his testimony a "smokescreen" to cover up his own failings at the outset of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, members of the black leadership network Project 21 are criticizing the racially-charged rhetoric of New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin (D) before the Senate Homeland and Government Affairs Committee yesterday. "Mayor Nagin continues to do everything to deflect blame from himself," said Project 21 member Darryn "Dutch" Martin. At a January 29 Committee field hearing that was held in New Orleans, Mayor Nagin complained that President George W. Bush did not mention the rebuilding efforts in the Gulf region in his State ...
READ MORE

Inclusion of Planned Parenthood in a self-described civil rights coalition has outraged members of the black leadership network Project 21, as Planned Parenthood advocates and provides abortions - particularly in the black community. "How can a civil rights group that claims to support underprivileged blacks embrace an organization created expressly to hasten the demise of black people?" asked Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie.  "People of conscience should be appalled and outraged by this alignment." The Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently became a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), a political coalition of almost 200 groups representing ...
READ MORE

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is being criticized by members of the black leadership network Project 21 for implying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lacks a proper perspective on the War on Terror in Iraq because she does not have children. "Barbara Boxer is a feminist who is attacking the feminist dream," said Project 21 member Kevin Martin.  "But Condoleezza Rice's achievements are disqualified because she is a black conservative, and her rise was not blessed by the liberal establishment.  Former attorney general Janet Reno was also unmarried and childless, but I don't remember insulting questioning like this regarding her ...
READ MORE