Project 21: Press Releases

Activists from the black leadership network Project 21 are praising Senate leaders for their efforts to secure an up-or-down vote on the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown for a seat on the federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, along with votes on other judicial nominees. While they have not formally taken a position on Justice Brown's confirmation, Project 21 members consider Brown an excellent judge. "The straight up-or-down vote on Justice Brown's nomination is humiliatingly long overdue," said Project 21 member Mychal Massie. "Janice Rogers Brown epitomizes the greatness of America. Unlike ...
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Activists from the black leadership network Project 21 are praising Senate leaders for their efforts to secure an up-or-down vote on the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen for a seat on the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, along with other judicial nominees. While they have not formally taken a position on Justice Brown's confirmation, Project 21 members consider her an excellent judge. "Priscilla Owen is one of the finest jurists in the country," said Project 21 member Mychal Massie. "The fact that she has been forced to endure more than four years of public humiliation and ...
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Black activists from the Project 21 leadership network applaud President George W. Bush's calls to reform Social Security by allowing people to directly control a portion of their payroll taxes and be able to transfer these funds to others upon their death. In 2017, Social Security trustees expect the funds being paid out of the program will surpass funds paid into it. The program is expected to go bankrupt due to this trend in 2037. In a April 28 press conference, President Bush reiterated his call for allowing younger workers to be able to invest and control a portion of ...
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A proposal offered by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to preserve robust debate over judicial nominees is being praised by members of the Project 21 black leadership network. Over the past two years, procedural delays have prevented judicial nominees from receiving votes in the full Senate. Two nominees, Patricia Owen and Terrence Boyle, still await a vote 1,453 days after they were first nominated. Holds and filibusters have helped prolong the nomination of three nominees to the understaffed 6th Circuit Court of Appeals for 1,271 days. Frist proposed a plan to expedite nominations through the Senate Judiciary Committee and ...
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Janice Rogers Brown, an associate justice on the California Supreme Court who has been nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 21. Members of the black leadership network Project 21 are calling on the Senate to judge her record based solely on her competence. "The overriding concern liberals say they have about Janice Rogers Brown is the unsubstantiated claim that she is out of the mainstream," notes Project 21 member Donald Scoggins. "If you look at her life and her achievements, she is well ...
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Janice Rogers Brown, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, was approved in the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 21 by a 10-8 party-line vote. Senate liberals, however, imply resumed filibusters will keep her and other nominees from receiving a vote in the full Senate. Members of the black leadership network Project 21 demand a halt to such delaying tactics. "The Senate has a constitutional duty to move forward with fair consideration of judicial appointees," said Project 21 member Darryn "Dutch" Martin. "If they resume the stalling that keeps long-standing judicial vacancies open, they don't deserve ...
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Members of the black leadership organization Project 21 are criticizing the NAACP for endorsing filibusters against Bush Administration judicial nominees, calling the NAACP endorsement contradictory to the group's past position, when filibusters halted the progress of civil rights bills. "For decades, the NAACP was vehemently against filibusters because they were employed to oppose and counter civil rights legislation. But the NAACP has now switched position," notes Project 21 member Michael King. "NAACP head Julian Bond has aggressively made verbal attacks on the Bush Administration. Though Bond and the NAACP leadership vociferously deny charges of partisanship, Bond's actions and the silence ...
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Recent remarks by Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) calling President George W. Bush's proposal to reform the nation's ailing Social Security system "fraud" and its promotion an "impeachable offense" are condemned by members of the black leadership network Project 21. Reform such as personal retirement accounts (PRAs), counter Project 21 members, will allow black Americans to own secure retirement wealth through the Social Security system that they can transfer to their heirs. "Charlie Rangel is hyperventilating. He should sit down and breathe slowly with a paper sack over his face," said Project 21 member Deroy Murdock. "President Bush is not 'taking ...
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In the wake of the hurtful and racially-insensitive comments made by incoming Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) about U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, members of the black leadership network Project 21 are demanding the liberal senator immediately apologize. They further demand Senate liberals pledge to allow fair and timely hearings and votes on judicial nominees regardless of their race and political beliefs. "Senator Reid has revealed the intolerance found on the political left for minorities who do not reside on their ideological plantation," said Project 21 member Wendell Talley. "Justice Thomas has been in the public eye ...
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Members of the Project 21 black leadership network are applauding recent appointments to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights made by President George W. Bush. President Bush selected Gerald A. Reynolds, a former civil rights official with the U.S. Department of Education, and Ashley Taylor, a former deputy attorney general for the state of Virginia, to replace Commission chairman Mary Frances Berry and vice chairman Cruz Reynoso whose terms expired in early December. Reynolds will serve as the Commission's new chairman, and serving commissioner Abigail Thernstrom will become the new vice chairman. Kenneth Marcus, another former civil rights official at ...
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President Bush's nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state has resulted in harsh liberal criticism that members of the black leadership network Project 21 consider racist. Along with their condemnations of offensive commentators and cartoonists, Project 21 members also are critical of self-professed civil rights leaders who are remaining silent on current and previous racial attacks on black Bush Administration officials. Over the past few months, and peaking this week with her appointment, cartoonists have been using Dr. Rice's race as a point of ridicule. Demeaning political cartoons by Pat Oliphant and Jeff Danziger accentuate Dr. Rice's black features ...
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I am here today as a representative of Project 21, the African-American leadership network of The National Center for Public Policy Research. Project 21 was formed over a decade ago when it was observed that the vast numbers of conservative African-Americans were being overlooked by the media and misrepresented by those claiming to be the leaders of the black community. There are many members of Project 21 on the panel here with me right now, and Project 21 member Mychal Massie will be speaking at the 3:30 AM press conference on faith and this judicial obstruction. As Mr. Woodson mentioned ...
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Links between former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and international terrorists - including Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda - are documented on a new Internet website created by columnist Deroy Murdock, a member of the Project 21 black leadership network. Murdock, who also is a media fellow with Stanford University's Hoover Institution, created the website HUSSEINandTERROR.com based on a September 22, 2004 presentation he delivered at Hoover. It contains footnoted sources and over 60 visual images proving Hussein's support of terrorism. According to Murdock: "Saddam Hussein knew plenty about terrorism. In essence, he owned and operated a full-service general store for ...
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A self-syled minority activist group has announced plans to protest a Nextel Cup NASCAR auto race this weekend. Members of the black leadership network Project 21 speculate that this is another attempt to wrest money and influence from the professional racing organization using the threat of bad publicity. A group calling itself the National Association of Minority Race Fans (NAMRF) plans to stage a protest at the EA Sports 500 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama on Sunday, October 3. NAMRF currently maintains a members-only Internet web site claiming the group seeks to "create a safe racetrack ...
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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a briefing September 17 on the potential for voter disfranchisement in the 2004 general election. Project 21 members charge liberal groups are raising the specter of voter suppression in friendly venues such as the Commission to taint the election before it happens. This in itself may keep some voters away from the polls. Furthermore, it creates a climate where these critics can more easily challenge the integrity of the election if they do not approve of the results, even if such charges are groundless. "It's a smear-and-fear campaign," says Project 21 member ...
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A reported command from the NAACP's national leadership forcing the NAACP's Ohio chapter to rescind a speaking invitation to Secretary of Education Rod Paige is disturbing to members of the Project 21 black leadership network. Project 21 members say the move taints the venerable civil rights group as overtly partisan and deprives its membership of a high-level briefing on an issue of great importance to the African-American community. "This shows exactly what the liberals are willing to do in order to make sure the black vote stays with them," said Project 21 member Richard S. Holt, an Ohio resident. "They ...
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Members of the black leadership network Project 21 applaud comedian Bill Cosby for his continued and steadfast demands for better parenting in the black community. The entertainer began his current criticism of modern childrearing in Washington, D.C. in May during an observance of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education court decision. He most recently spoke up on September 8 during a panel discussion on education hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. In his September 8 remarks, Cosby criticized parents who believe children "can be managed by cell phone... My call is for more, tighter reins ...
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Because of the racially-insensitive content of a recent cartoon, members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are asking Universal Press Syndicate to cease the distribution of comics drawn by Ted Rall. Project 21 also is challenging several other civil rights-oriented groups to join in the demand. A July 1 comic by Rall suggests "appropriate punishments for deposed Bushists" that parodies alleged treatment of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. The panel featuring Bush Administration national security advisor Condoleezza Rice has her saying "I was Bush's beard! His house nigga. His..." She is interrupted by a character wearing a ...
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Congressional Black Caucus member Representative Melvin L. Watt (D-NC) owes independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader an apology for his use of off-color and racially-insensitive language during a meeting held in the U.S. Capitol. Furthermore, the CBC as a whole should begin to act in a more civil manner, said a member of the African American leadership network Project 21. On June 22, the CBC met with Nader to try to persuade him to abandon his presidential campaign, with the stated expectation that Nader's absence from the race would increase the possibility of President George W. Bush being defeated in the ...
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Mychal Massie, a member of the national advisory council of the African-American leadership network Project 21, will appear on the live C-Span program "Washington Journal" on Thursday, July 15 at 9:30 am eastern. He will address recent comments made by NAACP president Kweisi Mfume about black conservatives. At the NAACP's annual convention, currently underway in Philadelphia, Mfume said that conservative black organizations are formed and funded by white Republicans. He said: "When the ultraconservative right-wing attacker has run out of attack strategy, he goes and gets someone that looks like you and me to continue the attacks... They can't deal ...
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