Project 21: Press Releases

Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 applaud the quick and decisive action of the Texas jury that convicted and sentenced white supremacist John William King for the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. The successful prosecution of Mr. King and the definitive response from an almost all-white jury proves that the American criminal justice system can provide swift and certain retribution for hate-motivated crimes without the need for "hate crimes" laws. Mr. King was one of three men who beat up the disabled Mr. Byrd on June 7, 1998 and then dragged him behind a ...
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 On behalf of the members of the African-American leadership network Project 21, I would like to commend Bishop Earl Jackson for bringing us all here today to be a part of his great effort to promote racial harmony and foster a more perfect union.Bishop Jackson's "New American Compact" contains nothing that is really "new." What's new about it is that the things he asks have never really been tried. It asks people to look within themselves and within their communities to find the answers to our nation's racial and cultural problems rather than looking to the government. Instead of calling ...
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Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 urge the U.S. Senate to reject President Clinton's expected renomination of activist lawyer Bill Lann Lee as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Lee's unrelenting implemention of divisive racial preference policies while serving as "acting" head of the Division are at odds with Supreme Court and lower court decisions. "Bill Lann Lee's rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul policies are not only out of step with the mainstream of the American polity, but are out of step with the majority of the Democratic Party as well," said Project 21 ...
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While African-American support for President Bill Clinton has been high throughout the impeachment proceedings against Clinton, members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 warn that - should Clinton succeed in using legal wrangling to escape a full impeachment trial - civil rights gains could be eroded. "If Bill Clinton is not removed from office, the rule of law will have been abandoned in America, and we will have absolute hell to pay," said Project 21 member and Los Angeles community activist Jesse Peterson. "The rule of law is the only standard keeping this nation from a mob-rule mentatility, which ...
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Project 21 Says Actual Headcount is Best Way to Conduct Census The January 25 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring the 2000 census be conducted through a person-by-person headcount was applauded by the members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 as a victory for fairness and equality. Project 21 members now implore the Clinton Administration to redouble its preparation efforts and work with Republican leaders in Congress to ensure that next year's population count is as accurate as possible and free of partisan influences. The Clinton Administration had sought to use an estimation process called "sampling" to determine the numbers ...
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African-Americans are being short-changed by the existing Social Security system. The African-American leadership network Project 21 says President Bill Clinton should use the White House symposium he has convened this week to ponder the future of Social Security as a forum to consider popular reform proposals that privatize the existing government program and allow more individual involvement in the investment of funds for retirement security. Project 21 says Americans realize that hard-earned and well-deserved money is suddenly lost under the current Social Security system. This money is buried under the weight of the Social Security Administration's bureaucracy, and has dismally ...
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STATEMENT OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADERSHIP NETWORK PROJECT 21 AT A SEPTEMBER 8, 1998 PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB IN WASHINGTONIt must be the duty of our elected leaders in Congress to act quickly and decisively to provide tax relief to the American people. It is absurd that the government will be running a $1.6 trillion budget surplus over the next decade while continuing to collect taxes at record levels. It is clearly time for them to give something back. We currently have the largest Black middle class in the history of our nation. Tax relief provided by Congress ...
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 Two recent studies, by Vanderbilt University researchers and the Commerce Department, have found a major disparity between black and white Americans in the digital world.The studies show that white families are more than twice as likely as black and Hispanic families to own home computers. The Commerce Department report, "Falling through the Net II," said about 76% of white families with salaries over $75,000 own home computers, compared with only 64% of black families at the same income level. Across all incomes, about 41% of white families own PCs but only about 19% of black and Hispanic families have home ...
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Black Leadership Network Project 21 says that H.R. 3526 would make it harder for ethnic and racial minority, women and non-mainstream voices to be heard Members of the Black leadership network Project 21 say that the campaign finance reform legislation by Representatives Chris Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA), which is scheduled for a House vote the week of July 13-17, is unwise and would impose a very frightening effect on the distribution of material that reports our votes, where we stand on issues and advocacy speech that is essential in a democracy. Under the Shays/Meehan bill, the group says, ...
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Devastating Families and Communities Black leadership network Project 21 says AIDS among minorities is a public health emergency that can no longer be ignored by the black community and its leadersWhile thousands of experts on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland for the World AIDS Conference, many are asking heads of state and other world leaders -- particularly those in Africa -- to build the courage to face the AIDS epidemic. In the United States, members of the black leadership network Project 21 say the issue of AIDS in American black communities has been ignored for too ...
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Black Leadership Network Says Study Shows Drastic Measures Must Be Considered to Increase Reading Capabilities of Minority Children Responding to the shocking results of a study on educational quality in New York State, members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are calling for a state of emergency to be declared to address the reading capabilities of minority children in urban public schools. The study quantifies the fact that minority children are being short-changed in the area of reading, and that reading test scores actually declined further after state education officials began intensifying their efforts to identify and correct the ...
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California voters will go to the polls on June 2 to decide the fate of a paycheck protection ballot initiative. California members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 point out that the practices and tactics used by organized labor opposing the initiative provide ample proof of the need for such a safeguard. Labor unions regularly use mandatory member dues to finance political activity. Proposition 226, the "Campaign Reform Initiative," would require employers and labor union leaders to obtain annual permission from workers before using mandatory paycheck deductions to fund state and local political activity. It would also ban foreign ...
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For immediate release: April 29, 1998 Contact: Roderick Conrad (202) 507-6398 or [email protected] Republican congressional leaders are to be commended for tackling key issues of concern among minority communities, says Project 21, an African-American leadership network. Project 21 members contend that initiatives made during the 105th Congress constitute one of the greatest leaps forward for minorities in the past 30 years. Project 21 member Kimberley Wilson says, "After three decades of black political efforts to coddle the residents of the inner city with worthless social programs and a celebration of victimhood, the Republican-led 105th Congress has actually taken concrete measures ...
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Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 reject a recent Center for Disease Control and Prevention study on teen suicide that says African-American teens reared in upwardly mobile families are not able to cope with the "stressful" environment created by black prosperity. The study shows the suicide rate of African-Americans between the ages of 10 and 19 has increased by 114% since 1980. In southern states, the rate has grown by 214%. Some scholars and the study's authors say that a consequence of rising prosperity and social integration for blacks over the last few decades has caused a loss ...
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Former Congressman Floyd Flake (D-NY) was abruptly uninvited to the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus Prayer Breakfast earlier this month because some members of the Caucus objected to his support of school vouchers, an issue which was to be mentioned in his speech. Project 21 member Jackie Cissell, an associate with the Indiana Family Institute in Indianapolis, said, "Considering that 87% of Black America support school vouchers, it is outrageous that the desire to empower parents in the education of their children is not on the agenda of some of Indiana's Black legislators. Because the content his speech could not be ...
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The African-American leadership group Project 21 says allegations of perjury and an affair with an intern by President Clinton is a critical blow to the President in terms of trust and character. "This recent situation with the President takes on a very serious tone because this time the actions that are being alleged took place in the White House and supposedly involved Vernon Jordan," says Stuart Pigler, aide to Michigan State Representative Dick Posthumus and Project 21 member. "Surely, the American people will see that character flaws such as these can effect sound judgement when conducting the affairs of the ...
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Press Release The National Center for Public Policy Research For Immediate Release: June 27, 1997 Contact: Amy Ridenour (202) 507-6398 or [email protected] Taxpayers, Religious People, Internet Users, Handgun Owners Shut Out of Court:Millions Affected by Supreme Court Decisions This Week Were Denied the Opportunity to See Cases Argued in Court Taxpayers, religious people, Internet users, handgun owners and anyone who might someday die were keenly affected by decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court over the last three days. Too bad these same people were effectively banned from watching these Supreme Court proceedings the way they can watch the ...
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"As AIDS continues to ravage black communities in America, we as members and associates of the black leadership group Project 21 are urging you to give serious attention to provisions contained in the 'HIV Prevention Act of 1997' as a means of combating AIDS in the black community," wrote 28 affiliates of the African-American leadership group Project 21 in a May 6 letter addressed to Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Maxine Waters and sent to the entire Caucus. "The difference in treatment of AIDS from all other contagious diseases is impeding early detection of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," said ...
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Diversity should be achieved through non-discriminatory outreach efforts, not preferences or quotas for special groups, says the African-American leadership group Project 21. Project 21's California members say that the California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209) seeks to achieve this goal by prohibiting the state from using race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin to determine who should be favored or discriminated against by the state with respect to public employment, public education or public contracting. "The arguments made by many minorities for maintaining racial preferences show a complete lack of confidence in their abilities," says Project 21 member James Coleman, ...
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Contact: Arturo Silva at (202) 507-6398 or [email protected] Nearly 250 children are expected to attend a joint Congressional hearing and press conference on "Saving Our Children: The American Community Renewal Act of 1996" (H.R. 3467) -- a sweeping plan to renew urban areas through free market economics rather than government programs. The children will be wearing T-shirts that bear the name of the legislation. The press conference will be held on Tuesday, July 30 at 9:30 AM in front of Capitol Hill's largest hearing room, 1100 Longworth HOB. The hearings held by the Subcommittees on Human Resources and Early Childhood, ...
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