Project 21: Press Releases

Findings of a recent study show black Americans are planning to start investing at higher rates than whites. Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are excited at future prospects of wealth and prosperity this will create for the black community."We have made great strides in our fight for equality, but without a strong financial base, blacks will never completely reach parity," said Project 21 member Anthony Anderson. "The fact that black Americans now realize the importance of investing gives them the strongest tool to ensure their civil rights." According to the 1999 Black Investors Survey (BIS) commissioned by ...

When "Juneteenth" is observed on June 19, the members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 ask African-Americans everywhere to use the celebration of education, self-development and respect to examine and reassess the reliance of many in the black community on government support."We need to be mindful of what the Civil War was about: freedom. Americans of all nationalities are becoming less free every single day," said Project 21 member Reginald Jones. "We should use this special day as a reawakening of the American spirit by teaching and reading the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights." Juneteenth commemorates ...

Black Leadership Network Faults Anti-Minority Environment Policies Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 find fault with the beliefs and goals of radical environmentalists who are celebrating Earth Day on April 22. These activists regularly promote drastic regulations that harm the welfare of average Americans, particularly minorities, as solutions to perceived environmental problems."Black Americans can no longer afford to senselessly follow the belittling policies of the radical environmental movement," said Project 21 member John Meredith. "The leaders of that insidious movement, if indeed they achieve their ultimate goal, would do far more harm to us as a people than ...

Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 call Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter's March ruling overturning the NCAA's minimum acadmic standards for freshmen athletes a fit of "March Madness" that will devastate student athletics for years to come. Project 21 members say Judge Buckwalter's assertion that the use of standardized tests is "a discriminatory practice" because the tests are allegedly biased against African-Americans demeans blacks because it suggests they cannot be held to the same standards as other races. It also jeopardizes the guarantee that student-athletes will receive a quality education. "I would imagine that Coach Jerry Tarkanian of Fresno ...

Death Tax and Proposed Cigarette Tax Unfair to Low-Income and Minority Citizens Two taxes in the state of Maryland - inheritance taxes and a proposed increase in the cigarette tax - are criticized by members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 because they are unfair to all taxpayers and particularly hard on lower- and middle-class citizens, particularly upwardly-mobile blacks. On March 11, 1999, the Maryland General Assembly will hold hearings on a bill introduced by Delegate Obie Patterson to repeal the state's inheritance tax, which heirs must pay in addition to the federal inheritance tax. Patterson says, "To tax ...

NCAA Academic Standards Ensure Accomplishment in Classroom and on the FieldMembers of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are outraged by the March 8 ruling of a federal judge overturning minimum academic standards instituted by the NCAA to ensure college athletes receive an education allowing them to become successful citizens. Project 21 members say Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter's assertion that standardized tests are biased against African-Americans is demeaning because it suggests blacks cannot be held to same standards as other segments of the population. It also significantly diminishes the guarantee that a player will receive the education he or she ...

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 ...

 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

 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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...