Press Release from the National Center for Public Policy Research:
WASHINGTON, DC — March 7 is the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when civil rights activists were attacked by Alabama law enforcement as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma at the beginning of a march to the state capitol. Members of the Project 21 black leadership network are commenting on this civil rights milestone that brought increased national attention to the cause of civil rights and in particular helped to secure voting rights protections.
Noting the great strides forward that have been made in the promotion of civil rights for all people, Project 21 members cautioned against using the solemn remembrance of the events in Selma to stir up racial animosity and demand redress for things that should not be blamed on an America that has grown and matured so much so quickly in its attitudes toward race.
“In the 50 years since Bloody Sunday, blacks went from suffering under legalized racial segregation to celebrating the election and reelection of the nation’s first black president. Blacks now head major corporations and are among our nation’s most admired citizens. That was entirely inconceivable back then,” said Project 21 member Derryck Green , a doctoral candidate in ministerial studies. “But those who now maintain a black grievance industry — the bastard child of the civil rights movement — want to make others think America is still like the Selma of decades ago. In doing so, they trivialize how our nation has matured. Racial disparities remain, but many of these pains are self-inflicted on a few while society as a whole enjoys social, economic and political benefits that those who suffered on Bloody Sunday could only imagine experiencing back then.”
“Black historian John Henrick Clarke said ‘history is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day.’ In Selma, the struggle for civil rights prevailed because people of all races came together to show self-determination, integrity, courage and strength in overcoming segregation and institutionalized racism,” said Project 21 member Stacy Swimp , an Apostolic minister and founder of the National Christian Leadership Council. “We need to remember this spirit and history as we check the time. We need to realize there are no permanent boundaries around us we do no place around ourselves. I am confident our predecessors would not appreciate it if we internalized their experiences as if they were our own. We cannot use their pain and sacrifice as an excuse to hate others, accept low standards among ourselves and refuse to commit to the advancement of American exceptionalism. That’s not what they wanted. We shouldn’t want it either.”
“It’s often been said that the accomplishments of any black American are made by standing on the shoulders of those who came before them. In the face of violence, degradation and inhumane treatment, those who marched in Selma 50 yeas ago did so for a long overdue cause. The march was a tide that truly raised all ships,” said Project 21 member Bishop Council Nedd II , the rector of St. Alban’s Anglican Church. “We cannot now go back to racial exclusivity. I don’t see the events of Selma as an exclusively ‘black’ event. Black Americans certainly gained the most from what transpired, but Americans of all walks of life stood together for what was necessary and right. Everyone cried out for equality. Everyone deserves equality. Yet we now live in a moment in time when people demand that ‘black lives matter.’ They do, but not more so than the innocent unborn or the persecuted Christians dying for their faith. At the end of the day, all lives matter.”
“Fifty years ago, this nation’s civil rights movement staged three marches for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. They resulted in the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. Racism, violence and discrimination were omnipresent in the lives of all too many black Americans — something that hardly required the flights of fantasies or fertile imaginations driving today’s protests and marches,” said Project 21 member Joe R. Hicks , a former executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles. “In contrast to the those who marched at Selma for realistic goals and objectives back then, those claiming to be today’s civil rights leaders make handsome livings from specious claims that America still has ‘so much farther to go’ in the struggle against racism. Unlike Dr. King and other civil rights greats, this new leadership spends most of its time looking in the historical rear-view mirror. It’s something that blinds them, perhaps opportunistically, to the amazing pace of progress that’s occurred since the awful violence of ‘Bloody Sunday.’ Mired in racial mythology, these leaders and activists insultingly argue black lives don’t matter in today’s society and that racist cops have declared open season on black youth. Drawn to the glow of TV cameras and political grandstanding, this bankrupt leadership turns away from the hard work of redeeming communities in preference to the cheap and easy lobbing of empty charges against white America. Yet the fact is, 50 years after Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery, and after the civil rights victories of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act, a once-oppressed people can hardly be described in that manner.”
Project 21 members were interviewed or cited by the media over 2,000 times in 2014, and have been interviewed or cited over 300 times so far in 2015. Outlets calling on Project 21 for comment have included TVOne, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, One America News Network, the Orlando Sentinel, Westwood One, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, SiriusXM satellite radio as well as 50,000-watt talk radio stations such as WHO-Des Moines, KOA-Denver, WGN-Chicago, WBZ-Boston and KDKA-Pittsburgh. Topics discussed by Project 21 members have included civil rights, entitlement programs, the economy, voter ID, race preferences, education, illegal immigration and corporate social responsibility. Project 21 members have provided substantial commentary regarding the Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner judicial proceedings, and the organization is currently involved in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Project 21 also defended voter ID laws at the United Nations. Its volunteer members come from all walks of life and are not salaried political professionals.
Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over two decades, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (http://www.nationalcenter.org).
Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.
Random Thoughts and Comments
Well, perhaps not so random.
Evidently there were violent protests outside a Trump rally in Mexifornia, where protesters, mostly of Mexican decent, jumped on police cars and other outstanding acts of idiocy, while waving Mexican flags. My comment is a question. If it so goddamn wonderful here in the United States, then why not wave the American Flag instead of the flag of the place you disliked so much you had to leave? Or is it somebody is paying them enough money to wave the Mexican flag so as to foment more hatred?
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I do recall while I was in the U.S. Military during the early 1970s, everyone was required to take a government-crafted race relations class (wink, wink). I grew up in a northern, predominantly-white state and had no thoughts one way or another about race. As a matter of fact, a man I befriended while in Boot Camp, happened to be a black man. We hung out when we could and shared puffs on cigarettes, etc,…until the “brothers” threatened him with his life if he didn’t stop hanging out with a “whitey.” Thus began my real race relations schooling.
But, back to race relations class. After a week of classes, in which with each successive day I built up more anger and resentment toward the blacks, in general – something I never experienced before in my life – we were required to take two tests. The point of the tests, supposedly, was to prove that testing can be white-biased and/or black-biased, i.e. if a white man took a black-biased test, he might experience what black men face taking a, so-called, white-biased test, provided of course that such test taker was a product of government-sponsored education, propaganda and fomenting of hatred. If you happened not to be, Government was going to make sure you were one way or another.
I got a perfect score on both tests and was immediately kicked out of the class.
I wonder why?
Over the years I have learned that almost all events in life that originate from governments are designed to fail in positive ways, but winning is what we see in society today – more hatred and racism.
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John Boehner is heard telling a group of people that Ted Cruz is “Lucifer in the flesh.” I made a comment the other day that if anyone should be able to recognize “Lucifer in the flesh” it would be him. Of course his comment was meant to be a joke. Bwahahahahahahahahaaha
Evidently Lucifer in the Flesh’s father didn’t like that comment and decided to lash out at Boehner by attacking Donald Trump. While claiming the high ground, Rafael Cruz said that Ted is essentially the only man in the world who knows, understands and follows God’s word. Really? I think I heard similar statements before….. and millions of people have died at the hands of the Vatican.
One has to wonder, that if a person is so heavily into God and his Word, how can he therefore exclaim, “If you vote according to the word of God, there’s only one candidate you can vote for,”
It is my thought that if you are following God’s word, you wouldn’t be participating in the biggest fraud and deception this country promotes that works so hard at destroying God’s word.
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John Wayne Day in California isn’t going to happen because all the minorities that aren’t minorities anymore, are offended by John Wayne. If that’s how the game is played, let’s make a list!
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Idiots in the Media are saying that one football player, once believed to go high in the Draft, which began last night, instead of getting drafted in the top 5 or 6 fell to 13th, overall, because somebody released a video showing him with a gas mask on smoking pot with a bong. If that how the game is played, let’s make a list.
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China is building military bases in the South China Sea. The United States doesn’t like that. So, how many military bases does the U.S. have scattered around the world? – 662 in 38 foreign countries comes to mind.
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And finally, for all you devout Catholics who believe you must go to a confessional to tell the “father” all your secrets/sins in order to be worthy of….of….of….well, I dunno what it makes you worthy of. But soon, you will be able to spill your guts to the pope through a robot. I wonder if the machine will take paper money or credit cards only? What could possible go wrong?