The CORE of the matter
The news sounds impressive, and dire: A storied civil-rights organization, the Congress of Racial Equality, is protesting actor/activist Robert Redford's call to stop oil and gas leases in southern Utah wild lands - and claiming Redford's stand is hurting low-income families.
But there's more than meets the eye to this story, which was reported Thursday by Lee Davidson in the Deseret News.
The Congress of Racial Equality - or CORE - was founded in 1942 to promote civil disobedience to stop discrimination against African-Americans. The group organized the "freedom riders" who protested segregated interstate travel through the South. It also helped organize the March on Washington in 1963, in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
But, since 1968, when Roy Innes took over the leadership of CORE, the group went hard to the right - as Innes threw his support to Richard Nixon. In recent years, Nigel Innes, Roy's son and CORE's current national chairman, has spoken out in support of oil drilling and against "eco-imperialism" - the idea that environmentalists' actions are damaging to the world's poor. The Center for Media and Democracy reports that, between 2003 and 2006, ExxonMobil gave CORE $275,000.
But there's more than meets the eye to this story, which was reported Thursday by Lee Davidson in the Deseret News.
The Congress of Racial Equality - or CORE - was founded in 1942 to promote civil disobedience to stop discrimination against African-Americans. The group organized the "freedom riders" who protested segregated interstate travel through the South. It also helped organize the March on Washington in 1963, in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
But, since 1968, when Roy Innes took over the leadership of CORE, the group went hard to the right - as Innes threw his support to Richard Nixon. In recent years, Nigel Innes, Roy's son and CORE's current national chairman, has spoken out in support of oil drilling and against "eco-imperialism" - the idea that environmentalists' actions are damaging to the world's poor. The Center for Media and Democracy reports that, between 2003 and 2006, ExxonMobil gave CORE $275,000.
Labels: environment, Robert Redford
posted by Sean P. Means @ 11:28 AM |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home