Jesse Jackson

Lloyd Blankfein Plays Dumb on Goldman Sachs Support for Jesse Jackson

Submitted by Peter Flaherty on Sun, 05/09/2010 - 14:37

Blankfein photo At the Goldman Sachs annual meeting on Friday, I had an unplanned exchange with CEO Lloyd Blankfein about Goldman's support of Jesse Jackson, who was at the meeting and kept popping up to speak. Jackson was acting adversarial toward Blankfein, even though Goldman Sachs is one of Jackson’s largest financial supporters.

In hopes of ending this charade, I asked Blankfein to clarify the relationship between Goldman and Jackson as that of donor and recipient. Blankfein said he didn't know if Goldman supported Jackson. I challenged him by asking, "You do not know?" and "You give Jackson's group six-figure sums and you don't know about it?" Blankfein continued to play dumb, so I moved on to address our resolution asking for a report on the science behind Goldman’s embrace of global warming.

Of course, Blankfein is not dumb, just dishonest.

Sharpton Should Shut Up About Rush Limbaugh NFL Owner Bid

Submitted by Peter Flaherty on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 09:38

I am not sure why Rush Limbaugh would want to own an NFL team. It is surely more fun to criticize the establishment on a daily basis than to become part of it. Leaving that aside, the last person in the world who should have a say in the matter is Al Sharpton. (The next to last is his mentor Jesse Jackson.)

Sharpton has written a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell saying the NFL should reject Limbaugh’s bid. Yesterday the New York Times actually referred to Sharpton’s group, the National Action Network, as “a civil rights organization,” demonstrating the legitimacy that Sharpton has somehow come to enjoy in recent years. Let’s see if Goodell will further elevate Sharpton’s stature by responding in a serious way.

NLPC Challenges Proposed SEC Rule Mandating Corporate 'Diversity'

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:51

The Securities & Exchange Commission this past July has proposed amending Item 407(c)(2)(v) of Regulation S-K to require disclosure of racial and ethnic diversity on corporate and related nonprofit fund boards. We have submitted a comment of opposition because we believe this rule change to be a highly misguided intrusion into corporate governance.

Even assuming benign intent - and that is a stretch of an assumption - the outcome would be anything but benign. Anyone with sound instincts knows that any submitted information would be fair game for organizations seeking to tie executive compensation to the creation of a rigorously-monitored affirmative action spoils system.

Why Obama Is Wrong About Henry Louis Gates

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Thu, 07/23/2009 - 00:37

Obama photo One of the more irritating aspects of what passes for civil-rights activism in this country is the constant clamoring for a "national conversation on race." In practice, what this amounts to is blacks accusing and whites apologizing. About a dozen years ago, President Bill Clinton explicitly called for this sort of "dialogue." Now President Barack Obama has jumped into the fray. At the close of his press conference this evening, Obama denounced Cambridge, Massachusetts police for acting "stupidly" in arresting Harvard African-American Studies Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on July 16 for disorderly behavior.

Sotomayor, Sharpton and 'Post-Racial' Claptrap

Submitted by Peter Flaherty on Wed, 05/27/2009 - 12:06

Sharpton/Holder photo This picture of Al Sharpton talking to Attorney General Eric Holder was taken yesterday at the White House where Barack Obama announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. The White House has been giving Sharpton a surprisingly high profile lately. Al has practically moved in.

Barack Obama was supposed to be our first “post-racial” president. After all, he won the Democratic primaries and the general election with white votes. Obama’s supporters argued that Obama was just the leader to move the country beyond race. Sharpton’s mentor Jesse Jackson became so flustered at this possibility that he wished to cut off Obama’s privates.

New NLPC Special Report Exposes the Real Al Sharpton

Submitted by NLPC Staff on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 10:05

NLPC today released a special report titled Mainstreaming Demagoguery: Al Sharpton’s Rise to Respectability. It is a thorough examination of the character, career and impact of the controversial Reverend by Dr. Carl Horowitz of the NLPC staff.

Click here or on the cover to the right to download a 50-page pdf version.

Sharpton has been the subject of extensive media coverage and criticism in the past. But nothing so far has delved into Sharpton’s beliefs and tactics the way this report does. In particular, the report seeks to set the record straight, with details of Sharpton’s history, which includes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence.

SPECIAL REPORT: The Authoritarian Roots of Corporate Diversity Training: Jane Elliott's Captive Eyes and Minds

Submitted by NLPC Staff on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 17:44

Published in July 2007, the report compares "diversity training" to thought control. Click here or on the cover to the right to download the 16-page pdf version.

"Diversity training" is a term that describes a brief, but intensive program of lectures, presentation of written and audio-visual materials, and perhaps most ominously, participation in role-playing exercises, all of which are intended to heighten employee awareness of potential sources of racial and ethnic conflict. The report argues that diversity training is counterproductive and instead results in weakened company morale and increased racial resentment.

Pepsi’s Politicized Charitable Giving Again Under Fire

Submitted by Peter Flaherty on Sun, 04/26/2009 - 20:31

Indra Nooyi photo The American Family Association (AFA) is criticizing PepsiCo’s financial support of activist groups promoting gay marriage. PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation are major funders of the Human Rights Campaign, and a group called Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

AFA president Don Wildmon is asking PepsiCo to become “neutral” on the issue of gay marriage by ending support for the groups. Wildmon’s complaints echo those of NLPC, made in 2006 and 2007, of a liberal political bias in the company’s giving. At that time, NLPC objected to PepsiCo’s financial support for groups founded by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Boeing Shareholder Proposal Targets 'Golden Parachutes'

Submitted by NLPC Staff on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 01:56

Boeing logo NLPC is sponsoring a Boeing shareholder proposal to allow a shareholder vote on any “golden parachute,” or excessive executive severance agreement. The same proposal received an impressive 38% of the vote last year, despite being opposed by Boeing’s management. The Boeing annual meeting is in Chicago on Monday, April 27.

TARP Inspector General Asked to Investigate Citigroup and Bank of America Donations to Rainbow/PUSH

Submitted by NLPC Staff on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:00

Today the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) asked Neil M. Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), for a formal review of the sponsorship by Bank of America and Citigroup of the Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Conference currently taking place in New York City. The January 13-16 event is one of two of Jesse Jackson’s annual fundraisers.