Voice for Black Americans

Can there be more than one voice for Black people in America? Does Al Sharpton speak for all black people here in America? This message will not discuss his background or his “work product” from his 50 years of speaking “to” black Americans. Below are other people that have a vast amount of experience and knowledge about the struggles of black people and Americans as a whole. Many of these people have written books on “race relations”, some have taught classes, and all of them have a common goal – “work toward better relationships for all Americans”. These are some of the many people that believe that all Americans need to be told the truth and that none need to be fed hate at every opportunity. Is America perfect? – NO it is not. Is America the same as it was in the past? – No it is not. Do black Americans have more problems with the police than white Americans? Yes and no – depends more on chosen lifestyle than skin color, but that does not mean that it is not a factor in some places. When police are sent to a scene due to a 911 call, they are going to the scene of a crime. Those involved in crime will have much greater problems with police than those not involved in crime, skin color is not the issue. Everyone views other people through a personal prism and what they see can be tainted by personal experiences and training. To say that every black person sees an event or circumstance the same way or a white person does likewise is just plain wrong. Americans are more divided today on national issues than on issues having to do with skin color. Those national issues are almost tied directly to the differences in the Ten Commandments, God’s value system.

Why is it that so many have said so much about the death of George Floyd and I have not seen any of those people say anything about the death of David Dorn? Here is a tough question – Which one served the black community and America better? David Dorn has already been forgotten by everyone except his family and George Floyd has become a national hero, so proclaimed by the Congressional Black Caucus.

Dr. Wilfred Reilly is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Kentucky State University, a historically Black college in Frankfort, Kentucky. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Southern Illinois University and a law degree from the University of Illinois. Reilly’s research focuses on empirical testing of political claims which are often very influential but, he claims, rarely well-supported by scientific data. Reilly’s book Hate Crime Hoax: How the Left is Selling a Fake Race War, was published by Regnery Publishing in February 2019. For the book, Reilly assembled a data set of 409 allegedly false or dubious hate crime allegations (concentrated during the past five years), which he describes as hoaxes on the basis of reports in mainstream national or regional news sources. This data set is available to anyone who requests it. He uses this data to support his claim that a substantial percentage of all hate crime allegations must be hoaxes, given that only about 7,000 reported hate crimes take place in a typical year, and at most 8-10% of these receive the national or regional reporting that is required for inclusion in his data set. In the wake of the Jussie Smollett alleged hoax, Reilly authored an editorial outlining his case in USA Today. “It’s politicization to say there’s a massive surge of hate” under President Trump and that political liberals tend to “characterize all hate crimes as attacks on innocent people of color” even where what actually happened may be unknown or ambiguous. Reilly, who is African American, has appeared or been quoted in television, radio and print media outlets, claiming that many or most recent high profile hate crimes (i.e. Jussie Smollett, Yasmin Seweid, Air Force Academy, Eastern Michigan, Hopewell Baptist) have turned out to be hoaxes.

Dr. Shelby Steele (born January 1, 1946) is an American author, columnist, documentary film maker, and a Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at Stanford University‘s Hoover Institution. He specializes in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action. In 1990, he received the National Book Critics Circle Award in the general nonfiction category for his book The Content of Our Character. Steele was born in Chicago to a black father and a white mother. His father, Shelby Sr., a truck driver, met his mother, Ruth, a social worker, while working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). His twin brother is Claude Steele, who is currently Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Berkeley, and formerly dean of the School of Education at Stanford University. Steele received a B.A. in political science from Coe College, an M.A. in sociology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Utah. Steele met his wife, Rita, during his junior year at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was one of 18 black students in his class. Steele was active in the SCOPE Project, a voter registration project of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and he met Rita at an activist meeting. In 1968, Steele graduated from Coe College and went on to earn his master’s degree in sociology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Steele attended the University of Utah, where he taught black literature and studied for his Ph.D. After earning a Ph.D. in English in 1974, Steele was offered a tenured position at the university but turned it down because of hostility encountered as part of an interracial couple in Utah. Steele accepted a position at San Jose State University as a professor of English literature and taught there from 1974 to 1991. Steele opposes policies such as affirmative action, which he considers to be unsuccessful liberal campaigns to promote equal opportunity for African Americans. He contends that blacks have been “twice betrayed:” first by slavery and oppression and then by group preferences mandated by the government, which discourage self-agency and personal responsibility in blacks. The great ingenuity of interventions like affirmative action has not been that they give Americans a way to identify with the struggle of blacks, but that they give them a way to identify with racial virtuousness quite apart from blacks. Steele believes that the use of victimization is the greatest hindrance for black Americans. In his view, white Americans see blacks as victims to ease their guilty conscience, and blacks attempt to turn their status as victims into a kind of currency that will purchase nothing of real or lasting value. Therefore, he claims, blacks must stop “buying into this zero-sum game” by adopting a “culture of excellence and achievement” without relying on “set-asides and entitlements.”

John Edward James (born June 8, 1981) is an American politician, businessman, and veteran. At age 17, James enrolled in the United States Military Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 2004 and became an Army Ranger-qualified aviator. He served for eight years in the United States Army, participating in multiple tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was an Apache pilot. James received a Master of Supply Chain Management and Information Systems degree from Pennsylvania State University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan. He was the Republican candidate for the 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan but lost to the incumbent Democrat. James is a candidate for the Senate again in 2020. From 2004 to 2012, James served in the United States Army. After he was discharged, James joined his family’s supply chain business. In 2012, James joined James Group International, where his father, John A. James, was the CEO. James Group is a global supply chain management service company; James became its director of operations, and eventually became president of JGI and CEO of Renaissance Global Logistics. James was named one of the Detroit Business Journal‘s 30 in their 30s of 2012, and Michigan Chronicle 40 under 40 of 2014. He serves as a board member of the Michigan Council for Future Mobility, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, National Veteran Business Development Council, and Detroit Workforce Development Board.

Darrell C. Scott is an American pastor and a member of President Donald Trump‘s executive transition team. He is a co-founder of the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He is a co-founder, along with Michael D. Cohen, and board member of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. According to his statements at a rally for President Trump, Scott aspired as a child to be a drug dealer and pimp; Scott sold drugs, used cocaine, stole automobiles and took his father’s 9mm pistol to school at age 16 and was expelled for it. While in his 20s, Scott became a born again Christian after being inspired by his wife who was born again months earlier, after a neighbor had urged her to attend church. In 2004, Scott received an honorary doctorate from St. Thomas Christian College (now University), a school without accreditation from the Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Scott is the founder and pastor of New Spirit Revival Center, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Scott’s non-denominational church operates out of a former Jewish Synagogue built in 1924, a 115k square foot facility, that has a daycare, banquet hall and radio station, with 3,500 members as of 2005.

Peter N. Kirsanow (born October 30, 1953) is a partner with the law firm of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, working within its Labor & Employment Practice Group in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, currently serving his third consecutive 6-year term. He was previously a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from January 2006 to January 2008. Kirsanow received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1976 and then in 1979 received his J.D. cum laude from Cleveland–Marshall College of Law, where he served as articles editor of the Cleveland State Law Review. Kirsanow served as labor counsel for the City of Cleveland and as senior labor counsel of Leaseway Transportation Corp. Kirsanow was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by President George W. Bush in December 2001, but Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry told the White House that it would take federal marshals to seat Kirsanow, fighting his appointment all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In May 2002 the United States Department of Justice prevailed in its lawsuit to seat Kirsanow as a member of the Commission. He was reappointed by President Bush to serve a second six-year term on the commission, and then reappointed once more by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan. President Bush appointed Kirsanow to the five-member NLRB in 2006 for two years, where he was involved with significant decisions including Oakwood Healthcare, Inc., Dana/Metaldyne and Oil Capital Sheet Metal, Inc. In 2008, Kirsanow returned to the Cleveland law firm of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP, where he is a partner with the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group and a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He represents management in employment-related litigation, contract negations, NLRB proceedings and EEO matters. Kirsanow has written articles for National Review since 2003. Kirsanow testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nominations of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court and at the confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions nomination for United States Attorney General

Niger Roy Innis (born 1968) is an American activist and politician. He is the National Spokesperson for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and a political consultant. He was an MSNBC commentator. Innis was born in Harlem, New York, on March 5, 1968, and currently lives in North Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1990, Innis attended Georgetown University, and pursued a degree in political science, but did not graduate from the school. Innis is active in community and social organizations, including as Co-Chairman of the Affordable Power Alliance (APA), a coalition of Latino and African American ministerial organizations; Senior Citizen Advocates, which fights against public policies that raise energy costs; Advisory Committee Project 21 for the National Center for Public Policy Research; consultant to EEN247.com, Empowerment and Excellence Cable channel; NRA Membership Committee and NRA Lifetime member. Innis was a political and social commentator for MSNBC and National Public Radio (NPR). He is a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, BBC, CBC, ABC News, CBS News and Al Jazeera News.