ColorOfChange.org
|
MEDIA
ADVISORY FOR: WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2008 |
CONTACT: |
Gabriel
Rey-Goodlatte, ColorOfChange.org, gabriel@colorofchange.org Andre
Banks, ColorOfChange.org, andre@colorofchange.org |
|
|
|
|
Hip Hop Artist Nas
to Join Protest of
FOX
Race-Baiting and Obama Smears
ColorOfChange.org
& MoveOn.org Members To Deliver Over 600,000 petition signatures to FOX
headquarters in Manhattan
Hip hop star Nas will join
members of ColorOfChange.org & MoveOn.org on Wednesday to deliver 620,127
petition signatures demanding that FOX end its pattern of racist attacks
against Black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his
wife Michelle. The group will make the delivery at 2:00pm on Wednesday, July
23rd at FOX in Manhattan.
Over the last several weeks,
FOX has had a string of incidents that many believe are a veiled attempt to
prey on racism and intolerance and cast the Obamas as “outsiders”: an on-screen
graphic referred to Mrs. Obama as “Obama’s baby
mama,” a pundit “confused” Obama with Osama and then joked they should both be assassinated, and
an anchor called a loving fist bump between Barack and Michelle a “terrorist fist
jab.” In February, Bill O’Reilly
talked about calling a “lynching party” to deal with Michelle.
The signatures were gathered
online over the last month by
ColorOfChange.org – a 450,000-member grassroots organization that focuses
on issues of importance to the Black community. MoveOn.org and the Brave New
Foundation also gathered signatures for the petition. In 2007, the groups led a
successful campaign to stop the Congressional Black Caucus Institute from
hosting a presidential debate on FOX.
The debate was cancelled after major presidential candidates declined to
attend.
“FOX poisons the country with
racist propaganda and tries to call it news,” said Nas. He caught
ColorOfChange.org and MoveOn.org’s attention with a new song called Sly Fox, which has lyrics like, “Watch what you watchin', FOX
keeps feeding us toxins, Stop sleeping, Start thinking” and “I pledge
allegiance to the fair and balanced truth/Not the biased truth/Not the liar's
truth/But the highest truth.” Nas’s new album called [Untitled] was released last week.
“When FOX talks about
lynching the woman who may soon be our First Lady and then refers to this wife
and mother as a ‘baby mama,’ they are maligning not only the Obamas, but Black
women and Black people across this country,” said James Rucker, executive
director of ColorOfChange.org. “We
have over 600,000 signatures – more than half a million people –
saying that we won’t stand for FOX’s racism and hate-mongering.”
###
The
email that ColorOfChange.org sent to its members, launching this petition, can
be found here:
http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/message.html
Substantiation:
“Fox News Jokes About Killing
Obama,” YouTube video posted May 25, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjYpkvcmog0
“Fox News' E.D. Hill teased discussion
of Obama dap: ‘A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab?’" Media
Matters, June 6, 2008
http://mediamatters.org/items/200806060007?f=h_clips
“Fox News in trouble again
over Obama smear: ‘baby mama,’” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2008
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/baby-mama.html
“Bill O'Reilly: ‘I Don't Want
To Go On A Lynching Party Against Michelle Obama Unless There's Evidence,’” Huffington Post, February 20, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/20/bill-oreilly-i-dont-w_n_87616.html
Video Compilation: “Fox
Attacks: Obama,” Brave New Films at FoxAttacks.com, February 2007
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/573-fox-attacks-obama
Video Compilation: “Fox
Attacks: Black America,” Brave New Films at FoxAttacks.com, June 2007
http://foxattacks.com/blog/572-fox-attacks-black-america
Video Compilation: “Fox
Attacks: Obama, Part 2,” Brave New Films at FoxAttacks.com, March 2008
http://foxattacks.com/blog/32376-fox-attacks-obama-part-2
An overview: Fox News and its
problem with African-Americans