NEW YORK – As riots continue to plague Charlotte, North Carolina after a police shooting there, Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, has taken center stage in helping to shape the public narrative by commenting on the issue in the news media.
Not only is the NAACP heavily financed by Soros to the tune of millions of dollars, Barber himself was singled out in a hacked document from the billionaire’s Open Society Institute as part of the rationale for offering a local grant to the NAACP’s North Carolina branch, Breitbart News has found.The memo states that the NAACP’s North Carolina chapter “advances several key OSI (Open Society Institute) priorities,” and describes Barber himself as a “dynamic leader, catalytic speaker, and builder of powerful and diverse alliances.”
On Thursday, Barber participated in a news conference where he demanded, “We all stand together declaring there must be transparency and the videos must be released.”
“At this point, there is speculation because the videos have not been released. Be clear: There is unrest in Charlotte and across America because of what we do know,” he continued, with his quotes being utilized in news media articles about the riots.
On Thursday, Barber also took to MSNBC to accuse Donald Trump of flaming racial tensions and also to describe some cops as trigger-happy.
On Trump, Barber stated:
“He is a man who has inflamed racial tension, applauded members of his rallies, who have actually hit African-Americans. He has joined in this narrative that somehow, to be against racial injustice and against racism engaged in by police is to, in fact, be anti-police, when, in fact, the black and the white community that is also marching with Black Lives Matter and the NAACP and the Latinos are not anti-police, we’re anti-bad police.”
Barber called Trump “exactly the wrong one” to be speaking about racial issues in the country.
Addressing the police shootings, Barber stated, “We need to understand something, this is very simple, and that’s why you see black and white people together with these protests. A badge and a gun, the ability to serve a warrant and take a person’s family member out of their house, the ability to use lethal force is too much power for a bigot, for someone that is trigger happy, and for someone that does not understand that their first role is to protect and serve, not to shoot and kill.”
Barber penned an editorial published at NBCNews.com titled, “Charlotte Is Drowning in Systematic Injustice” in which he claimed the U.S. criminal justice system is aimed at controlling black people.
“We know that the law, as written and enforced, cannot protect us from police violence,” he wrote.
“We know Darryl Hunt and Henry McCollum, two in a long list of African-American men wrongfully convicted in this state. We know our criminal justice system does not function to protect black life, but to control it.”
Soros’s Open Society has long been a significant donor to the NAACP’s national and local branches.
Soros has provided millions of dollars in financing to the NAACP, including a $1,000,000 pledge to the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund in March 2013; $100,000 in 2009; $200,000 in 2008; two grants of $208,000 and $300,000 in 2011; and $350,000 in 2012.
Barber was singled out in a hacked Open Society document from June 30, 2010 titled “Democracy and Power Fund State Funding Recommendations Memo Docket II”
The Democracy and Power Fund is part of the Open Society Institute. In January 2010, the Open Society earmarked $2 million per year for the Fund to provide grants to organizations in North Carolina and Texas.
The hacked memo recommended that Soros’s Fund provide $1,075,000 in grants to eleven local groups, including $120,000 over one year to the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP.
The grant was meant to fund the NAACP’s State Conference in Durham, North Carolina, which, the memo relates, “serves to improve the political, educational, social, and economic status of African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities; to eliminate racial prejudice; to keep the public aware of the adverse effects of discrimination; and to take lawful action to secure the elimination of racial discrimination.”
A section in the hacked memo titled “Rationale for Recommendation,” explains why the grant should be made to the NAACP.
There, the Open Society document boasted about Barber’s work, calling him a “dynamic leader, catalytic speaker, and builder of powerful and diverse alliances.”
The memo states:
The NC NAACP is led by Rev. Dr. William
J. Barber, II, a dynamic leader, catalytic speaker, and builder of
powerful and diverse alliances who serves as the state president. Rev.
Barber entered the position with a promise to increase the relevance of
the 100-year old institution to contemporary life and criticized former
NC NAACP leaders for having a behind-the scenes approach to civil
action, preferring to negotiate with legislators rather than taking the
civil rights agenda to the streets. His commitment to organizing and
policy advocacy is unique for the institution and he states that while
the NC NAACP will continue to work with lawmakers “…the difference is
that when we go into the legislature, we don’t check with them to
negotiate what’s most politically acceptable. We go in and stand on our
principles.” And a broad, diverse, and growing community of
organizations and activists stands with them.
Rev. Barber has shared that OSI funding
would enable the hiring of two new staff members for the NAACP – it
currently only has one staff person, an executive director, and Rev.
Barber’s time is supported primarily by his congregations. One of the
new positions will be an organizer who will focus on sustaining and
expanding the base of support for the organization and the broader HK on
J campaign. The second position will enable the hiring of a policy
staff person, perhaps with legal expertise, to assist in its advocacy
work, including on school desegregation issues, an issue of interest to
the Equality and Opportunity Fund.
The memo states that the NAACP in North Carolina “advances” Open Society objectives.
The Democracy and Power Fund and the
Equality and Opportunity Fund are excited to recommend this first
funding recommendation to support the North Carolina NAACP’s work and
provide backing for a statewide advocacy, organizing, and public
education that promotes base-building among African-Americans, builds
alliances between the state’s diverse populations, advances the broader
issues of all North Carolinians who seek social justice, and advances
several key OSI priorities.
With additional research by Joshua Klein and Brenda J. Elliott.
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