Anti-LGBT Bishop gets Award from Civil Rights Group

[Steven E. Webster]

Friends,

I refer you to this news item:

http://www.channel3000.com/news/10498779/detail.html

Bishop Morlino took a leading role in the recent passage of Wisconsin's anti-same gender union/marriage amendment. I'd be particularly interested in our own Jamie McDaniel's take on this situation given his knowledge of the black Civil Rights movement. What's the deal with CORE (Congress on Racial Equality)?

It's particularly ironic that Bishop Morlino has also been appointed to an advisory board of the notorious School of the Americas. Here's another recent article:

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=107534&ntpid=0

Here's a Bishop who gets a Civil Rights award while defending a School of Torture and attacking the equality of LGBT persons--outrageous!

Steven Webster

[andrewlittle]

CORE is a little difficult to get my head around. It is, on the surface, heavily involved in equality issues, but has some interestingly contradictary statements.

Consider the following in light of the award granted Morlino for being "a "stalwart" defender of traditional family values."

From the CORE website:
Under the banner of "TRUTH! LOGIC! & COURAGE!", CORE continues to promote harmony and healing in all aspects of society; calling the shots straight--even when it hurts--and confronting the haters, race baiters and racial racketeers bent on keeping us apart.

Membership in CORE is open to anyone who believes that "all people are created equal" and is willing to work towards the ultimate goal of true equality throughout the world.

In essence, CORE's aim is to bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background. In pursuing its aim, CORE seeks to identify and expose acts of discrimination in the public and private sectors of society. When such an act is uncovered, CORE, with its many multi-service departments, goes into action.

Well, how about rights of equality for other people? We already know that the GLBT movement must not be about "constitutional rights", according to CORE's stand on marriage equality, but it seems that the same goes for immigration issues (see below). Does this not also stand in stark contrast to CORE's statement of equality for all people?

Also from the CORE website:
Roy Innis, the National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Stated yesterday on The CORE Hour, CORE’s weekly radio program, that the immigration movement is not a fight for rights guaranteed by the constitution as in the case of the Civil Rights Movement.
According to Roy Innis, “ while there are some similarities in the desires of the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s and the Immigration Movement there are fundamental differences. The Civil Rights Movement was a morally based and constitutionally based drive for rights. While the immigrant movement is a drive to appeal to the American people for the privilege of becoming a legal resident of this country. The Civil Rights Movement’s strategy was politically and legally based. The Immigrant Movement lacks a constitutional imperative.

The information on the CORE website is vague and self-agrandizing, which is to be expected I assume. You can't put everything on a website - even if you are one of the "big four" in civil rights movements, and the only one with official recognition and participation in the U.N. (CORE claim).

Is CORE standing on past laurels in the Black civil rights movement to promote an agenda that is now more conservative? Well, its ties to conservative Christianity (Church of Christ - not United Church of Christ, BTW), Zionism, globalization economics, corporate land ownership rights, and anti-immigration reform may be indicators.

While it is not, in and of itself, necessarily indicative of a shift in politics, the two legal advisors listed on the site are white, male, conservative, Republican attorneys. The "special advisor" is Joseph Lovece, Jr., who is the president and Chief Executive Officer of North Star Contracting Corporation. North Star is a "multi-faceted organization concentrating in heavy construction, erection of bridges, subway construction, electrical construction and transmissions line building throughout the United States." It is also heavily involved in the post-Katrina work.

It would seem odd that, given the ample representation of civil rights attorneys who are people of color, no Black attorneys are legal advisors. The Village Voice article cited below also claims that the leader of CORE, Roy Innis, is a "controversial Republican" with conservative values.

In 1990, James L. Farmer, Jr., co-founder of CORE in 1942, stated that, in his opinion, "CORE has no functioning chapters; it holds no conventions, no elections, no meetings, sets no policies, has no social programs and does no fund-raising. In my opinion, CORE is fraudulent." http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0317,charles,43542,1.html

Of course, it could simply be that they want to protect the "civil rights" arena for African-Americans only. That logic seems weak, however. It is more likely that CORE gives awards to people who think like they do and further their questionable goals, but under the guise of "civil rights" work.

[Steven E. Webster]

In 1990, James L. Farmer, Jr., co-founder of CORE in 1942, stated that, in his opinion, "CORE has no functioning chapters; it holds no conventions, no elections, no meetings, sets no policies, has no social programs and does no fund-raising. In my opinion, CORE is fraudulent." http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0317,charles,43542,1.html


Andrew,
Thank you for your knowledgeable commentary and especially for the link to the Village Voice. This goes a long way towards explaining why this organization would be supporting someone like Bishop Morlino. The present-day CORE appears to be more a front for a certain type of Republican Conservatism than it is a Civil Rights organization. Also interesting/revealing is CORE's long-time control by one man--Innis and his intention to pass it to his son as a family legacy.

Steven Webster