New effort to harm Obama in eyes of black voters will fail

Alveda King

According to the Advocate magazine, there is now a HUGE effort to keep African-Americans from voting for President Obama because of his support of marriage equality:

A nonprofit group of African-American faith leaders has pledged $1 million toward an anti-Obama ad campaign encouraging black voters to abandon the president at polls in November, due to his support for marriage equality. The group, which calls itself God Said, aims to strip Obama of 25% of his African-American support, asking voters not to cast a ballot by political affiliation, but rather to vote "their biblical values."

On Tuesday, the newly formed group announced its plan to target voters with radio and TV ads in the swing states of Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Florida, according to The Daily Caller .

"The black community is among the most religious in America," founder Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani told The Daily Caller in a statement. "We are offended that President Obama has announced his support of same-sex marriage, that the NAACP has blindly supported the secular views of the Democratic Party, and that their national platform plainly supports same-sex marriage. I am confident this message will be well received and acted upon on Election Day."

According to the group's website — which features an ominous video preaching that "God said marriage equals one man and one woman" — its founders hope to "impact the social and cultural climate; to bring about a notable, nonpartisan support of natural marriage and natural family life in the African American community and society as a whole."

In addition to Kamau-Imani, the executive board of God Said also includes former Miss America contestant Day Gardner, and Alveda King, the right-wing niece of Dr. Martin Luther King.

So this "group"  is targeting Obama in the swing states; states crucial for victory. How convenient. 

Personally, I have never heard of these folks except for Alveda King and if this woman is involved then hold your nose so you don't smell the distinctive wafts of a rat.

For those who don't know, Alveda King has made a career out of being the niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She has self-anointed herself as the designee of his legacy in civil rights and is almost always called upon if conservatives or members of the religious right needs a token African-American to somehow make it seem that their policies and efforts are universal.

However, other than exploiting her uncle's name, King has done absolutely nothing for the civil rights movement. In an interview I conducted with her earlier this year (in which I confronted charges she made about Bayard Rustin, the openly gay organizer of the 1963 March on Washington), she could not tell me what her participation was in the civil rights movement nor could she defend the charges she made against Rustin. I guess that's why she hung up on me.

Any group or effort which Alveda King is involved in when it concerns civil rights should be taken with a grain of salt. A very small grain of salt.

But even if King wasn't involved in this endeavor, it would fail anyway because of its own ego. The organization made a huge mistake in revealing how much money will go into its effort to undermine Obama's African-American support.

Or to put it in the vernacular of so many African-Americans who will read this article - "where in the hell are they getting $1 millon from?"

This silly organization with a cute name, will, no doubt, be correctly pegged as an astroturfed group which is backed by predominantly white organizations who actually support Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney.

We already saw that with the Coalition of African-American ministers (CAAP), who has received funding from the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage - two group who support Romney.

And we already saw that with Bishop Harry Jackson, a black pastor who received a grand total of $80,000 from the National Organization for Marriage for his efforts against marriage equality.

So there is no question that this new group  - thanks to its ego in announcing its funding - will fail.

The only question I have is how much of that $1 million will magically ease its way into Alveda King's purse.

'African-American leaders push back hard against anti-marriage equality argument' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Video: Southern Baptist for Maryland equality - The next time someone accuses black ministers being at the forefront of homophobia, show them these videos. Just awesome:





 It's a welcome change from the attacks on our families by bought-and-paid for pastors like Harry Jackson

In other news:

Former NOM president: Marriage is not a “civil rights issue” - From the sound of the article, Maggie Gallagher got some serious push back against her positions from some African-American leaders. I wish I had been there.  

Transgender Voters Could Be Disenfranchised By Voter ID Laws, Advocates Warn - Better safe than sorry. Transgender voters need to know this info before they attempt to vote.

 Preserve Marriage Washington Sidelines Ken Hutcherson, Imports Harry Jackson To Play “Homophobic Black Pastor” - That's gotta be nice. Disposable homophobic black pastors. Just throw the one you are finished with in the trash and pop in a new one.

 

Bishop tells woman she risks going to hell if she accepts her gay son

Nienstedt

What you are seeing is an unbelievably cruel letter by Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt to a mother of a gay son in 2010. In essence, it's telling her that if she accepts her gay son, she risks going to hell.

Apparently this is par for the course for Nienstedt. According to an article in the Minnesota's Star Tribune, Nienstedt has raised eyebrow with how he has led the charge against marriage equality in Minnesota:

Working aggressively behind the scenes, the 65-year-old Nienstedt has emerged as a key financial and political force for passage of the marriage amendment, which will be on the Nov. 6 ballot and is the most contentious issue in the state this election season.

He has committed more than $650,000 in church money, stitched together a coalition of leaders from other faiths and exerted all his power within the church to press Minnesota's million-plus Catholics to back him.

 . . .  Nienstedt is not a new disciple to the traditional marriage campaign. In 2006, as bishop of the diocese of New Ulm, he mobilized Catholics to send postcards to lawmakers urging them to support a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Not long after he was promoted to archbishop in 2008, Nienstedt ordered an end to the gay pride prayer service at St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis. Before the 2010 election, he led a move to send DVDs opposing same-sex marriage to 400,000 Catholics in Minnesota . . .


 . . .   Undeterred by the criticism, Nienstedt has raised the stakes. To a mother who pleaded for acceptance for her gay child, he wrote: "I urge you to reconsider the position that you expressed. ... Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation of heart on this topic."

To clergy, he issued orders that no "open dissension" would be allowed. He wrote one outspoken priest, the Rev. Mike Tegeder, that if he persisted, "I will ... remove you from your ministerial assignments."

"He silenced his priests under the order of obedience," said Ed Flahavan, a member of Former Priests for Marriage Equality, a group that went public in May with the names of 80 former Minnesota Catholic priests against the amendment. "It's the first time in my experience or knowledge that kind of blanket order has been given" in this archdiocese.

Individual Catholics have seen their parishes directed to form committees to work for passage of the amendment. The archdiocese also appointed married couples to talk up marriage at Catholic high schools. Nienstedt asked priests to recite a "marriage prayer" during mass.

Folks like Nienstedt is most likely the reason why some people are making the choice to turn away from religion.