5 Black Organizations That Have Been Manipulated by Corporate Funding

NAACP Several branches of the NAACP have been accused of playing into the hands of their white financial supporters. One of the most popular examples is the California NAACP. Back in 2012, the California branch of the NAACP stood against legislation that would require genetically engineered foods to be labeled as such. With Black people being more likely than any other race to face serious health issues like Type 2 diabetes as a result of poor diets, it’s no surprise that the California branch of the NAACP was met with tons of backlash from the Black community. As it turned out, Monsanto, a biochemical company with a lot to lose from the legislation against genetically modified foods, dropped some serious financial backing into the NAACP’s pockets. National Urban League The National Urban League bought into a similar Monsanto scheme. Back in 2011, authorities at the Urban League convention in Boston praised the likes of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Academic Henry Louis Gates referred to Bill Gates as “brother” at the convention. Referring to Gates as a “brother” of African-Americans was a surprising statement considering the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a large investor of Monsanto. The company actually helps contribute to hunger on the African continent and undermines the food security of African nations by pushing its genetically modified crops onto reluctant consumers. National Black Caucus of State Legislators Major cable and telephone service providers like Verizon and Comcast poured tons of cash into the pockets of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators back in 2007. In return, these companies were given seats on the organizations “policy-making corporate roundtable,” the perfect place for them to advocate for statewide cable franchise bills and push back against net neutrality. As studies will show, net neutrality is key to protecting the voices of women and Blacks online. The tech space already poses incredibly high barriers to entry for both groups and net neutrality will only reinforce that wall. Minority Media and Telecommunications Council If any organization was supposed to be pushing for net neutrality and the security of minority voices online it was the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. Unfortunately, the organization has surfaced as a key anti-net neutrality figure. In fact, the organization coordinated many of the anti-net neutrality filings that were sent to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year. To no surprise, it turns out that Verizon, Comcast and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association have all been major financial supporters of the organization. Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Members of the Congressional Black Caucus shocked the Black community when only two of its members voted against legitimizing the 2009 Israeli massacre of 1,400 people in Gaza – most of them being civilians. Opposing unjust wars and the oppression of any people was supposed to be a key priority of the CBC, but this time around they seemed to abandon that principle. As it turned out, many CBC staffers had made major moves to become corporate lobbyists and seemed to fall easily into the pockets of white corporations and politicians in favor of the war.

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