Rashad Robinson

Have you ever looked up at the television at a local business — your gym, an auto shop, a bar or restaurant — only to find Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly shouting down at you? Often without thinking about it, many businesses and other public establishments are providing a vehicle for Fox News’ attempts to divide America. Now you can do something about it.

Today, ColorOfChange.org is launching Turn Off Fox — a massive campaign to get Fox News turned off in stores, restaurants, and other public places.

There was a time not long ago when it was easy to believe that Google was a different kind of company — one that considered the public good as well as the bottom line in making decisions. My, how a week changes things.

This morning, we launched a petition calling President Obama to reinstate Shirley Sherrod at the USDA, and to stop caving to right-wing smear campaigns.

More than 20,000 ColorOfChange.org members have signed it in just a few hours. You can join us by clicking here.

It’s recently been reported that the White House and Tom Vilsack are reviewing the situation and reconsidering the decision to fire Sherrod. If enough of us speak out, we may be able to convince the Obama administration to correct this injustice.

UPDATE:

Robert Gibbs has apologized to Sherrod on behalf of the Obama administration, and it sounds like they may offer to reinstate her. This is great news, and we hope the administration follows through and puts Sherrod back in her position at the USDA. We encourage you to keep signing our petition until it becomes clear that Shirley Sherrod has been offered her job back.

Ever since the FCC decided to reclassify broadband as a communication service — preserving its basic regulatory authority over high-speed Internet — the big telephone and cable companies have been on the attack.

One telecom industry front group, Americans for Prosperity, announced a $1.4 million ad blitz to smear the move as a “government takeover of the Internet.” And the telecoms also enlisted their allies in Congress to speak out against the move. Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) is pushing a letter which calls on the FCC to abandon its plans to oversee broadband — a move which would in effect end efforts to protect consumers and extend Internet access to all Americans.

Last week, I urged black members of Congress not to sign this letter. But we quickly learned that Representatives G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Lacy Clay (D-MO), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Greg Meeks (D-NY), Bobby Rush (D-IL), and Bennie Thompson (D-MS) didn’t get the message. ColorOfChange members quickly reacted, placing more than 1750 calls in the span of 48 hours. From our recent press release:

The big phone and cable companies are pulling out all the stops in their campaign against network neutrality, the set of principles which keep the Internet free from corporate gatekeeping and censorship. Part of that campaign involves enlisting members of Congress to echo their talking points, and right now, telecom lobbyists are hitting Capitol Hill hard, putting maximum pressure on members of Congress in both parties to sign letters to the FCC.

ColorOfChange.org is reaching out to every member of the Congressional Black Caucus today to warn them about a letter that is being circulated by Rep. Gene Green. We’re worried that some CBC members will sign the Green letter without fully understanding what’s at stake, and we want to make clear how important this issue is to the ColorOfChange.org community and to African-Americans in general, and why our members see it as a 21st century civil rights issue.

Below is the letter we sent to CBC offices this morning.

The hateful acts that occurred at the tea party rally in Washington this weekend were not isolated incidents — they are part of a growing pattern of violent rhetoric, racially charged imagery, and paranoid conspiracy theories emerging from the Republican party’s grassroots supporters.

Republicans officials have contributed to this atmosphere with fear-mongering and coded racism, and they have actively courted this element of their party. It’s time that Republican leadership is forced to address what it’s helped to create.

Please join us in confronting Republican leaders and demanding that they take responsibility for tamping down the bigotry and hate among their supporters, and that they disavow the fear-mongering that leads to it. And please ask your friends and family to do the same — unless we take a strong stand against this kind of hate, it will continue. We need as many people as possible — of every race — demanding that it stop.

Yesterday, for the fifth day in a row, the UK broadcast of Glenn Beck’s TV show was forced to run without any advertisements. This is thanks to efforts by StopBeck.com to pressure companies advertising on Beck’s UK broadcast.

It’s an amazing milestone in the larger effort to push advertisers away from Glenn Beck, which started last July. And at the same time, we’ve reached another important milestone — over 100 companies have now stopped their ads from appearing on Beck’s show.

A little over a week ago I delved into a troubling topic: Why are so many civil rights groups and members of the Congressional Black Caucus opposing net neutrality? It seemed strange to me that leaders in communities of color would be echoing discredited telecommunications industry talking points.

It’s said that politics creates strange bedfellows. I was reminded how true this can be when I traveled to D.C. in recent weeks to figure out why several advocacy groups and legislators with histories of advocating for minority interests are lining up with big telecom companies in opposition to the FCC’s efforts to pass “Net Neutrality” rules.

Most unsettling about their position is the argument that maintaining Net Neutrality could widen the digital divide.

After ColorOfChange.org took on Glenn Beck for his race-baiting and fear-mongering, Beck’s supporters fought back using lies, distortions, and more race-baiting to defend him. DefendGlenn.com was the worst, mounting a campaign to scare advertisers into staying on his show.

After we threatened them with a lawsuit, DefendGlenn.com has backpedalled. It should make clear to advertisers who have pulled their support that they’ve done the right thing.