[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE McKinney urges Gates Foundation aid for African

[Green Party of California Updates]

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Distributed by the Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
November 6, 2006


Green Party 2008 Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney Poses Challenge to
the Gates Foundation


Cynthia McKinney's Challenge to the Gates Foundation:  Stop choosing
Seattle's corporate power brokers over the African-American community's need
for a meaningful world class cultural institution.


SEATTLE, WA -- On Monday, October 27th, during her recent visit to Seattle,
Green Party 2008 Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney made an unannounced
visit to the Gates Foundation.  Accompanied by a few Power To The People
Campaign supporters, plus Seattle Central Community College Black Student
Union President Geneiva Arunga and Umojafest Peace Center Founder Wyking
Garrett, McKinney arrived at Gates Foundation headquarters to hand-deliver
the following letter to CEO Jeff Raikes.  A video clip of this event should
be available at http://freshfig.com/n5p/cmckinney_gfdn.html by or before 2pm
on Tuesday, November 4 (contact me at pwolf at mckinney08news.com regarding any
technical difficulties).


Jeff Raikes
Chief Executive Officer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PO Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102

Dear Mr. Raikes:

I am contacting you regarding the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation
involvement in the African American Heritage Museum & Cultural Center under
the auspices of the Northwest African American Museum and Urban League
Village.  I have recently joined the National Campaign to bring justice to
the African American Heritage Museum in Seattle, Washington, a project in
which the Gates Foundation and William Gates, Sr. have been intricately
involved, in ways that amount to marginalization and disenfranchisement of
Seattle's African American community.

As you may be aware, this has been a controversial issue in the Seattle
community.  The current issue of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine (October
2008) highlights some of the controversy and conflict between the interests
of the African American community and the desires of Seattle's ruling class.

In a spirit similar to Bill and Melinda Gates' stated goals of creating the
Gates Foundation to ensure that all people get an equal chance to live
healthy, productive lives, the African American Heritage Museum was founded
to counter the negative conditions existing in the African American
community. These conditions, including disproportionate levels of broken
homes, crime, academic failure, drugs, violence, incarceration,
unemployment, and lack of economic development, are a direct result of the
cultural and socio-economic damages caused by the disenfranchisement of
African people from their culture, heritage and wealth known as African
Holocaust, commonly referred to as the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and the
institutionalized oppression of African peopled that followed.

It appears that Seattle powerbrokers were not favorable to this grassroots
undertaking, preferring an entity that was not community-determined and
controlled, if any institution at all. The goal of building an institution
to strengthen the African community in Seattle was and is contrary to
downtown's long term goal of eliminating Seattle's African American
community.  To that end, it is my understanding that Seattle's corporate
power brokers have financed and facilitated the hostile takeover of this
project by the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

The methods used to redirect this project from its origins as one that would
significantly increase opportunity and equity for Seattle's African American
population have been unethical, immoral and illegal yet the project has
enjoyed a stamp of approval from the Gates Foundation.

As charity is not in itself justice, I would hope that the Gates Foundation
would support our community's need and desire for a dynamic, meaningful
world class cultural institution in Seattle.

It is my recommendation that you meet with this group as I think that it is
most beneficial that a charity such as the Gates Foundation have a positive
working relationship rather than adversarial relationship to its African
American community.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter and I look forward to
your response.  For more information or to further discuss this matter
please contact K. Wyking Garrett at 206.941.2527 or via email at
Wyking at gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Cynthia A. McKinney

MORE INFORMATION: The African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center,
and its transition into today's Northwest African American Museum:
Read the story told by the founders of the original grassroots project.
http://aahmcc.org/index.html

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente 'Power to the People' Campaign for the White
House
http://votetruth08.com/

John Judge, McKinney/Clemente 08 Press Secretary (national)
202.584.1021 / fax 240.491.3311
press-secretary at runcynthiarun.org

Scott McLarty, Green Party USA Press Secretary
202.904.7614
scottmclarty at yahoo.com
http://www.gp.org

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