Roy Innis
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Roy Emile Alfredo Innis (born June 6, 1934, in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands) is currently the National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (also known as CORE). He has been Chairman since his election to the position 1968. In recent years, CORE and Innis have been closely associated with a number of projects involving big corporate backers, including Monsanto and ExxonMobil.
Before becoming National Chairman, he championed community-controlled education and African-American empowerment in the during the early 1960s. In 1965 he was elected Chairman of the Harlem chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality.
One of his sons, Niger Innis also serves the Congress of Racial Equality as its National Spokesman.
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[edit] Early life
In 1946 Innis moved with his mother from the U.S. Virgin Islands to New York City, where he attended Stuyvesant High School. At age 16, Innis joined the U.S. Army, and at age 18 he received an honorable discharge. He entered a four-year program in chemistry at the City College of New York. He subsequently held positions as a research chemist at Vick Chemical Company and Montefiore Hospital.
[edit] Early civil rights years
He joined CORE’s Harlem chapter in 1963. In 1964 he was elected Chairman of the chapter’s education committee and became a forceful advocate of community-controlled education and black empowerment. He led CORE’s fight for an independent police review board to address cases of police brutality. In 1965, he was elected Chairman of Harlem CORE, after which he mounted a vigorous campaign for establishment of an independent Board of Education for Harlem. A proposition to this end was presented to the 1967 New York State Constitutional Convention.
In the spring of 1967, Innis was appointed the first resident fellow at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center (MARC), headed by Dr. Kenneth Clark. In the summer of 1967, he was elected Second National Vice-Chairman of CORE. That same year, Innis and nine other black men formed the Harlem Commonwealth Council (HCC), an investment corporation whose long-term goal was to create independence and stability in Harlem. As the first Executive Director at HCC, Innis laid the ground work for what has become a highly successful model of economic development in a black community. During that same period, he was the co-editor and founder of the Manhattan Tribune Newspaper.
[edit] Black Nationalism and beginning the Bridge to Africa
Innis was elected National Director of CORE in 1968. In the same year, he drafted the Community Self-Determination Act of 1968 and garnered bipartisan sponsorship of this bill by one-third of the U.S. Senate and over 50 congressmen. This was the first time in U.S. history that a bill drafted by a black organization was introduced into Congress.
Responding to the continuing crisis centering on school integration, he offered an alternative plan consisting of community control of educational institutions. As part of this effort, in October 1970, CORE filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in connection with Swann vs the Charlotte Mackleburg Board of Education. Seeking to enhance and build on the black pride movement of the mid-1960s, he and a CORE delegation toured seven African countries in 1971. He met with several heads of state, including Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, and Liberia’s William Tolbert. In 1973 he became the first American to attend the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in an official capacity. In 1973 he participated in a televised debate with Nobel Physicist William Shockley on the topic of black genetic inferiority.
[edit] The Crusade Against Crime
Roy Innis’ involvement in criminal justice matters spans his entire career in CORE. His investigation in the early 1980s led to the uncovering of evidence that Wayne Williams was not solely responsible for the Atlanta Child Murders. His defense of victims’ rights to defend themselves led to his support and involvement in highly publicized cases such as: the "subway gunman," Bernhard Goetz; "subway token booth clerk", James Grimes; the "candyman good Samaritan", Andy Fredericks; the "black Bernie Goetz", Austin Weeks; and the accused "remember me subway shooter" Clemente Jackson. Roy Innis is a nationally known advocate of Second Amendment rights.
Some of his activities include: investigating and exposing the Tawana Brawley hoax; overseeing and participating in a citizen’s anti-drug campaign, "One Street At A Time"; championing the rights of immigrants; fighting against public indecency and predatory crime in an all-out effort to clean up New York City’s crime-ridden streets and subway system.
[edit] Controversy
Innis lost two of his sons to criminal gun violence. His first son, Roy Innis, Jr., at the age of 13 in 1968. His next oldest son Alexander, 26, was shot and slain some years later in 1982.[1]
He was noted for starting two televised scuffles in 1988, one on Geraldo against Nazi-skinheads, and another on The Morton Downey Jr. Show against Reverend Al Sharpton.
[edit] Political campaigns
In 1986 Innis challenged incumbent Major Owens in the Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District, representing Brooklyn. He was defeated by a three-to-one margin.
In the 1993 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, Innis challenged incumbent David Dinkins, the first African-American to hold the office. Given his conservative positions on the issues, he explained that "the Democratic Party is the only game in town. It's unfortunate that we have a corrupt one-party, one ideology system in New York City, and I'd like to change that. But being a Democrat doesn't mean you have to be a fool." During his own campaign, Innis also appeared at fundraising events for the Republican candidate Rudolph Giuliani. Innis received 25% of the vote in the four-way race with his highest totals came in white areas and his lowest in black Assembly districts. Dinkins lost to Giuliani in the general election.
In February 1994, his son Niger, who ran his primary campaign, suggested that Innis would also challenge incumbent governor Mario Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
Innis served as New York State Chair of Alan Keyes's 2000 presidential campaign.
