One People's Project

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One Peoples Project (OPP) is an organization founded in 2000 to monitor racist and far right groups and individuals. Its most prominent members are its founder Daryle Lamont Jenkins and Joshua Hoyt, who joined the group in 2002. In addition to focusing on neo-Nazis and other racist extremists, OPP also exposes the alleged racist views of influencial United States conservatives such as Ann Coulter, Tony Perkins and Michelle Malkin.

[edit] History

The precursor of One People’s Project resulted from a counter-demonstration to a rally titled "Independence from Affirmative-Action Day" put on by the Nationalist Movement, led by Richard Barrett, in Morristown, New Jersey on July 4, 2000. Among them was activist Daryle Lamont Jenkins, at the time a member of a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based group called the New Jersey Freedom Organization (NJFO). Along with NJFO, were a number of organizations that united to oppose the rally. The counter-demonstration, organized online, was called the “One People’s Rally” noting that those opposing the Nationalist Movement were doing so as one people. On the day of the rally, 300 persons turned out to face nine supporters of the Nationalist Movement. Afterwards, the One People's Project decided to monitor and track such groups with the website previously used to organize the counter-demonstration. Originally named the One People’s Coalition, with Jenkins as its spokesperson, the group covered the Nationalist Movement's “awards ceremony” at the Manville VFW hall, under the guise of being a financial planning seminar. The Coalition’s monitoring and information resulted in the cancellation of the event.

Over the next year, the renamed One People’s Project broadened their focus, to publishing information on conservatives, ranging from the mainstream to the far-right, and make it available to the public, via their website, including the Rogues’ Gallery. The Project has gone so far as to publish phone numbers, home addresses and places of employment, yielding controversy. One People’s Project does so allegedly in response to anti-abortion groups publishing the personal information of those affiliated with abortion clinics. In 2005 they covered white supremacist Hal Turner, a frequent caller to Sean Hannity's radio program. Turner, who operates an allegedly racist short-wave radio program, was a realtor who the Project discovered that has been using his position at Coldwell Banker to find the home addresses of political enemies. Turner was later asked to resign.

In Columbus, Ohio, One People's Project found a local concern there with the anti-abortion activists threatening the area abortion clinics with violence. One underreported incident was that of an attempt to firebomb a clinic with a Molotov cocktail. The building was closed, and there was minimal damage, but tensions among clinic workers were raised. Jenkins was able to infiltrate these activists, and gather information the clinics were able to use to identify them. It was discovered through this investigation that a cell of the anti-abortion terrorist group the Army of God was among those staging protests, and some of that number have made open threats towards clinic workers and even had physical scuffles with patients and their supporters. Partly due to the effort One People’s Project made to expose them, no further acts were committed, and the protests remained peaceful.

In November 2001, One People’s Project began focusing heavily on the white supremacist groups that were attempting to take advantage of the tragedy of September 11, 2001. The most notable of these groups was the Hillsboro, West Virginia, based National Alliance. On November 10, 2001 they held a rally outside the [[Israeli Embassy in Washington, Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC in an attempt to blame not just Israel but Jews in general for the 9-11 attacks. A few months prior to this, the National Alliance held another rally at the German Embassy on another issue, and one of them a story covered at the time by One People's Project. This time, there were more protestors on both sides and more police officers mobilized between them. Again, One People’s Project went into the white supremacist rally. That information was then featured on the organization’s website. In the months to come, there would be more rallies and confrontations with racist and anti-racist groups. The most notable was in January 12, 2002 in York, Pa., where four different racist groups clashed with 300 residents and anti-racist activists. One People’s Project was there to observe and report the events as they unfolded.

In the fall of 2002, the case of the Central Park Jogger 5 was in the news. In 1989 a 28-year-old investment banker was beaten and raped as she jogged in Central Park, a story that galvanized the nation at the time, and flared racial tensions in the city. Five black teens were convicted of the crime despite their claims of innocence. In 2002, a serial rapist admitted to the crime, saying he acted alone. Despite this admission and the DNA evidence that proved he was telling the truth, the local media maintained the long-standing scrutiny of the original five teens arrested, and the black community was incensed over these attacks. One People’s Project worked with 98.7 KISS FM to garner support for the Central Park Jogger 5, reporting on developments, researching past opinions of the case and reporting on them, and making available for download a petition to send to the Manhattan District Attorney calling for complete exoneration. The five teens, now all young men who served their prison terms, were cleared of all charges in December of 2002.