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Tolerance.

AFSCME ends financial support of black colleges because they accepted Koch brothers gift



Not surprisingly given the source, the Associated Press completely misses the real news in its own story here - even though it's glossed over in the lead. The headline, which sets the stage for most of the copy, says, "Black colleges face hard choices on $25M Koch gift." The real news is this: Public employee union for which everything is political refuses to support United Negro College Fund if conservatives also support it.
There would be no "hard choices" to worry about if not for that:
Whether genuine philanthropy, political jujitsu or some of both, the gift sparked a debate that peaked when Lee Saunders, president of the powerful American Federation for State, County and Municipal Employees union, sent the UNCF a blistering letter ending the union's financial support. Historically black colleges and universities have educated a huge percentage of black America. Today, HBCUs are facing unprecedented challenges: decreases in government funding, tougher parent loan eligibility, and the threat of losing even more federal aid based on low retention and graduation rates.

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In this environment, how could the UNCF turn down $25 million — much of it earmarked for direct distribution to needy students? "I can take their money and use it for good," said Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University. Kimbrough's historically black university has already received about $50,000 from the Kochs' UNCF gift, earmarked for students whose parents no longer qualify for federal PLUS loans.
Of all the horrendous news writing the AP churns out, this is some of the worst, as it completely misses (or doesn't think it matters) what's really going on here. There is only a controversy of any kind because the political left has personalized its political disagreements with two private citizens and turned them into monsters within the nation's political narrative. In short, the left hates these two men, simply for disagreeing with them and for having (and using) the means to turn their views into action. The AFSCME hissy fit is a signal to the UNCF that it had better get with the program and not do anything to complicate the left's strategy here. No single mother's need for financial support in her child's pursuit of a college education can come before the left's need to portray Charles and David Koch as evil racist devils. And the AP plays right along with the irresponsible insinuation that the gift might merely be "political jujitsu". Not only is that terrible writing (political Tae Kwon Do doesn't apply here?), but it's a point of speculation based on nothing but the left's constant line of attack about these two guys. Since they support conservative political figures, says the left, that has to be completely inconsistent with the notion that they would support black colleges, and that makes perfect sense to the AP, so they repeat the insinuation without so much as a second thought. So it goes with the whole story, which makes it sound like the Koch brothers are the problem here because they're complicating the lives of black college presidents and the UNCF by wanting to support them financially. The Koch brothers aren't the problem at all, of course. The problem comes from petulant juveniles like the ones running AFSCME, who want to make it clear that no one will have their support unless they refuse support from anyone who expresses a different political point of view - but especially from those who have been anointed as the left's chosen villains. Nowhere in the story does the AP ask Lee Saunders why he would deny support to the UNCF just because someone on the other side of the political aisle also supports the organization. The entire story demands that Walter Kimbrough justify his willingness to accept support from the Kochs. I guess we should expect nothing better from the people who think a "sluggish" economy makes things "sturdier."


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Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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