Free Republic

We are on a journey to make Alaska Airlines a place where everyone belongs and has opportunity. We also believe education is the key to equity and representation, with the power to transform the lives of young people––opening doors to careers in aviation and beyond. In partnership with UNCF, this special aircraft is a symbol of our commitment to education and advancing racial equity at Alaska Airlines, and we hope it inspires others as well.

WASHINGTON — One of the nation’s largest public-sector unions is severing its ties with the United Negro College Fund because the group accepted donations from the Koch brothers and its president spoke at a Koch-funded summit. In a letter sent Tuesday, AFSCME President Lee Saunders wrote that the UNCF has taken actions “deeply hostile” to public employees, which he considers a “profound betrayal of the ideals of the civil rights movement,” and that the union will end its relationship with UNCF. Saunders cited the UNCF’s decision to accept a $25 million grant from Koch Industries, Inc. and the Charles Koch...

On June 6, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) announced the receipt of the fifth largest donation in its history — $25 million from Charles and David Koch. Had the money come from any other source, we would have smiley faces all around. But because the Koch brothers have been so relentlessly demonized by defenders of the mega-state (Harry Reid denounces them as “un-American” on the Senate floor; others use language much worse than that), the gift has led to spasms of outrage. As we read in the Inside Higher Education story about the Koch gift, Koch haters let fly...

Now that the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has accepted a $25 million donation from Charles and David Koch, at least one Ivy League professor is worried sick and a bunch of leftists have taken to Twitter to express their rage. Marybeth Gasman, a higher education professor at the University of Pennsylvania claimed that the UNCF – a charitable organization dedicated to helping black people get college degrees – is “wrong” to accept this particular $25 million to help black people get college degrees, according to Inside Higher Ed. Gasman bellowed that Koch organizations have been “deeply affiliated with the...

The billionaire Koch brothers, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s favorite whipping boys, announced Friday that they are donating a $25 million grant to the United Negro College Fund. The grant will be used to provide “nearly 3,000 merit based awards to African American …students seeking scholarship assistance,” according to the Charles Koch Foundation’s press release. …

It’s a good thing that the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ed Gillespie, had to leave the Congress of Racial Equality reception early. If he had stayed a while longer, he might have heard the chairman of CORE, Roy Innis, upbraid the GOP leadership in a powerful speech that was wildly applauded by the audience. Mr. Innis had started his speech by noting that George W. Bush four years ago only got 7% of the black vote. “I asked myself what did this young man do, from a fine family, a family that ran the United Negro College Fund...

<p>It's time for Democrats who oppose George W. Bush's push for war with Iraq to shut up.</p> <p>Congressional Democrats, in particular, should muzzle their criticism of the president. Instead of publicly questioning his reasons for wanting to invade Iraq, they should voice strong support for the men and women Bush will send into battle — and give the president no reason to blame them for the bad things that almost certainly will result from his handling of this situation.</p>