Color of Change was founded in 2005 by James Rucker and Van Jones. Rucker previously directed Grassroots Mobilization for MoveOn.org — one of multiple groups funded by George Soros. Jones served as Special Advisor for Green Jobs in the Obama administration, a position from which he resigned after it was exposed that he belonged to Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), an underground Marxist movement.
One target of Color of Change's pressure, The American Legislative Exchange Council, has withdrawn from its defense of the Second Amendment after the Soros-funded group Color of Change threatened a number of ALEC’s corporate sponsors, including Coca Cola, McDonald’s and PepsiCo Inc. In fact, the group has successfully prompted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to cut ties with ALEC in recent weeks.
ALEC is a non-partisan group that provides free market and free enterprise solutions for businesses. It typically is an economic advocacy group that works on behalf of businesses, but is also involved in crafting legislation for voter I.D. laws and stand your ground laws.
It is ALEC’s involvement in the stand your ground laws that drew the ire of Color of Change. Kraft Foods, Kraft, PepsiCo, McDonalds, Intuit and Coca-Cola have all backed-out of supporting ALEC due to “business decisions,” but the reality is that the companies kowtowed to Color of Change’s demands
Because of Coca-Cola’s affiliation with ALEC, for example, and ALEC’s lobbying of voter ID legislation, Color of Change accused the Coca-Cola of “taking money [from blacks] with one hand and taking away our vote with the other.” Coca-Cola finally canceled its membership with ALEC declaring that the company has “a long-standing policy of only taking positions on issues that impact our company and industry.”
Peter Bella of the Washington Times questions what would compel companies to cater to the demands of Van Jones and Color of Change and comes to the following conclusion:
There is a false notion that Van Jones commands the loyalty of millions of consumers who are ready, willing, and able to stop buying products if companies do not march to his tune. Van Jones promotes himself as some popular powerhouse. The perception becomes the reality.
Companies falsely believe they will lose profits if they do not make a “business decision” to cave in to intimidation and extortion.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has already severed ties with ALEC as a result of the efforts of Color of Change. But Reuters reports, “Other members, such as Reynolds American Inc, stood by their work with ALEC, saying they had nothing to do with self-defense or election laws and were members so they could pursue legislation related to their businesses.”
Because of Color of Change’s successful intimation of ALEC’s corporate sponsors, ALEC has now announced it will focus solely on economic issues rather than the right to self-defense and similar issues related to defending the Constitution.
The group indicates it will disband its committee that works on "public safety and elections," the group said in a news release, in order to focus on legislation that would spur economic growth, which is "why ALEC exists."
The group adds that it does in fact recognize the importance of non-economic issues, but "we must concentrate on initiatives that spur competitiveness and innovation and put more Americans back to work."
Even with that announcement, however, Color of Change is unsatisfied, indicating ALEC has not gone far enough. According to the Soros group, ALEC’s members should be held “accountable for the damage it has caused nationwide.”
Color of Change Executive Director Rashad Robinson remarked, "To simply say they are stopping non-economic work does not provide justice to the millions of Americas [sic] whose lives are impacted by these dangerous and discriminatory laws courtesy of ALEC and its corporate backers."
Van Jones and Color of Change launched a similar intimidation tactic against conservative pundit Glenn Beck when he hosted a popular Fox News television show. After Beck called President Obama a racist on Fox & Friends, accusing Obama of possessing a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture,” Van Jones’ organization ColorofChange.org began a boycott of Beck’s advertisers.
According to Forbes, that boycott resulted in “more than 400 Fox advertisers saying they didn’t want their commercials on Beck’s show,” costing News Corp $600,000 a week.
Some have asserted the boycott to be a compelling reason for Beck’s departure from Fox News.
Bella of the Washington Times scathingly reports that Color of Change has successfully turned “corporate public relations people into quivering gelatinous masses of jiggling glop.”
He asserts that Color of Change is “an organization dedicated to shutting down free speech, free expression, free markets and free enterprise.”
“They are against capitalism and civil liberties,” Bella continues. “They want to repeal the Second Amendment, force people to be victims, and are against stopping voter fraud.”
Related article: ALEC Drops Task Force Pushing "Stand Your Ground" Laws
