MoveOn.org, ColorOfChange.org and NAS to Protest FOX's Racism in NYC

Editor's Note: We just got this press release from our friends at MoveOn.org. If you're in New York, see you there.

Hip hop star Nas will join members of ColorOfChange.org & MoveOn.org on Wednesday to deliver 620,127 petition signatures demanding that FOX end its pattern of racist attacks against Black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. The group will make the delivery at 2:00pm on Wednesday, July 23rd at FOX in Manhattan.

Over the last several weeks, FOX has had a string of incidents that many believe are a veiled attempt to prey on racism and intolerance and cast the Obamas as "outsiders": an on-screen graphic referred to Mrs. Obama as "Obama's baby mama," a pundit "confused" Obama with Osama and then joked they should both be assassinated, and an anchor called a loving fist bump between Barack and Michelle a "terrorist fist jab." In February, Bill O'Reilly talked about calling a "lynching party" to deal with Michelle.

The signatures were gathered online over the last month by ColorOfChange.org, a 450,000-member grassroots organization that focuses on issues of importance to the Black community. MoveOn.org and the Brave New Foundation also gathered signatures for the petition. In 2007, the groups led a successful campaign to stop the Congressional Black Caucus Institute from hosting a presidential debate on FOX. The debate was cancelled after major presidential candidates declined to attend.