Niger Innis

Niger Innis, national spokesman
for the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE), is October’s recipient of the
CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the
Month Award.
“It gives me great pleasure to nominate
Niger for this Award,” said John
Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs
Director. “He is rendering great
service on behalf of the individual
Second Amendment civil right of
law-abiding citizens to keep and bear
arms.”
Snyder continued, “In addition, he
is a fellow graduate of Georgetown
University, and it gives me an added
boost to be able to nominate a fellow
alumnus for the Award. He certainly
deserves it.”
Snyder pointed to the importance of
having spokespeople like Innis taking
leadership positions in the gun
rights battle. Innis is very effective in
countering opposition to gun rights,
Snyder observed.
Amplifying that point, nationallysyndicated
columnist Richard Poe,
also a CCRKBA Gun Rights award
winner, made this point not long ago
when he wrote, “with the NAACP
(National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People) suing
gun manufacturers and Jesse Jackson
stumping for stricter gun laws, black
leaders seem to have fixed their
crosshairs squarely on the Second
Amendment. But not all African
Americans are cheering them on.
“Niger Innis certainly isn’t. Growing
up in Harlem, Innis lost two
brothers to gun-wielding killers.
But these tragedies only deepened
his conviction that an armed and
vigilant citizenry is the best curb on
lawlessness.”
Poe also noted that, “Innis sees gun
control as a slippery slope toward
outright gun confiscation. Loss of
Second Amendment rights, he says,
would leave both whites and blacks
vulnerable to tyranny.”
Innis has observed that, “Not
every cop can be everywhere at all
times…Decent men and women with
families need to be able to defend
themselves and their property. It’s
that simple.
“Traditionally,” Innis continued,
“when governments want to disenfranchise
people, the first thing they
do is disarm them. That was the case
in Nazi Germany, when the Jews
were disarmed. That was the case in
the American South, after slavery.”
Innis was born in the Bronx, NY
on March 15, 1968. He graduated
from Brooklyn Tech before going on
to Georgetown University, where he
earned a Bachelor of Science degree
in Political Science in 1990. He now
lives in Westchester, NY.
CORE, says Innis, seeks to establish,
in practice, the inalienable right of all
people to determine their own destiny,
to decide for themselves what
social and political organizations can
operate in their best interest and to do
so without gratuitous and inhibiting
influence from those whose interest
is diametrically opposed to theirs.
He adds that the organization feels
the most important fundamental
freedom for all people is the right
to govern themselves. If this simple
ideal can be realized, Innis says, then
other necessary freedoms automatically
will follow.
Niger believes that blacks are being
suckered by some of their ultra-left
leaders.
“The Jesse Jacksons and the
NAACPs are mouthpieces of the
liberal establishment and the gun
prohibitionist crowd,” he charges.
“They are not serving their constituents
within the black community.
They’re serving their masters within
the liberal Democratic party.”
According to Innis, the individual
right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental
freedom. CORE, though,
of all the major so-called civil rights
organizations, is the only one defending
it, he states.
Innis is the son of CORE National
Chairman Roy Innis, a Life Member
of the National Rifle Association and
member of the NRA Board of Directors.
In addition to his role with CORE,
Niger serves as Advisory Committee
member of the National Center for
Public Policy Research Project 21
and is a Founding Member of the
Third Millennium, an organization
dedicated to promoting young leaders
that will focus on the problems
facing the next generation.
In August, 1997, Innis served as
a delegate for the 19th American-
German Young Leaders Conference,
sponsored by the American Council
on Germany and Atlantik Brucke.
He was selected along with 23 other
Americans to travel to Hamburg,
Germany to meet their German
counterparts to discuss America’s relationship
with the European Union.
Niger ’s experience has led to
several appearances as a civil rights
activist on the Cable News Network
(CNN), Fox News, CNBC’s “Equal
Time,” and Bill Maher’s “Politically
Incorrect.”
His radio appearances include “The
Jim Bohannan Show” and “The Gil
Cross Show.” Innis has guest-hosted
“The Bob Grant Show” and “The
Barry Farber Show.”