Who Was Behind the D.C. March for Jobs?

The Black American Leadership Alliance (BALA) is leading a "D.C. March for Jobs" in Washington D.C. on Monday, July 15, 2013 to protest the Gang of 8's immigration Bill.

But there are some questions as to the origins of the BALA as an advocacy group for African Americans and the motivations for the march, which is also sponsored by the Tea Party Community and the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny (BOND).

At issue is the white nationalist John Tanton, known for creating a network of anti-immigrant -restrictionist groups, who is bankrolling a black anti-immigration march.

Critics, like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Center for American Progress, point out that Tanton - a man who has declared his preference for whites - is using his network of anti-immigration groups as the power behind the event. BALA, a reincarnation of the now defunct Choose Black America, is the latest addition to a number of black pseudo-advocacy groups created with the help of Tanton. Critics point out that driving a racial wedge between Hispanics and blacks - two historically discriminated and marginalized groups with overlapping labor skills - has been a common immigration opposition tactic for Tanton’s various organizations.

Other Tanton groups with strong ties to bigotry and white nationalism include the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and Numbers USA - a group creating a buzz by pushing ads that paint immigration reform as negatively impacting black Americans. Roy Beck, who currently runs Numbers USA, worked with Tanton at the journal The Social Contract Press, which repeatedly runs articles by white supremacist writers who have referred to black Americans as "a retrograde species of humanity."

BALA told Breitbart News June 28 that "BALA and its coalition partners want to know how President Obama and members of Congress can consider a speedy passage of a pro-amnesty immigration bill for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrations at the time, when an estimated 22 million Americans remain among the long term unemployed. BALA is also demanding answers from Black elected officials and leaders who have remained mostly silent on the issue at a time when 1 out of 7 blacks are currently out of work as the jobless recovery drags on."

And back in April, another of Tanton’s anti-immigrant network, the African American Leadership Council (AALC), held a press conference in opposition to the immigration reform bill and called on the Congressional Black Caucus to "remember its duty to protect black constituents by acknowledging the damaging impact mass immigration has on low-skilled workers."

The Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny (BOND), which is a major sponsor of the July 15 march and rally, bills itself as dedicated to "Rebuilding the Family By Rebuilding the Man." REV. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and President of BOND and one of the D.C. March For Jobs speakers, recently told FOX News Radio that welfare and government dependency is destroying black families and expansion of the welfare state will further wipe out black families.

Among the other speakers scheduled at the July 15 event include Congressman Mo Brooks, former Congressmen Allan West, C.L. Bryant, William Gheen, Kevin Jackson and other "community, religious and intellectual leaders."