The United Negro College Fund will no longer be associated with one of America’s largest public-sector unions after they accepted a $25 million grant from the Koch brothers and Michael Lomax, the president of the UNCF, spoke at a Koch-funded political and financial event.
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders sent a scathing letter to Lomax to break-off the relationship between the two organizations, Buzzfeed reported Thursday.
Saunders states in the letter that the aforementioned actions were “a betrayal of everything the UNCF stands for.”
The Union Scholars Program was the main tie between UNFC and AFSCME. The program gave college students of color the opportunity to work at AFSCME and earn scholarship money to continue their studies afterward. The program will be terminated on Sept. 1.
“It is with the deepest regret that I write to notify you that we must ever our partnership,” Saunders wrote. “We are doing this as a result of actions you have taken as president of the UNCF that are not only deeply hostile to the rights and dignity of public employees, but also a profound betrayal of the ideals of the civil rights movement.”
Saunders continued his hissy-fit and went on to describe the Koch brothers as the “single most prominent funders of efforts to prevent African Americans from voting.” He claims that unlike the UNCF, his organization is still committed to making “internship, scholarship and job opportunities available to students of color.”
At least as long as those students of color don’t support the Koch brothers.
