NAP Activities in the Mid 1980'sIn May of 1985 the New Alliance Party held a national founding convention
in Chicago. The significance of the event is blurred by the fact that
its own history dates the original founding of the New Alliance Party
as 1979. The chairperson elected at the 1985 Chicago meeting was Emily
Carter, an organizer from Jackson, Mississippi who joined the New Alliance
Party in New York in 1981. She calls herself a "former organizer,
now therapist."
When the New Alliance Party moved its national headquarters to Chicago,
it came with a related "medical and therapeutic center." In
fact, wherever the New Alliance Party has a major organizing effort underway,
there is a related "therapy" group reaching out to persons
with progressive politics who are also seeking emotional or psychological
counseling. The therapy groups use a technique they call "Social
Therapy" or "Crisis Normalization" designed to provide "immediate
help for the everyday crisis situations that happen to everyone." Both
the political organization and the therapy institutes make a point to
involve persons of color, gay men and lesbians, and political radicals.
Closely allied with the New Alliance Party is the Rainbow Alliance
and the Rainbow Lobby. That the slogans of the New Alliance Party, Rainbow
Alliance and the Rainbow Lobby tend to reflect a progressive political
framework is not questioned. Here for example are some of their slogans
and issues:
*** Put teeth back into Civil Rights laws *** Repeal Gramm-Rudman
*** Support the Fair Elections bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers
(D., Mich.)
*** Seek legislation that would "protect the democratic rights
of gays and all Americans."
One flyer explains:
"The Rainbow Lobby is fighting for grand jury reform, affordable
public housing and Congolese liberation from the human rights abuses
of the Mobutu dictatorship....The Rainbow Lobby is fighting against the
death penalty, against aid for the C.I.A. supported contra terrorists
and against arming South African supported mercenaries in Angola. And
the Rainbow Lobby is exposing the Right's misuse of federal funds for
AIDS."
The New Alliance Party moved its national headquarters to Chicago to
be closer to Minister Louis Farrakhan, The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Mayor
Harold Washington, according to NAP chairwoman Emily Carter. The office
is located on Chicago's north side (in the 44th Ward), and fundraisers
are already soliciting support for the "Rainbow." The NAP-related
Chicago Center for Crisis Normalization is open and another therapy center
is planned for the west side. NAP organizers have been recruiting in
some sectors of the Black and progressive political community for almost
five years, and have a presence in several Chicago colleges.
In New York the New Alliance Party offers a free legal clinic in Harlem,
sponsors lectures, and publishes its newspaper, the <National Alliance>. <National
Alliance> discusion groups are held in Chicago, Illinois; Jackson,
Mississippi; Long Island, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington,
D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts.
The New Alliance Party maintained regional and state offices in: Alaska,
Arizona, California (Oakland and Los Angeles), Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan (Ann Arbor and Detroit), Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New
Jersey, New Hampshire, New York (Albany, New York City and Buffalo),
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Vermont and Washington, D.C.
After the 1992 elections, The New Alliance Party was submerged and
many of its activists joined the fledgling Reform Party.
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