Just a few days ago, we wrote about the outside agitation coming from Soros and major union funding, as they make sure not to let another crisis go to waste in Ferguson, Mo. Likewise, Rev. Michael McBride and the PICO Network (People Improving Communitites Through organizing) are on location and training organizers in Ferguson.
PICO and the good Reverend are no strangers to organizing for the latest leftist causes. In 2013, they worked for gun control legislation, featuring a “Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath”. Working with Obama, Hot Air reported the following:
President Barack Obama is trying an end run around the NRA — rallying groups as varied as churches, medical organizations, retailers and the Rotary Club to build support for new gun regulations…
During one session with a dozen religious leaders on Wednesday, Biden made a specific request to those gathered to preach to their congregations about the importance of enacting stronger gun control laws, said the Rev. Michael McBride, a participant in the meeting and a community organizer for the PICO Network, an alliance of faith-based organizations…
“He knows that it’s going to be a tough road to come up with the legislative package that would make everyone feel happy,” McBride said. “So he was appealing to our strength and our unique call as moral and faith leaders to help emphasize in our own faith traditions the importance of not only legislation but changing the culture of violence in our country.”
More gun control action took place as PICO worked with Jim Wallis/Sojourners. PICO had also worked with Wallis and his Faith in Public Life group (also Soros funded) in their 2009 healthcare promotion:
In 2009, FPL took a leading role in advocating for President Obama’s health-care reform initiative. Lamenting that town-hall meetings — where many citizens were expressing their opposition to reform — had “degenerated into armed shouting matches,” FPL staged a counter-effort in the summer, entitled “40 Days for Health Reform.” Working through its affiliate groups – Sojourners, PICO, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good – FPL produced and aired cable television ads and hosted a webcast call-in program with President Obama and faith leaders, in an effort to “reframe the debate” regarding healthcare. FPL also generated 20,000 (pro-healthcare reform) phone calls to Congress, as well as 100 visits to Congressional offices, in a single day.
PICO was proudly featured at Francis Fox-Piven’s infamous Occupy “Teach-in” with other assorted leftist groups and unions. They remain active in immigration reform as well. If there is a radical movement out there, it seems they are in the middle of it.
PICO, located in Oakland, CA, was founded in 1972 by an Alinksy trained Jesuit priest. Discover The Networks explains their background:
People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) was founded in 1972 under the leadership of Father John Baumann, a Jesuit priest who was trained in Saul Alinsky-style community-organizing tactics in Chicago during the 1960s and 1970s. Baumann then took his skills to Oakland, California, where he established PICO to serve as “a regional training institute to help support neighborhood organizations.”
PICO is a sponsoring organization of the We Believe Together – Health Care for All network. Other notable sponsors include the Center for Community Change, the Gamaliel Foundation, the Islamic Medical Association of North America, the Islamic Society of North America, School of the Americas Watch, Sojourners Magazine, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Michael Lerner’s Tikkun Magazine.
Currently listed on PICO’s funding page, among many of the usual funders of the Left, you will find Soros’ Open Society as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Today on his Twitter feed, Rev. McBride of PICO is reporting from the scene in Ferguson. Among his tweets, he explains how the autopsy on Mike Brown proves he was shot with his hands up in surrender (although he seems to be the one and only source for this interpretation).
He is also sharing the latest PICO/LiveFreeUS activities on the ground and in training sessions with Amnesty.
As the Left continues to organize and fan the flames of racism in Ferguson, let us all be very clear on exactly who is always behind it, and make sure to educate others as well.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member