One Peoples Project (OPP) is an organisation founded in 2000 to monitor and publish information about alleged
racist and
far-right groups and individuals, mostly in the United States. The group has about fifteen volunteers
in addition to its most prominent members,
Daryle Lamont Jenkins, its founder, and Joshua Hoyt, who joined the group in 2002.
It has been called "the most mainstream and well-known anti-fascist or
antifa" organization in the United States. Its motto is "Hate Has Consequences".
OPP originated from a July 4, 2000 protest against a
Nationalist Movement rally in
Morristown, New Jersey that was billed as ''Independence from Affirmative-Action Day''. The counter-demonstration was called the ''One People's Rally''. Three hundred anti-racist protesters turned out to face nine supporters of the Nationalist Movement.
At the time, Jenkins was a member of the
New Brunswick, New Jersey-based group New Jersey Freedom Organization (NJFO). Originally named One People's Coalition, with Jenkins as its spokesperson, the group researched and published information about the Nationalist Movement's awards ceremony at the
Manville Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. This led to the cancellation of the event.
Over the next year, the renamed One People's Project broadened their focus, to publish information on their website about
American conservatives, in addition to those on the
far right. In November 2001, OPP began focusing heavily on white supremacist groups that were attempting to take advantage of the
September 11, 2001 attacks. The most notable of these groups was the
Hillsboro, West Virginia
Hillsboro is a town in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 232 at the 2020 census.
History
Hillsboro was named for pioneer John (Richard) Hill, from North Carolina, who built a log cabin near what is now Lobeli ...
-based
National Alliance.
OPP has published phone numbers, home addresses and workplace addresses of individuals they have identified as being far right and/or racist. While this practice has invited criticism by those who say that it can incite others to violence, the group has defended this practice as using the same free speech rights that anti-abortion extremists used to intimidate abortion providers.
On July 28, 2007, when a rally was organized to support a plan by the mayor of Morristown, New Jersey, to deputize law enforcement officials to enforce
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
laws via the Immigration and Nationality Act, OPP posted a notice on their website calling the event an "anti-immigrant rally", although the organizer described it as a rally against
illegal immigration. After the rally, the OPP website included the following statement: "
don't think anyone is going to lose any sleep over people chanting during the anti-immigrant side's salute to the flag, Nazis getting slapped around a bit or the pain Robb Pearson & Co. feel over being called racist all the time." According to the OPP website, all charges were dropped when one of those supporters was also charged for his role in the fight, and an agreement was reached.
In 2011, writer
David Yeagley filed a lawsuit against Jenkins and OPP for participating in actions that allegedly led to the cancellation of an
American Renaissance
The American Renaissance was a period of American architecture and the arts from 1876 to 1917, characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance ...
conference in 2010, where he was supposed to speak. According to Yeagley's lawsuit, OPP and others contacted hotels hosting the conference, "threatening, murder, violence and other forms of retribution" should the event take place. The hotels have never confirmed that this happened, and no charges have been laid, but Yeagley, who died in March 2014, was awarded $50,000 in a default judgement that Jenkins has said cannot be enforced until the case is filed in Pennsylvania.
OPP has played a role in reforming several neo-Nazis, most notably
Bryon Widner, a former member of the
Vinlanders Social Club who left his beliefs behind with the help of Jenkins and, with further help from the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
, was able to get a massive amount of tattoos removed from his face and hands. This was the subject of the
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
documentary ''
Erasing Hate'', which has been turned into a feature-length motion picture titled ''
Skin
Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation.
Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different de ...
'' starring
Jamie Bell
Andrew James Matfin Bell (born 14 March 1986) is an English actor and dancer. He rose to prominence for his debut role in ''Billy Elliot'' (2000), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming one of the youngest ...
as Widner and
Mike Colter
Mike Randal Colter (born August 26, 1976) is an American actor best known for his role as Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the streaming television series ''Luke Cage'' (2016–2018), '' The Defenders'' (2017), and ''Jess ...
playing Jenkins.
Danielle Macdonald
Danielle Louise Macdonald (born 19 May 1991) is an Australian actress, known for her lead roles as Patricia "Patti" Dombrowski in the drama film ''Patti Cake$'' (2017), and Willowdean Dickson in ''Dumplin (2018). She is also known for her ro ...
and
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...
also star. OPP has also been featured on other television programs, such as ''
The Montel Williams Show
''The Montel Williams Show'' (also known as ''Montel'') is an American syndicated tabloid talk show, hosted by Montel Williams, which ran from 1991 to 2008.
On January 30, 2008, the end of production of new episodes of ''The Montel Williams S ...
'', ''
A Current Affair
''A Current Affair'' may refer to:
* ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network
* ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...
'', the
Rachel Maddow Show
''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American liberal news and opinion television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET timeslot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public p ...
and on
AM Joy with
Joy Reid
Joy-Ann M. Lomena-Reid (born December 8, 1968), known professionally as Joy Reid, is an American cable television host, MSNBC national correspondent, liberal political commentator, and author. She hosted the weekly MSNBC morning show, ''AM Joy' ...
. They have also appeared in several newspaper articles and have also been mentioned in
Gwen Ifill's book, ''The Breakthrough''.
In 2015, One People's Project launched Idavox.com, which serves as the news line of the organization. In 2020, Jenkins prominently featured in a
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
documentary titled ''Alt-Right: Age of Rage'', in which he scathingly criticized the alt-right for perpetuating
''ethno-racial nationalism
'' in the United States.
References
{{reflist
External links
One Peoples Project- Official website
Idavox- One People's Project news site
*Netflix documentary, 2020
Alt-Right: Age of Rage
Advocacy groups in the United States
African Americans' rights organizations
American political websites
Anti-racist organizations in the United States
Organizations established in 2000