Niger Innis is an African American conservative Republican consultant, strategist and National Spokesperson for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Innis graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) degree in Political Science in 1990. Born in Harlem, New York, he currently lives in Westchester, New York. His father, Roy Innis, has been National Director of CORE since 1968. Roy ran for mayor of New York City in 1993, with Niger as campaign manager. Roy Innis received over 25% of the vote in the primary election for the Democratic Party, losing to incumbent David Dinkins. He is socially conservative on issues such as same-sex marriage.
Television appearances
MSNBC incident
On Monday, February 4, 2002, MSNBC conducted an interview about the Enron scandal. During the broadcast, MSNBC put up a graphic identifying Niger Innis as "Nigger Innis." Although this racially offensive term was broadcast, MSNBC said its use was accidental. According to the Associated Press, shortly after the graphic appeared, correspondent Gregg Jarrett offered Innis a "profuse apology." The AP also reports Innis replied: "Oh, God, I thought you guys thought I was a rapper or something. Media bias continues. Just kidding. It's not the first time it's happened, but hopefully it's the last."
References
- Niger Innis' profile on core-online.org
- Snopes article – Confirms the February 4, 2002 typographical error broadcast on MSNBC.
