Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is a pro-Black organization in the United States that played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement.
The organization was initially inspired Mahatma Gandhi's teachings of non-violence. Later, Black nationalism and Black Power became important. The FBI's "COINTELPRO" program targeted civil rights groups, including the CORE, for infiltration, discreditation and disruption.
Uganda's dictator Idi Amin was awarded a life membership.
More recently, some claimed "conservative" views have been stated to be supported and critics have made claims such that the organization "is better known among real civil rights groups for renting out its historic name to any corporation in need of a black front person".
The organization provides "immigration services" to immigrants in the preparation of petitions and applications to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
According to an interview given by former director James Farmer in 1993, "CORE has no functioning chapters; it holds no conventions, no elections, no meetings, sets no policies, has no social programs and does no fund-raising. In my opinion, CORE is fraudulent."
