New Washington Post Communications Chief Moonlights As Board Member Of Far-Left Activist Group

The Washington Publish introduced in October that it was welcoming a brand new communications chief. The paper’s official announcement lauded Kathy Baird, a veteran of Nike and the general public relations large Ogilvy, as a “key strategic companion” positioned to “notice our bold imaginative and prescient for the publication.” 

It additionally famous her membership within the “Rosebud Sioux Tribe” and repair on the board of IllumiNative, which it described as “a nonprofit working for correct and genuine portrayal of Native folks.”

That’s one method to put it. IllumiNative is a self-described “racial justice group” funded by a darkish cash behemoth that encourages elementary faculty college students to battle for Democratic Occasion initiatives like common well being care. Its goal is just like numerous far-left activist teams, specializing in “breaking by way of methods of white supremacy” and “grassroots organizing,” in response to IllumiNative’s web site.

IllumiNative is funded partly by New Enterprise Fund, which is itself funded by the left-wing darkish cash behemoth Arabella Advisors. New Enterprise Fund recorded practically $1 billion in donations in 2021 and was referred to as “a number one car for [dark money] on the left” by the New York Occasions. It’s unclear how a lot cash the New Enterprise Fund has given IllumiNative since its 2018 founding, and federal monetary disclosure legal guidelines don’t require the group to disclose it. Different left-wing charities such because the MacArthur Basis and the Doris Duke Charitable Basis have given IllumiNative hundreds of thousands of {dollars} through the years.

Baird’s function at IllumiNative raises questions concerning the place of political activism within the newsrooms—and the extent to which it undercuts a information product that’s purported to be nonpartisan. It’s unclear whether or not Baird will recuse herself from points surrounding the protection of Democratic dark-money teams, together with Arabella.

The Washington Publish declined to touch upon Baird’s affiliations. Requested whether or not she would recuse herself from collaborating in points associated to Arabella, a spokeswoman stated Baird “is a member of the chief crew, overseeing Communications, Occasions and Model Advertising and isn’t part of the editorial employees.”

The Publish has nearly completely averted protection of Arabella Advisors, a curious editorial determination given the group’s central function as a darkish cash hub for the Democratic Occasion. The Free Beacon may solely discover two cases the place Arabella Advisors is talked about by the paper. Each have been items by fact-checker Glenn Kessler concentrating on Republicans. In one in all them, Kessler describes the darkish cash group as a “back-office processor.”

Academic supplies distributed by IllumiNative obtained by the Washington Free Beacon present the group working to affect faculty kids, partly by way of classroom posters depicting American Indians demanding “tribal sovereignty” and “pre-constitutional rights” and advocating Democratic Occasion insurance policies like common well being care. IllumiNative didn’t reply to a request for remark or for a clarification of how the group defines “pre-constitutional rights.”

IllumiNative president Crystal Echo Hawk—who publicly congratulated Baird on her new gig—is routinely quoted in information retailers together with the Washington Publish, which included a remark from the “longtime activist” in a February report concerning the Washington Commanders’ title change. 

Echo Hawk has advocated the “land again” motion on her private Twitter account. That motion helps “the reclamation of all the things stolen from the unique peoples,” together with “land … meals … housing … [and] governance,” in response to Landback.org.

The idea of “tribal sovereignty” is intently associated to the “land again motion” as effectively and would entail transferring massive swaths of federal lands to American Indians. Many “land again” proponents additionally say American capitalism and white supremacy have to be dismantled in an effort to obtain full tribal sovereignty, which additionally consists of liberating American Indians from most federal and state management. It’s a part of a broader effort to finish “white supremacy and uplift BIPOC teams,” in response to an NPR affiliate. 

Baird’s new submit might also present a possibility for some synergistic tag-teaming. IllumiNative’s purpose is to make use of “digital organizing, media relations, [and] fast response communications … to advance power-building and narrative and tradition change objectives,” in response to its web site. 

And Echo Hawk, the IllumiNative chief, additionally runs a non-public consulting agency targeted partly on “reclaiming native fact,” in response to a powerpoint obtained by the Free Beacon. The objectives embrace the creation of “new narratives in popular culture and media” to supplant protection of “poverty, alcoholism and crime” in American Indian communities. Allies of this effort, in response to Echo Hawk, embrace “Democrats,” “liberals,” and people within the “Northeast,” amongst others.