ACORN Shelled

Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe spoke alongside Andrew Breitbart at a press conference held on October 21, 2009 at the National Press Club (additional videos of the press conference can be viewed here, here, and here). The purpose? To point out to the American people, once again, that Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has lied.

“ACORN has lied every step of the way,” Breitbart stated. “They’ve lied to you time and time again.” Breitbart, in specific, attacked ACORN’s attempts to designate race as the motivating factor in the ACORN videos, as well as ACORN’s claims that Giles and O’Keefe were turned away from multiple ACORN offices. He accused ACORN of “propagating lies” about Giles and O’Keefe, and urged the American people to demand the evidence behind ACORN’s claims.

O’Keefe used a video he created to support his claims that ACORN is lying. The video, detailing his and Giles’ trip to the Philadelphia office, had an interesting twist: the audio was cut for the ACORN worker. O’Keefe argued that this was to show everyone that words aside, the ACORN worker’s body language is enough to show how she reacted to O’Keefe’s and Giles’ inquiries. O’Keefe made sure to leave his and Giles’ dialogue intact, so as to clarify what exactly it was that the ACORN worker heard. Indeed, the video made it very clear: Giles and O’Keefe were direct and open in their questions about prostitution, slavery, and human trafficking—and the ACORN worker’s smiles and nods showed no signs of disgust. Actually, the worker’s handwriting was shown on a document she presented to the undercover journalists, inviting them to training classes with ACORN. O’Keefe also showed footage of them exiting the Philadelphia office, conversing with the receptionist on the way out.

Apparently, they were not kicked out of the office, as ACORN officials have claimed.

Giles spoke not only to journalists, but to America when she discussed her motivation: to help Americans see where their taxpayer money is going to. Giles argued that every American should care about the ACORN issue: “Underage girls being trafficked in from El Salvador to be used as sex slaves for a congressman’s funds is wrong,” said Giles. “If that’s the only thing ACORN is associated with, then maybe we could wander around. But it’s not,” Giles said, adding that “there is plenty of evidence” that proves ACORN’s guilt.

“I am reaching out to the American people right now,” Giles said. “You guys need to let your representatives know that something needs to be done. Investigations need to be launched further and funding needs to stop.” Giles argued that every American should be concerned about ACORN and its funding: “It’s America, it’s freedom, and sex slaves aren’t free.”

Allie Winegar Duzett is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.