Power companies paid civil rights leaders in the US south. They became loyal industry advocates

A joint investigation by Floodlight and Capital B shows millions of dollars flowed from utilities to Black leaders and their groups since at least 2009Former Florida state representative Joe Gibbons sat in the library of the Faith Community Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, trying to convince its pastor to quit promoting rooftop solar.With a lobbyist's charms Gibbons told the Rev Nelson Johnson that rooftop solar, which allows customers to generate their own renewable electricity, was bad for people of color. Gibbons argued that it creates an imbalance in which those without solar panels end up subsidizing those who have them, Johnson recalled in an interview with Floodlight.Johnson, a civil rights stalwart who was stabbed by a member of the Klu Klux Klan in 1979, had trouble believing him. Continue reading...