Innis, (Emile Alfredo) Roy (1934- )

US civil-rights activist. He joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1963 and advocated black separatism and community school boards; in 1968 he became CORE's national president. Promoting community development corporations, he founded several black business groups and was coeditor of the Manhattan Tribune. He was never fully accepted by established African-American civil-rights leaders because of his unpredictable positions and personality. In the 1980s he twice ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives.

Born in St Croix, Virgin Islands, he emigrated to Harlem, New York City in 1946, left high school to join the army, then worked for a New York City research laboratory 1963-67. In 1981 the New York attorney general's office investigated him for alleged misuse of contributions and he was forced to pay back US$35,000 to CORE. In 1988 he made controversial appearances on two television programmes that led to scuffles on camera.