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The Charge:</font size>
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The Reaction:
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Texas Tea Party takes issue with NAACP's racism resolution.
Sarah Palin chimed in.
Atlanta Journal Constitution - Cynthia Tucker: NAACP had no business condemning tea partiers.
The Root: NAACP Is Wrong To Condemn Tea Parties.
Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell
“Some of the most compelling leaders of this movement are of many different races — men and women such as William and Selena Owens, Lloyd Marcus, Kevin Jackson and others,”
“The racism accusation by the likes of the NAACP has been proved false time and again. Earlier this year, Democrats smeared tea party activists by claiming members of the Black Caucus were spit on and called the n-word as they paraded through a crowd of tea partiers,” he added. “Their blatant lie was proved false by overwhelming evidence from multiple video cameras that recorded the event.”
“As the tea party movement has gained political momentum, groups or individuals still playing the race card look like a foolish embarrassment to their own party,” he said. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">“It’s time for the NAACP to grow up and stop hiding behind hypocritical race-baiting politics.”</span>
QueEx
The Charge:</font size>
Late Tuesday afternoon, the NAACP passed a resolution calling on all people — including tea party leaders — to condemn racism within the tea party movement.
Passed on the fourth day of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s annual convention in Kansas City, the resolution also urged people to oppose what it said was the tea party’s drive “to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.”
“We feel it’s very important that we educate our membership about the tea parties,” said Anita Russell, head of the Kansas City branch of the NAACP, as the debate on the resolution began. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">“We are concerned that there is a racist element within the tea parties.”</span>
Passed on the fourth day of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s annual convention in Kansas City, the resolution also urged people to oppose what it said was the tea party’s drive “to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.”
“We feel it’s very important that we educate our membership about the tea parties,” said Anita Russell, head of the Kansas City branch of the NAACP, as the debate on the resolution began. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">“We are concerned that there is a racist element within the tea parties.”</span>
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The Reaction:
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Texas Tea Party takes issue with NAACP's racism resolution.
- Konni Burton, with the NE Tarrant Tea Party, said the NAACP resolution is simply a diversion.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">"The NAACP wants to make the narrative about race so that everyone starts arguing about that and takes their eyes off of the real issues, thus preventing a landslide of conservatives being elected in November," she said. "It won't work."</span>
- The Rev. Kyev Tatum, a local organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who fights for civil rights, said he doesn't agree with the position the Tea Party takes on some public policy issues. But he said he doesn't believe that its members are racist.
He said <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">he has been a Democrat and a Republican</span> — even serving as a GOP precinct chairman about five years ago — but now he is an avowed independent who casts votes for candidates, not their parties.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">"Some of my friends are members of the Tea Party, and we have decided to agree to disagree on many issues and many positions,"</span> said Tatum, a member of the NAACP since 1999. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">"However, I know without a doubt that they are not racist.</span> They wouldn't be friends with me if they were. ... This is a dangerous position for the NAACP to take."
Sarah Palin chimed in.
Sarah Palin, a vocal tea party supporter, said in a statement late Tuesday that she was "saddened by the NAACP's claim that patriotic Americans ...... are somehow 'racists.'" The former Alaska governor said claims that tea party activists "judge people by the color of their skin" were false and appalling.
Atlanta Journal Constitution - Cynthia Tucker: NAACP had no business condemning tea partiers.
It was inappropriate, narrow-minded and divisive, a move that will only cement the aging organization’s growing reputation as a repository of partisan hacks. It will do far more harm than good in a political environment already simmering with contentiousness, suspicion and race-related grievances.
First off, few will remember the word “elements” expected to be included in the final wording, so the resolution will be roundly interpreted as smearing all tea partiers. (There really is no such thing as The Tea Party. Its not an organization; its a movement of loosely affiliated activists who detest Obama and rally around lower taxes and limited government.)
Still, it leaves the impression that the NAACP believes all tea partiers are racist — a stereotype that the NAACP should abhor.
Second, the resolution further arouses well-justified suspicions that the NAACP is nothing more than an arm of the Democratic Party. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous has said the anti-tea party resolution will, among other things, motivate his members to vote in the mid-term elections. That suggests the organization’s chief concern is supporting Democrats in the fall. (Does the IRS know?) It is perfectly appropriate for the NAACP to rally around specific political issues, such as comprehensive immigration reform.
However, according to NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, “The NAACP along with it allies and partners will show America that a solid majority of this nation is ready, willing and able to fight back to ensure that all the change we voted for is made a reality for all of our children.” That sounds suspiciously like a vote for Democrats, period.
Third, it’s awfully hypocritical for the NAACP to call for the tea partiers to purge their ranks of racists, as Jealous did. It’s a rare day, indeed, that the NAACP purges its ranks, no matter how inappropriately some of its members behave.
And, fourth, this resolution just draws attention to the tea partiers — who represent, at most, about 20 percent of the electorate — and gives the demagogues something to rally around. Already, tea partiers and their supporters are having a field day with the resolution, calling NAACPers reverse racists and insisting they withdraw the statement.
With rightwing demagogues like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck calling the president a racist nearly every day, the very word “racist” has lost all meaning.
Are there those among the tea partiers who traffic in racist symbols and slogans? No doubt. There is also widespread evidence from the polls that many among the tea partiers are older white Americans who are uncomfortable with the changes wrought by the civil rights movement. But as a child of the Deep South who grew up under the lash of Jim Crow, I learned to distinguish between well-meaning whites who weren’t quite ready for a black president of the local community college (black church members were OK) and actual racists.
The NAACP didn’t serve the cause of racial justice well when it further cheapened the word “racism”, along with its own mission.
First off, few will remember the word “elements” expected to be included in the final wording, so the resolution will be roundly interpreted as smearing all tea partiers. (There really is no such thing as The Tea Party. Its not an organization; its a movement of loosely affiliated activists who detest Obama and rally around lower taxes and limited government.)
Still, it leaves the impression that the NAACP believes all tea partiers are racist — a stereotype that the NAACP should abhor.
Second, the resolution further arouses well-justified suspicions that the NAACP is nothing more than an arm of the Democratic Party. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous has said the anti-tea party resolution will, among other things, motivate his members to vote in the mid-term elections. That suggests the organization’s chief concern is supporting Democrats in the fall. (Does the IRS know?) It is perfectly appropriate for the NAACP to rally around specific political issues, such as comprehensive immigration reform.
However, according to NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, “The NAACP along with it allies and partners will show America that a solid majority of this nation is ready, willing and able to fight back to ensure that all the change we voted for is made a reality for all of our children.” That sounds suspiciously like a vote for Democrats, period.
Third, it’s awfully hypocritical for the NAACP to call for the tea partiers to purge their ranks of racists, as Jealous did. It’s a rare day, indeed, that the NAACP purges its ranks, no matter how inappropriately some of its members behave.
And, fourth, this resolution just draws attention to the tea partiers — who represent, at most, about 20 percent of the electorate — and gives the demagogues something to rally around. Already, tea partiers and their supporters are having a field day with the resolution, calling NAACPers reverse racists and insisting they withdraw the statement.
With rightwing demagogues like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck calling the president a racist nearly every day, the very word “racist” has lost all meaning.
Are there those among the tea partiers who traffic in racist symbols and slogans? No doubt. There is also widespread evidence from the polls that many among the tea partiers are older white Americans who are uncomfortable with the changes wrought by the civil rights movement. But as a child of the Deep South who grew up under the lash of Jim Crow, I learned to distinguish between well-meaning whites who weren’t quite ready for a black president of the local community college (black church members were OK) and actual racists.
The NAACP didn’t serve the cause of racial justice well when it further cheapened the word “racism”, along with its own mission.
The Root: NAACP Is Wrong To Condemn Tea Parties.
Currently in the midst of its annual national convention in Kansas City, the NAACP yesterday introduced a resolution condemning racism in American Tea Parties. Though exact details are currently sketchy, The Kansas City Star reports that the resolution will ask "all people of good will to repudiate the racism of the Tea Parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era."
While my interview with Benjamin Jealous confirms that, in fact, the occasionally controversial NAACP is certainly doing important work every single day, I can't help thinking that the significance of this resolution, not to mention its validity, remains to be seen.
While the intolerant tone of many Tea Party rallies is by now the stuff of legend, it's not that tone with which the NAACP is taking issue; if it were, I might be in agreement. Instead, what Jealous et al. are ill-advisedly doing is leveling hefty charges of bigotry against the nebulously connected outposts of a crypto-political party. This is problematic for a few major reasons.
The first is that what constitutes a Tea Party is by and large impossible to define. Because there is no Tea Party governing body offering charters or doling out bylaws, exactly who the NAACP has in its sights is largely an unanswerable question. Is a group of 10 shut-ins in Florida a Tea Party just because they have a website? Is anyone who attends a Tea Party rally a Tea Party member? If we're going to go around calling things racist, shouldn't we first know exactly what those things are?
Let's go with the easiest option and assume that we're allowing Tea Parties and their members to self-identify. If that's the case, then we should also take them at their word when it comes to their system of beliefs. As it stands, I've not been able to find a single Tea Party whose mission is to hurt people of color. The Cincinnati Tea Party says it believes "in fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets." It's also planning a trip to a theme park in September. The North Texas Tea Party says it's composed of "Americans who believe you should be the boss of you." I once talked to a Tea Party member who quoted French political philsophers before telling me that the bigots aligned with his movement were "shameful." One can argue that the Tea Parties across-the-board dismissal of something like health care reform shows a lack of interest in policy that will improve the black community, but does that make them inherently racist?
Clearly the NAACP isn't judging the Tea Parties on their stated beliefs, so on what are they judging them? Unfortunately, I think it has to be their rallies.
To anyone interested in fairness, it should be obvious why I say "unfortunately." Again, while the tone of Tea Party gatherings is often in poor taste, to condemn the entire Tea Party movement based on what happens at Tea Party rallies is absurd. Just as it would be unreasonable to judge the recent G-20 protests in Toronto by the actions of a violent few, so too is it unreasonable to believe that every person at a Tea Party event is a hateful bigot. And because the definition of a Tea Party is still undetermined, what the NAACP is really doing with this resolution is maligning a whole burgeoning movement because of stupid signs carried by random cretins at some unofficial, semi-annual functions. In a nation in which African American AIDS rates are comparable to those in sub-Saharan Africa, this can't be the wisest use of the NAACP's time and resources.
Frankly, I disagree with nearly every policy stance I've read on Tea Party websites. But as someone who supports the black civil rights movement, I also shudder to think of a world in which people judge me based on the actions of the New Black Panthers.
While my interview with Benjamin Jealous confirms that, in fact, the occasionally controversial NAACP is certainly doing important work every single day, I can't help thinking that the significance of this resolution, not to mention its validity, remains to be seen.
While the intolerant tone of many Tea Party rallies is by now the stuff of legend, it's not that tone with which the NAACP is taking issue; if it were, I might be in agreement. Instead, what Jealous et al. are ill-advisedly doing is leveling hefty charges of bigotry against the nebulously connected outposts of a crypto-political party. This is problematic for a few major reasons.
The first is that what constitutes a Tea Party is by and large impossible to define. Because there is no Tea Party governing body offering charters or doling out bylaws, exactly who the NAACP has in its sights is largely an unanswerable question. Is a group of 10 shut-ins in Florida a Tea Party just because they have a website? Is anyone who attends a Tea Party rally a Tea Party member? If we're going to go around calling things racist, shouldn't we first know exactly what those things are?
Let's go with the easiest option and assume that we're allowing Tea Parties and their members to self-identify. If that's the case, then we should also take them at their word when it comes to their system of beliefs. As it stands, I've not been able to find a single Tea Party whose mission is to hurt people of color. The Cincinnati Tea Party says it believes "in fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets." It's also planning a trip to a theme park in September. The North Texas Tea Party says it's composed of "Americans who believe you should be the boss of you." I once talked to a Tea Party member who quoted French political philsophers before telling me that the bigots aligned with his movement were "shameful." One can argue that the Tea Parties across-the-board dismissal of something like health care reform shows a lack of interest in policy that will improve the black community, but does that make them inherently racist?
Clearly the NAACP isn't judging the Tea Parties on their stated beliefs, so on what are they judging them? Unfortunately, I think it has to be their rallies.
To anyone interested in fairness, it should be obvious why I say "unfortunately." Again, while the tone of Tea Party gatherings is often in poor taste, to condemn the entire Tea Party movement based on what happens at Tea Party rallies is absurd. Just as it would be unreasonable to judge the recent G-20 protests in Toronto by the actions of a violent few, so too is it unreasonable to believe that every person at a Tea Party event is a hateful bigot. And because the definition of a Tea Party is still undetermined, what the NAACP is really doing with this resolution is maligning a whole burgeoning movement because of stupid signs carried by random cretins at some unofficial, semi-annual functions. In a nation in which African American AIDS rates are comparable to those in sub-Saharan Africa, this can't be the wisest use of the NAACP's time and resources.
Frankly, I disagree with nearly every policy stance I've read on Tea Party websites. But as someone who supports the black civil rights movement, I also shudder to think of a world in which people judge me based on the actions of the New Black Panthers.
Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell
“Some of the most compelling leaders of this movement are of many different races — men and women such as William and Selena Owens, Lloyd Marcus, Kevin Jackson and others,”
“The racism accusation by the likes of the NAACP has been proved false time and again. Earlier this year, Democrats smeared tea party activists by claiming members of the Black Caucus were spit on and called the n-word as they paraded through a crowd of tea partiers,” he added. “Their blatant lie was proved false by overwhelming evidence from multiple video cameras that recorded the event.”
“As the tea party movement has gained political momentum, groups or individuals still playing the race card look like a foolish embarrassment to their own party,” he said. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">“It’s time for the NAACP to grow up and stop hiding behind hypocritical race-baiting politics.”</span>
QueEx
