The Tea Party is racist, according to some members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A resolution condemning the Tea Party for racism was up for a vote Tuesday at the NAACP convention in Kansas City. Some Tea Party members said the NAACP is calling the kettle black. A leader of the black community in Atlanta suggests that the NAACP convention forget about meaningless resolutions and learn a lesson from the Tea Party’s grass roots movement.
News media fosters image of Tea Party racism
Numerous suspect the Tea Party of racism, especially after seeing news coverage of angry protesters holding posters that mock President Obama. The movement's image has been further damaged by reports of black congressmen being spit on by Tea Party members during the health care reform debate. The NAACP resolution, according to the Washington Post, declares that “the racist elements” within the Tea Party are “a threat to progress” and that Tea Party protesters “displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color typically and President Barack Obama specifically”.
Tea Party Patriots say NAACP are the real racists
The NAACP Tea Party resolution also calls on “the leadership and members of the Tea Party to recognize the historic and present racist factions within it and to repudiate those factions". The Tea Party is also accused of violent opposition to programs designed to help the working class and minorities. The Los Angeles Times reports that two Tea Party leaders said Tea Party racism came from a few bad actors and not the movement itself. Jenny Beth Martin of the online network Tea Party Patriots admitted to racist behavior at Tea Party rallies but said it was on the record that it wouldn’t be tolerated. Tea Party Patriot Mary Meckler told the Times that accusing the movement of racism was "ironic" coming from a racist organization like the NAACP.
NAACP – Tea Party a role model?
The NAACP is missing the point whether or not the Tea Party or the NAACP is racist, said black Atlanta media personality Charing Ball. The sincerity of the NAACP Tea Party resolution isn't questioned by Ball. But he wonders why, writing within the Atlanta Post, the NAACP is spinning its wheels on meaningless gestures rather than getting its hands dirty for real racial justice. Ball suggests that the NAACP might do better by studying the playbook of the Tea Party. The NAACP could better meet the needs of the black community today at the grass roots by rallying voters and training and nurturing young candidates.
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washingtonpost.com
latimes.com
atlantapost.com
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