The Tea Party is Not Racist

[CORed]

Democrats sure seem to fear the Tea Party. Wonder why?

I'm not a Democrat, but i fear the Tea Party because they are a bunch of dangerous nutballs who seem to be taking over the Republican Party and leaving me no alternative but to vote for liberal Democrats.

I also fear them because the times are crazy enough and American voters dumb enough that they have at least a small probability that they will gain enough power to make all of us look back fondly on both the Bush and Obama years.

 

[BenBurch]

It was rather interesting watching the exchanges between one of the Tea Party types (who claims that no one is actually in charge) and a rep from NAACP on CNN yesterday.

The Tea Party guy of course immediately called the NAACP a "racist" organization...

Also claimed that the various folks showing up with racist banners and such were just fringe weirdos who didn't represent the actual aims of the Tea Party movement.

Having your cake and eating it too...

 

[BenBurch]

Its the same reason people fear the hairy smelly guy on the street having a shouting match with a pigeon.

Same reason we would fear the Klan gaining political power, or the Illinois Nazis suddenly looking like winning an election might not be out of the question.

Jake and Elwood had the right idea;

 

[Juniversal]

Williams is pointing out the irony of a group that promotes the "advancement of colored people" accusing another group of being racist.

Yea that's what he meant. Nevermind his assertion that blacks 'loves thems some welfare' and hate to work. And there's nothing percieved as offensive about the use of colored in the organizations title due to it being a civil rights organization created in 1909.

The problem is Williams portrays the NAACP as supporting:

1. Blacks who don't like to work "for real".
2. Blacks who desire welfare
3. Blacks whom are incapable of thinking for themselves and making decisions on their own
4. Blacks who don't want to compete in a level playing field for jobs

There is a dash of racism seeping through Williams's assumptions there.

It seems anytime an issue pertaining to blacks comes up (regardless if the issue is related to jobs or not), like clock work, the words lazy, welfare, hand outs ect. manage to show up. Typical neo-con talking points. I'll admit the black enemployment rate is high (around 5% above the national average) but the wide majority DO work and those that don't work want to find employment.

 

[Mumbles]

Yea that's what he meant. Nevermind his assertion that blacks 'loves thems some welfare' and hate to work. And there's nothing percieved as offensive about the use of colored in the organizations title due to it being a civil rights organization created in 1909.

It seems anytime an issue pertaining to blacks comes up (regardless if the issue is related to jobs or not), like clock work, the words lazy, welfare, hand outs ect. manage to show up. Typical neo-con talking points. I'll admit the black enemployment rate is high (around 5% above the national average) but the wide majority DO work and those that don't work want to find employment.

But they're not the racists. It's the democrats that see everything through race, and they've tricked black people into thinking that they're the good guys. Why, the GOP is the party of Lincoln! The democrats supported slavery!

 

[Juniversal]

But they're not the racists. It's the democrats that see everything through race, and they've tricked black people into thinking that they're the good guys. Why, the GOP is the party of Lincoln! The democrats supported slavery!

It's funny you say that because this actually did bring to mind certain right wingers that assert "Republicans freed the slaves and Democrats are keeping you on the plantations by way of welfare and handouts!!!". Knowing good and well the current conservative party is in no way equivalent to Lincolns more progressive/liberal Republican party. Apparently they aren't aware of the parties polarity change during the 1950's and 60's.

Neo-cons freeing slaves? Now that's comedy.

 

[ZirconBlue]

Yea that's what he meant.

To be fair, I do think that's what he was trying to do. This seems to be a follow-up from this statement a couple of days ago:

Williams contends that it's actually the NAACP that's being bigoted.

"You're dealing with people who are professional race baiters, who make a very good living off this kind of thing. They make more money off of race than any slave trader ever. It's time groups like the NAACP went to the trash heap of history where they belong with all the other vile racist groups that emerged in our history," Williams said.

Nevermind his assertion that blacks 'loves thems some welfare' and hate to work.

So, I think what he was trying to say is that this is the NAACP, "professional racebaiters" that they are, that promote this image of blacks, and keep them down through their support of liberal policies.

Of course, the problem is that he is in fact a stupid racist, so it doesn't come across the way he intended.

 

[Juniversal]

To be fair, I do think that's what he was trying to do. This seems to be a follow-up from this statement a couple of days ago:

My eye roll was directed at the claim that the use of the word "colored" in NAACP is what makes them hypocrites. I guess I misunderstood what Neally was implying.

So, I think what he was trying to say is that this is the NAACP, "professional racebaiters" that they are, that promote this image of blacks, and keep them down through their support of liberal policies.

Of course, the problem is that he is in fact a stupid racist, so it doesn't come across the way he intended.

The professional race baiter title would go to Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. The NAACP? Not so much. Unless you consider their mission to be "race baiting" by design.

And if Williams was attempting to do what you believe I would hope he had the intellectually awareness that writing his "letter" based on stereotypes that blacks find demeaning and untrue is not the best way to combat the charges of racism within the Tea Party.

 

[CORed]

Nobody seems to know what they stand for.

eta:
Oh, and I find them hilarious too. Much in the same way I find a smelly hairy man on the street having a shouting match with a pigeon hilarious.

I may find a smelly hairy man on the street having a shouting match with a pigeon hilarious, but I damn sure don't want him to hold public office.

 

[CORed]

Here's Mark William's letter in its entirety:



I defy you to explain how this utterly nasty piece of doggerel could be anything but racist in the extreme. Go ahead and try to explain how the Tea Party isn't racist now; if the Tea Party doesn't condemn Mark Williams for this, nobody is going to believe it. This letter is an abomination.

Here's a handy link to the letter and a few other disgustingly racist things Mark Williams has said:

http://blog.reidreport.com/2010/07/...tes-open-letter-to-lincoln-from-the-coloreds/

Really, go ahead and try to explain this one away. When you're done with that, explain how Glenn Beck didn't really mean it when he said that the Jews killed Jesus. I'm all ears.

Yes, they took a few racist comments out of context. Of course the context was even more racist.

 

[CORed]

It was a fictional letter from the head of the NAACP to Abe Lincoln, meant to be satirical. Does it say anywhere those are the views of Mark Williams?

I happen to agree with Williams in the sense that black people don't need the Democrats, NAACP or anyone else to hold their hands. There are many great black Americans, it only demeans them when it is implied they need special treatment.

Pulling out the race card ad nauseum is getting a little tired.

So you don't think the implication that African Americans are all a bunch of freeloading welfare chiselers is the least bit racist? Really?

 

[BeAChooser]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/07/5_eyewitness_examples_proving.html

I'm black tea party patriot Lloyd Marcus. I have attended over 200 tea parties nationwide as a spokesperson and performing my "American Tea Party Anthem" on the Tea Party Express.

Incredibly, liberal radio interviewers and their callers and liberal TV interviewers who have not attended a single tea party have vigorously confronted me with accusations of unabated racism in the tea parties.

… snip …

Well folks, I was there, live, in person, at over 200 tea parties; experiencing the mood and tone of the events and the types of people who attend them. Tea Party attendees are a broad mix of people, granted mostly white, who disagree with Obama's socialist agenda, not his skin color.

… snip … During my tea party travels, I have not encountered a single white security guard at rally entrances with orders to "Keep blacks out". … snip …

Here are 5 of my eyewitness accounts and personal experiences proving the tea parties are not racist.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

So: Black Tea Party member = Tea party not racist?

 

[dudalb]

Thanks for the context, dudalb. That actually clears up a lot about how representative this guy likely is (as in probably not much) of the right in general, though it still is a blemish on the "Tea Party Express" contingent of the Tea Party, which as I recall is a faction that the larger association of Tea Partiers has eschewed for right-wing-nuttery, am I correct?

Pretty much, though I am not that knowldegable about the internal workings of the Tea Party movement. But Williams is so inflammatory in his Anti Moslem rhetoric that I woul dnot be suprised if he is being marginalized by the "Mainstream" Tea Party groups, although, of course,it might be a case of he is too blatent about it rather then any real disagreement.
Yeah, I have lived in Sacramento for over Ten Years, and Williams is pretty much a pariah except for a few followers. No one really wants to be connected to Anti Muslim antics. He tried to be a speaker at a "Support the Troops" rally organzied by the local VFW, and they told him in no uncertain terms he was not welcome.
I thing that the Tea Party members whose main concern is Fiscal Conservatism (less government spending) are going to split and seek a new label because the more extreme Tea Party members are rapidly making the name a handicap.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Yes, his rhetoric is racist, but I would back off on suggesting that the mere use of the word "colored" implies racism. My mom, who taught me not to be a racist and encouraged me when I integrated a formerly all-black high school in Alabama, used the word "colored". Relic? Yes. But if you want to say it is in and of itself offensive, then you are simply looking for something to be offended by.

I think his comment goes beyond archaic usage (as it is in the NAACP--which isn't an issue since that organization is known by the letters and not the words these days).

When the NAACP passed it's resolution, one of the Tea Party leaders said something to the effect that he wouldn't listen to any organization's opinion about racism that uses the word "colored" in its name. (I posted the exact quote in one of these Tea Party threads.) I think this follow up use is intended to refer to that "criticism". I don't think it's a word he would ordinarily use. (I think the word he might use among close friends probably starts with an "N".)

 

[fullflavormenthol]

I think the real issue is that anymore people simply refer to the NAACP by it's initialism more than it's overall name. Changing it would actually take away from it's name recognition. Before it finally changed it's name people would use the initialism YMCA instead of saying Young Men's Christian Association.

Anyway...the overall context of the "satire" is racist.

 

[applecorped]

I think the real issue is that anymore people simply refer to the NAACP by it's initialism more than it's overall name. Changing it would actually take away from it's name recognition. Before it finally changed it's name people would use the initialism YMCA instead of saying Young Men's Christian Association.

Anyway...the overall context of the "satire" is racist.

The YMCA is changing its logo to just the "Y".

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100716/NEWS01/707169911/-1/news01

"They don’t want to be alienating people,” said Balakrishnan, whose expertise is in marketing. Like Kentucky Fried Chicken’s change to KFC — “they don’t want to sell only fried chicken” — the professor said the Y more broadly defines the organization.

Still, there’s risk with change. “Sometimes people feel a brand is no longer authentic. A deep level of trust gets violated with some people,” he said.

Sure enough, Facebook now has a page called “Don’t change the YMCA Logo.”

 

[Mumbles]

I guess the NAACP is the one with the English problem then as they continue to call themselves by what is now considered a racist term, while other organizations have discarded the racist term. So the irony continues.

Maybe you're right. Here, let's replace the word "colored" with the word "black", and see what we get.

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Black People have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Black People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the 'tea party movement'.

The tea party position to "end the bailouts" for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn't that what we want all Blacks to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us blacks! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Black People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of "reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government." What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Blacks we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government "stop the out of control spending." Again, they directly target Black People. That means we Black People would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government "stop raising our taxes." That is outrageous! How will we Black People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-blacks get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects blacks to be productive members of society?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom's Nephew National Association for the Advancement of Black People Head Black Person

This actually seems even more racist than the previous version did.

 

[Juniversal]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/07/5_eyewitness_examples_proving.html

That page makes me . It reminds me of the faux "freedom fries, you're anti-american if you don't wear a flag pin" patriotism of the Bush era.

1. Against Hyphenating: At every rally, before singing my "American Tea Party Anthem", I say, "Hello my fellow patriots. I am NOT an African-American. I am Lloyd Marcus, AMERICAN!!!"

Oh lord. American Tea Party Anthem??

5. Countless Thanks: Fighting back tears, countless tea party patriots of all ages, races and both sexes have thanked me, a black man, for my efforts to restore our freedoms, liberty and culture. These patriots are not racist, far from it. Because of our shared love for America and freedom, we consider each other brothers and sisters. Attempts to slander them as racists, opposing a president simply because he is black, is evil.

This is the rhetoric I can't stand. If your for lowering taxes and "smaller Gov't" then so be it. But the "loosing rights and freemdoms" rhetoric is rediculous.

 

[Juniversal]

To be fair, I do think that's what he was trying to do. This seems to be a follow-up from this statement a couple of days ago:

My eye roll was directed at the claim that the use of the word "colored" in NAACP is what makes them hypocrites. I guess I misunderstood what Neally was implying.

Okay after reading this post I see I was right in thinking Neally was implying that the use of the word colored in NAACP is what makes them hypocrites.