FAIRFIELD DAILY REPUBLIC - THE OTHER SIDE

Tea partiers, save the fake outrage
By Kelvin Wade July 15, 2010

The NAACP has passed a resolution calling on the tea party to repudiate racist elements within the movement. And now the game begins where tea partiers feign victimhood and outrage.

Let's deal with the facts. There have been offensive incidents and signs at tea party rallies. There was the incident in March when black congressmen had the N word shouted at them and one was spat upon. While some, such as Republican National Commitee Chairman Michael Steele, condemned the behavior, other tea partiers denied the incidents ever took place.

Signs have been carried at tea party rallies saying, 'Go back to Kenya,' 'Hey Hussein, Quit 'Dixie Chickin' Our Nation. Go Back to Kenya,' 'Obamanomics: Monkey See, Monkey Spend' and 'The Zoo has an African Lion and the White House has an African Lyin' ' among others. There have been posters of the president dressed as a witch doctor with a bone in his nose. There have been signs featuring pictures of the monkey Curious George labeled 'Curious Barack.'

Now some conservative bloggers have pointed out that George W. Bush was parodied as Curious George. If they cannot see the difference, I can't help them. If that is the defense, this is a willful ignorance of what is going on.

It was inevitable that such a resolution would provoke faux outrage on conservative blogs and among some tea party leaders. In this national game we play, one side willfully and deliberately misunderstands a criticism in order to score political points. So instead of reacting to the specific charge that there are some racist elements within the tea parties, conservatives will say that all Tea Partiers are being called racists. Cue the handwringing.

The St. Louis tea party didn't disappoint as they came up with its own resolution condemning the NAACP and wrote on its website: '. . . the NAACP today intends to condemn 20 million tea party activists as racists.' Not so, but I'm sure they'll fundraise off of it.

Mark Williams, national spokesman for the Tea Party Express, released a statement saying in part: '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.' Yes, because the NAACP is like the Ku Klux Klan in his mind.

Tea partiers are mainly Republicans upset that John McCain lost and frustrated with the policies of President Obama and the direction of the country. The tea party is not synonymous with racists. However, the problem with having such a loosely aligned national group is anyone can call themselves a tea party patriot. There are people who show up who either are racists or who cross the line with their rhetoric.

The NAACP is saying to call them out because they're sullying the brand. Now the NAACP hasn't released the full text of its resolution. If any group were to say that all tea partiers are racist, that would be shameful and wrong. But from the NAACP website: 'The proposed resolution has generated controversy on conservative blogs, where in some cases the language has been misconstrued to imply that the NAACP was condemning the entire Tea Party movement itself as racist.'

If you're a tea partier it behooves you more than anyone to condemn those within your ranks who are hurting your image. Just save the fake outrage. Peace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

ALL TEA PARTIERS ARE NOT RACIST! ALL TEA PARTIERS ARE NOT RACIST! ALL TEA PARTIERS ARE NOT RACIST! ALL TEA PARTIERS ARE NOT RACIST! ALL TEA PARTIERS ARE NOT RACIST! ALL TEA PARTIERS ARE NOT RACISTS!

Yes, you can completely disagree with President Obama and NOT be a racist. You can loathe everything he stands for and NOT be a racist. There...is that good enough for you Tea Partiers?

Because what I can't stand is this fake outrage. It's this deliberately misunderstanding a criticism in order to score points. In order to fundraise. I can just see the letters going out to Tea Party members, "The NAACP is accusing us of being racists." "The liberals are saying we're all a bunch of racists."

We saw this during the campaign. During a campaign stop in Virginia, candidate Obama blasted John McCain's policy ideas as being identical to George W. Bush's. He finished by saying that you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. The McCain camp pretended that Obama was calling Sarah Palin a pig. They knew precisely what he was saying but chose to fake like they didn't to score points.

This is a sick, stupid game we play in this country. If someone is critical of war policy in Iraq or Afghanistan, you can bet that those who support the policy will respond with, "I can't believe you'd attack our hardworking troops." It's a bullshit move but we see it done every day.

There have been some ugly incidents during Tea Party rallies and they should be condemned. As the nation's oldest, largest civil rights organization, of course the NAACP is going to point it out at their annual convention. There were ugly racial incidents during the campaign. With an African-American president, it was inevitable. There are those miscreants in our society.

I know Tea Partiers and no one I know who is involved in the Tea Party movement do I think is racist or prejudice. I think they're committed conservatives who disagree strenuously with a Democratic administration. The same folks were adamantly opposed to Bill Clinton. I've certainly made no attempt to paint with a broad brush.

I've said this before. I oppose illegal immigration. I laid out what I think should happen weeks ago. If I were participating in a rally against illegal immigration and the guy next to me was holding a sign that said, "Wetbacks Go Back To Mexico!" or had derogatory caricatures of Hispanics on it, I'd tear their sign down. I wouldn't want anyone looking at that idiot and thinking his views were mine or the organization I was with.

Lastly, Mark Williams, an organizer and spokesman for the Tea Party Express penned a letter to explain his feelings. It's satire. It's a fictitious letter between Abraham Lincoln and the "coloreds." Here's his letter. You be the judge:

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Coloreds 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 Colored 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 Coloreds 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 coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 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 Coloreds 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 coloreds. That means we Coloreds 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 coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds 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 NAACP Head Colored Person