NAACP vs Tea Party – By Azadeh Osanloo, Ph.D.
Azadeh Osanloo, Ph.D.
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) recently passed a declaration stating that the Tea Party movement tolerates open racism in its midst. NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous stated to CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer, “We’re simply asking them to repudiate racist acts and bigotry in their ranks or accept responsibility.” You might be asking yourself right about now, what racist acts has the Tea Party openly committed. Well, to name a few (yes, just a few):
- Conservative radio host and recurring Tea Party Express spokesperson, Mark Williams, recently penned an offensive and ill-conceived satirical letter supposedly from NAACP President Jealous to former President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. In it, his letter stated:
“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 Colored People 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.”
- Tea Party Activists repeatedly hold signs at rallies depicting President Obama as a witch doctor and Kenyan-born socialist. Let’s also not forget the litany of racist epithets Tea Party activists and protestors against healthcare reform hurled at three Black Democratic Congressman in favor of the reform.
- In Iowa, a billboard erected by the Tea Party group compared President Obama to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and communist leader Lenin. Beneath the pictures of Obama, Hitler, and Lenin read “Democratic Socialism,” ”National Socialism,” and “Marxist Socialism.” Beneath the pictures and captions the slogan read: “Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive.”
Inane name-calling and racial slurs, xenophobic satirical blogs, and egregious discrimination do not point to false imputations of racism, but rather clearly define some racially motivated agendas amidst the Tea Party. Is every member of the Tea Party a racist or bigot? No. Should the racism and bigotry that is clearly evident in the Tea Party be tolerated? No.
As a child I was always told, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” While the words themselves may not hurt, the vitriolic inspired hatred they spawn may actually hurt, or far worse. Hate is contagious. People should not be emboldened by hatred. They should be emboldened by the great and vast differences present among us all.
