NAACP vs. the Tea Party: Is This Fight Necessary?
Mary C. Curtis
National Correspondent
Posted:
07/13/10
If one thing has become lost in politics, it's compromise. Searching for that middle ground where everyone must give up a little to achieve a goal is seen as a sign of surrender. The surest route to glory is a bruising battle to the finish, where no one truly comes out a winner.
Take the dust-up between the NAACP and the Tea Party movement that has Sarah Palin and others joining the fray.
At the NAACP's annual convention in Kansas City, Mo., the group has so far focused on the effects of the BP oil spill on minorities in the region. But the main topic of news is a resolution -- approved in a vote by more than 2,000 delegates -- condemning "explicit racist behavior" by supporters of the Tea Party movement. The resolution, first reported in The Kansas City Star, calls on "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."
"We need to realize it's really not about limited government," Anita Russell, head of the Kansas City chapter of the NAACP, told the Star. Brendan Steinhauser, director of campaigns for FreedomWorks, an organizer of Tea Party groups, countered, "Racism is something we're absolutely opposed to."
The resolution cites, among other issues, the Tea Party's opposition to government programs that have helped the progress of minorities and the working class, and the disrespect shown to President Barack Obama at rallies dotted with posters depicting the commander in chief as Hitler and the Joker.
"We see them carry racist signs and whenever it happens, the membership tries to shirk responsibility," NAACP President Ben Jealous said in an interview with ABC News. "If the Tea Party wants to be respected and wants to be part of the mainstream in this country, they have to take responsibility."
On Monday, the St. Louis Tea Party passed a resolution, condemning the NAACP for "hypocritically engaging in the very conduct it purports to oppose," and urging the IRS to reconsider its tax-exempt status of the NAACP, ABC reports.
Sarah Palin commented to Sean Hannity on Fox News: "It's a false accusation that Tea Party Americans are racist. Any good American hates racism. We don't stand for it." Palin also called on President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama to "repudiate" the resolution. That Michelle Obama, who addressed the NAACP convention about her obesity crusade on Monday, has since moved on did not prevent her from getting pulled into the controversy.
Jealous on Monday challenged Kentucky GOP Senate candidate and Tea Party supporter Rand Paul to a debate on civil rights. Paul has criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as overreaching.
Does the NAACP have the right to weigh in on a social and political movement that's flexing its muscle in elections across the country? Of course. While some suggest the group should concentrate on the ills facing urban neighborhoods, the NAACP -- founded in 1909 by whites and blacks in response to the horror of lynching -- has always had the capacity to act on more than one thing in its pursuit of justice for all.
But should it get bogged down in what will quickly become a back-and-forth fight? It is surely a distraction for the Tea Party, which is often pulled from its small-government, low-tax message while it battles charges of racism. For their part, movement leaders should not be surprised. Every time the charge is raised, their "Who us, racists?" response looks a mite disingenuous.
No group should be judged by the actions of a fringe few holding signs that cross the line. But there is a reason so few minorities attend such gatherings as the Tea Party national meeting in Nashville earlier this year. In conversations there, I asked what observers are supposed to think when former Congressman Tom Tancredo is cheered for his comments that voters who "could not spell the word 'vote' or say it in English" were responsible for putting a "committed Socialist ideologue" in the White House, or when Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily is applauded for his questions about Obama's U.S. citizenship.
A larger percentage of Tea Party members than the general public believe the administration's policies favor blacks over whites, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. And the reaction to a disputed incident -- when members of Congress were jeered during the debate over health care -- could have been handled differently. A simple statement disavowing any name-calling and racist chants would have gone down a lot better than insisting civil rights icon John Lewis is a liar.
But every charge by the NAACP will be answered by denials and statements by black Tea Party members, such as the Bishop E. W. Jackson, president of STAND (Staying True to America's National Destiny) or Rev. C.L. Bryant, a former president of NAACP's chapter in Garland, Texas, and now a Tea Party activist.
You can forget about that common ground, over a broken economy, a government -- big or small -- that works and justice for "real Americans" (you know, the ones who live on farms as well as inner-city apartments)?
Better to argue over a resolution that won't change one mind.
Click here to follow Mary C. Curtis on Twitter.
Take the dust-up between the NAACP and the Tea Party movement that has Sarah Palin and others joining the fray.
At the NAACP's annual convention in Kansas City, Mo., the group has so far focused on the effects of the BP oil spill on minorities in the region. But the main topic of news is a resolution -- approved in a vote by more than 2,000 delegates -- condemning "explicit racist behavior" by supporters of the Tea Party movement. The resolution, first reported in The Kansas City Star, calls on "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."
"We need to realize it's really not about limited government," Anita Russell, head of the Kansas City chapter of the NAACP, told the Star. Brendan Steinhauser, director of campaigns for FreedomWorks, an organizer of Tea Party groups, countered, "Racism is something we're absolutely opposed to."
The resolution cites, among other issues, the Tea Party's opposition to government programs that have helped the progress of minorities and the working class, and the disrespect shown to President Barack Obama at rallies dotted with posters depicting the commander in chief as Hitler and the Joker."We see them carry racist signs and whenever it happens, the membership tries to shirk responsibility," NAACP President Ben Jealous said in an interview with ABC News. "If the Tea Party wants to be respected and wants to be part of the mainstream in this country, they have to take responsibility."
On Monday, the St. Louis Tea Party passed a resolution, condemning the NAACP for "hypocritically engaging in the very conduct it purports to oppose," and urging the IRS to reconsider its tax-exempt status of the NAACP, ABC reports.
Sarah Palin commented to Sean Hannity on Fox News: "It's a false accusation that Tea Party Americans are racist. Any good American hates racism. We don't stand for it." Palin also called on President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama to "repudiate" the resolution. That Michelle Obama, who addressed the NAACP convention about her obesity crusade on Monday, has since moved on did not prevent her from getting pulled into the controversy.
Jealous on Monday challenged Kentucky GOP Senate candidate and Tea Party supporter Rand Paul to a debate on civil rights. Paul has criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as overreaching.
Does the NAACP have the right to weigh in on a social and political movement that's flexing its muscle in elections across the country? Of course. While some suggest the group should concentrate on the ills facing urban neighborhoods, the NAACP -- founded in 1909 by whites and blacks in response to the horror of lynching -- has always had the capacity to act on more than one thing in its pursuit of justice for all.
But should it get bogged down in what will quickly become a back-and-forth fight? It is surely a distraction for the Tea Party, which is often pulled from its small-government, low-tax message while it battles charges of racism. For their part, movement leaders should not be surprised. Every time the charge is raised, their "Who us, racists?" response looks a mite disingenuous.
No group should be judged by the actions of a fringe few holding signs that cross the line. But there is a reason so few minorities attend such gatherings as the Tea Party national meeting in Nashville earlier this year. In conversations there, I asked what observers are supposed to think when former Congressman Tom Tancredo is cheered for his comments that voters who "could not spell the word 'vote' or say it in English" were responsible for putting a "committed Socialist ideologue" in the White House, or when Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily is applauded for his questions about Obama's U.S. citizenship.
A larger percentage of Tea Party members than the general public believe the administration's policies favor blacks over whites, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. And the reaction to a disputed incident -- when members of Congress were jeered during the debate over health care -- could have been handled differently. A simple statement disavowing any name-calling and racist chants would have gone down a lot better than insisting civil rights icon John Lewis is a liar.
But every charge by the NAACP will be answered by denials and statements by black Tea Party members, such as the Bishop E. W. Jackson, president of STAND (Staying True to America's National Destiny) or Rev. C.L. Bryant, a former president of NAACP's chapter in Garland, Texas, and now a Tea Party activist.
You can forget about that common ground, over a broken economy, a government -- big or small -- that works and justice for "real Americans" (you know, the ones who live on farms as well as inner-city apartments)?
Better to argue over a resolution that won't change one mind.
Click here to follow Mary C. Curtis on Twitter.