Tea Party Leader Mocks NAACP "Coloreds" In Online Screed

[Crossroads Inc.]

Politico

Before getting to the story, a bit of background...

As many of us know, the "Tea Party" isn't exactly a bastion for multiculturalism, racist signs and vast seas of white people is what is often presented. Naturally the right, as it often does, has lashed out and turned the tables on blacks and the NAACP for daring to call the teaparty "racist"

I wonder what could ever give them that idea?"

On Tuesday, the NAACP passed a resolution denouncing racist elements within the Tea Party movement. Responding to the resolution, Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams lashed out against the civil rights group, claiming that "they make more money off of race than any slave trader ever." Williams continued his assault last night on CNN, telling host Roland Martin, "Racists have their own movement. It's called the NAACP."

Williams, however, is doing little to refute the notion that there is racism in the Tea Party movement. Last night, the proud Tea Partier wrote a blog post mocking NAACP president Benjamin Jealous. The post takes the form of a fake letter to Abraham Lincoln, in which Jealous asks the former president to repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments (and to reinstate slavery) because the "coloreds" don't agree with the Tea Party's version of "freedom."

The entire post is quoted below:

-------------------------------------
NAACP Resolution: Colored People change minds about emancipation
Astonishing.

In every one of the dozens of interviews that I have done regarding the anti-Tea Party resolution passed by the NAACP I have brought up the absurdity of a group that calls blacks "Colored People" hurling charges of racism. Whats more, each interviewer has defended that phrase and expressed surprise that I would consider that phrase to be racist!

Apparently Colored People are an entirely new race of people and one to which the title applies. Here NAACP President Precious Ben Jealous explains to President Abraham Lincoln the reasons for the resolution in this newly discovered letter :

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Colored 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 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 Colored People. That means we Colored 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 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.

Sincerely

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

[Mr Bean]

I saw this story earlier today but I thought it had to be a joke. As in "No one would be that idioit to right a fake letter to Abraham Lincoln calling for him to reinstate slavery" as a method so say "no no, it's the NAACP is racialist not I!"

Words fail me, because lets be honest. How else can one respond to something like this then to step back and give a slow golf clap for the shear stones it took to put something like this together.
I can not wait to see if Mr Williams falls over himself apologizing or goes all out and doubles down.

[LadyTevar]

oh.
my.
god.


I have no words for the sheer stupidity this guy is throwing.

[HSRTG]

I checked the link several times to make sure this wasn't the Onion. Good god, what is this idiot thinking?

[Crossroads Inc.]

I just find it amazing that the NAACP passes a resolution condemning the tea party movement of tolerating racist elements, and the response from the head of this movement is:

Not to say that the tea party movement is about taxes and smaller government, or that the actions of a few bad apples should not condemn the entire movement, but to write a very racist letter that does nothing to address the points that were raised.

On second thought, I guess I shouldn't be amazed at all.

[Phantasee]

I thought it was going to be subtly racest when I read "cotton on" in the first line.

And then it hit me over and over with a 2x10, nice solid whacks to the face. Holy shit, massa?! I also liked how they linked themselves to Lincoln. As if the tea party has anything to do with the abolition of slavery.

[JME2]

I went into this thinking it was from the Onion. How wrong I was...

[Kanastrous]

Wow, between Michael Steele and this rampaging doofus it almost feels like there's little to do but sit back and watch the Conservapublicans implode...except that for all I know this strengthens their base rather than weakens it.

But...Benjamin Jealous?! Really? Really? That's just about Onion-worthy, too.

[Coyote]

God, I love this. This is perfect.

November is just 3 1/2 months away and this can still find political relevancy, and the GOP has been unable to shake itself loose of the Tea Party & vice-versa.

The Teabaggers are shouting down "Tea Party candidates" that run in recent elections, people running as "true" conservatives as alternatives to the Republicans and splitting votes, letting Democrats win. In order to get "conservative-enough" people in office, the Teabaggers are furiously humping the legs of the GOP like horny little poodles.

This is precisely the GOP base that they have courted so long and this is precisely what they get. Now, with a Black President, they come out of the woodwork and continue to reveal their true colors as begin the ramp-up for November.

Good job, 'Baggers! Keep waving your flag, loud and proud!

[hongi]

Boom. That was the sound of my irony meter exploding.

[Crossroads Inc.]

More on this idiocy form Yahoo News

But let's take a step back. How did we get to this point? Here is The Upshot's chronological guide to the NAACP-tea party spat:

1. On Tuesday, the NAACP approved its resolution accusing tea party activists of tolerating racist elements in their movement. "For more than a year we've watched as Tea Party members have called congressmen the N-word, have called congressmen the F-word. We see them carry racist signs and whenever it happens, the membership tries to shirk responsibility," NAACP President Ben Jealous (pictured above) told 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."
The resolution was spurred by an incident in March, when Reps. John Lewis, Andre Carson and Emanuel Cleaver said some tea party demonstrators yelled racial slurs at them as they walked to the Capitol for the final vote approving the controversial health-care-reform legislation. Cleaver said he was spat on. Conservative activists accused the congressmen of lying.

2. Tea Party activists quickly shot back, calling the NAACP racist and irrelevant. "It's a little ironic that an organization that has lost legitimacy through its own racism is trying to call another racist," Mark Meckler of Tea Party Patriots told the L.A. Times.
Tea Party Express' Williams went farther in an interview with NPR flagged by Talking Points Memo. "We are 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," he said. "It's time groups like the NAACP went to the trash heap of history where they belong along with all the other vile, racist groups that emerged in our history." On CNN, he called the group "a bunch of old fossils looking to make a buck off skin color."
Dallas Tea Party founder Phillip Dennis said on FOX that the NAACP is "irrelevant" and should have ended 50 years ago. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said the NAACP should stop "name calling."

3. Many condemned the tea party's attack on the civil rights group as wrong-headed.
"That's the epitome of what a Tea Party patriot should not be saying," political commenter Lenny McAllister said on NPR. "They should not be saying that the NAACP is vile. The NAACP is not vile. They fought for civil rights for all types of people for years, even if they're misguided now, to use that type of language is not only inappropriate, but it does a disservice to the proud hundreds of thousands of Tea Party patriots."
Jamelle Bouie at the American Prospect wrote that the tea party's defense is based on the notion that racism only arises out of overt acts of prejudice, like racially motivated acts of violence and state-sanctioned segregation. "Now that outright racism is a rarity in the public square, it's really easy for many Americans to say that 'real racism' is a relic of the past," he said. He argued that more subtle racism is still prevalent, and a problem.
Ta-Nahesi Coates at The Atlantic wrote that the NAACP was just fulfilling its stated mission to oppose "any attempt to inject racism into American politics. " He writes the NAACP was rationally responding to several worrisome statements from tea-party-affiliated politicians and media figures.

4. Williams escalated the debate on Thursday by posting a satirical letter, under the name of NAACP President Ben Jealous to Abraham Lincoln. Among other things, the missive mocked the organization for using the term "colored." "In every one of the dozens of interviews that I have done regarding the anti-Tea Party resolution passed by the NAACP, I have brought up the absurdity of a group that calls blacks “Colored People” hurling charges of racism," he wrote before posting the letter, which is no longer available on his site:

Dear Mr. Lincoln
We [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored 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 [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People and we demand that it stop!

Williams pulled it down earlier this afternoon — after he'd encountered some objections in the post's comments section. He'd previously excised some sections of the original post that had sparked reader protests, including use of the term "massa" and a reference to black supporters of the civil rights group being reluctant to work in order to pay for "a wide screen TV in every room."

In explaining the decision to remove the letter, Williams wrote that because the NAACP said today that it wants to open a dialogue with the tea party, it's time for him to move on. "To that end and as a reciprocal gesture I have removed the parody letter you came here to read and urge you to fight those who seek to divide us by race, no matter the color of the racist," he wrote.

The trick now, evidently, is for participants in the new NAACP-tea party dialogue to refrain from calling each other racists.

I love the bog standard conservative response to things like this that blow up in thier face.
First you get the "Well I didn't mean it.." followed by the "Its all in the past, can't we just move on?"
In fact the "Can't we just move on?" is something of a broken record when it comes to the far right and race in general in the country.

As always, consider some of the comments form the story as an insight in tea Party supporters:

I believe the naacp is planting people in the Tea Party rallies with the racial signs and racial attitudes to keep the attention on them instead of the positive message that the Tea Party spreads. This is a pitiful attempt to undermine the good message the Tea Party brings and that is why the naacp is fighting them so hard. They cannot debate them on any of the facts so they have to resort to underhanded tactics like this to try to draw people's attention away from the real message. Only people that are shallow minded and are of questionable intelligence will believe that the Tea Party is guilty of any of these accusations.

NAACP is in fact the very largest racial group of socialist BIGIOTS in this country. Now they are trying to discredit another organization for having a different view. WAKE UP AMERICA Look at their heros sharpton, jackson and obummer just a bunch of socialist ganging together to disrupt this country and try to take something else they don't deserve. Most of the slaves were sold by other blacks to the slave traders, and they still are, and they want someone else to pay for their own mistakes. The civil war was 150 years ago and enough blood has been spilled because of lies and wanting something you don't want to earn. I hope this hate group dissolves before it destroys what it once stood for. I don't believe that MLK would approve of it in it's present form. I for one am very tierd of all the black raciest and the publishment of their lies.

Stupid blacks say they don't like to be refered to as "colored".
Is that a bit hypocritical or what.
In reality blacks don't know who they are because they never quite fit in to this country. I don;t know about the rest of you but why would any race of people remain in a country where, for the most part, are not wanted or welcomed anymore? You are never going to be considered equal to the whites around you. You force issues on people that don't want issues. If you really were our equal. you wouldn't find it neccessary to anounce it every single hour. You do it because it just isn't so and it never will be. Why don't blacks return to Africa? Like South Africa maybe. Blacks are in power there now, Little if any racism unless of course African blacks hate their American counterparts(which they do). But I don't get it. Why do they insist on living in a country where they are looked down upon? I know if it were me, I would leave, but blacks have no place to go I guess. Oh well, things will never change, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

Satire? Or Truth? hard to tell..

[kouchpotato]

I'd like to say this surprises me. I would really, really like to live in a world where this would have been shocking. But unfortunately, it's not all that unexpected.

[Kanastrous]

Somehow I still find room to be surprised.

Maybe because real race-hatred always looks like a parody of itself.

[bobalot]

The old tea party


The new tea party


Is anybody really surprised?

I always got the impression that these guys were like "We aren't racist!" while giving each other a nudge and wink.

[Tom_Kalbfus]

I just find it amazing that the NAACP passes a resolution condemning the tea party movement of tolerating racist elements, and the response from the head of this movement is:

Not to say that the tea party movement is about taxes and smaller government, or that the actions of a few bad apples should not condemn the entire movement, but to write a very racist letter that does nothing to address the points that were raised.

On second thought, I guess I shouldn't be amazed at all.

The NAACP tolerates racists all the time, it is very prejudicial for them to call the tea party movement racist, they look very hard for those racists because they want to change the subject, they'd rather the tea party spend time condemning racists in its own ranks rather than high taxes and big government. When you have large numbers of people, and the tea party has large numbers, you are going to get all kinds. The NAACP wants to paint the tea party with a broad brush, just like some bigots liked to paint black people as having criminal tendencies, by pointing to those examples they can find in jails for instance.

[bobalot]

I just find it amazing that the NAACP passes a resolution condemning the tea party movement of tolerating racist elements, and the response from the head of this movement is:

Not to say that the tea party movement is about taxes and smaller government, or that the actions of a few bad apples should not condemn the entire movement, but to write a very racist letter that does nothing to address the points that were raised.

On second thought, I guess I shouldn't be amazed at all.

The NAACP tolerates racists all the time, it is very prejudicial for them to call the tea party movement racist, they look very hard for those racists because they want to change the subject, they'd rather the tea party spend time condemning racists in its own ranks rather than high taxes and big government. When you have large numbers of people, and the tea party has large numbers, you are going to get all kinds. The NAACP wants to paint the tea party with a broad brush, just like some bigots liked to paint black people as having criminal tendencies, by pointing to those examples they can find in jails for instance.

1) Can you provide some actual evidence for your claim that the NAACP tolerates racists?
2) The NAACP is not concerned about "taxes" and "big government", that is not their purpose, dumbass. That's like criticising the make-a-wish foundation for not tackling world hunger.
3) The NAACP went out their way to NOT paint the tea party with a broad brush, they were talking about a racist element within the tea party movement.

[Tom_Kalbfus]

The old tea party


The new tea party


Is anybody really surprised?

I always got the impression that these guys were like "We aren't racist!" while giving each other a nudge and wink.

Racists have just as much right to complain about high taxes as non-racists, just because someone may be a racist doesn't mean that some of their other concerns aren't legitimate. Some of the people in the tea party are liberatians, and some are conservatives, yet they march together for a common cause of lower taxes and smaller government. The concervative and the libertatian might not always agree on everything, for example legalizing drugs, but they agree on enough to join together in a common cause. A racist may join in a demonstration, but the purpose of the gathering is to protest high taxes and big government, most participants, including racists, probably realizing that bringing up their pet issues would probably be disruptive to the cause, and those racists who deliberately fly swastikas for instance are probably deliberately trying to disrupt the tea party movement by changing the subject - now who does that serve? Does it serve those who would like to reintroduce segregation? No not really, but it does serve the liberal cause, just as someone burning an American flag in an anti-war protest would serve the conservative cause.

[bobalot]

most participants, including racists, probably realizing that bringing up their pet issues would probably be disruptive to the cause, and those racists who deliberately fly swastikas for instance are probably deliberately trying to disrupt the tea party movement by changing the subject - now who does that serve? Does it serve those who would like to reintroduce segregation? No not really, but it does serve the liberal cause, just as someone burning an American flag in an anti-war protest would serve the conservative cause.

So there is a secret liberal conspiracy to have racist signs at tea party rallies to make them look bad? Do you have any actual evidence for this? Or are you just talking out of your ass?

I see this thread hurtling towards the HoS very quickly.

BTW, I find it hilarious that people complain about "high taxes" when 95% of them got a tax cut from Obama. Where were these assholes when George Bush was in power? Ah, I forgot he's republican and a white guy. He gets a free pass.

[hongi]

I'm going to sleep so unfortunately I can't join in the inevitable beatdown, but I trust it'll be glorious.

1) Can you provide some actual evidence for your claim that the NAACP tolerates racists?

Not surprised he's not backing his assertion up.

[Tom_Kalbfus]

I just find it amazing that the NAACP passes a resolution condemning the tea party movement of tolerating racist elements, and the response from the head of this movement is:

Not to say that the tea party movement is about taxes and smaller government, or that the actions of a few bad apples should not condemn the entire movement, but to write a very racist letter that does nothing to address the points that were raised.

On second thought, I guess I shouldn't be amazed at all.

The NAACP tolerates racists all the time, it is very prejudicial for them to call the tea party movement racist, they look very hard for those racists because they want to change the subject, they'd rather the tea party spend time condemning racists in its own ranks rather than high taxes and big government. When you have large numbers of people, and the tea party has large numbers, you are going to get all kinds. The NAACP wants to paint the tea party with a broad brush, just like some bigots liked to paint black people as having criminal tendencies, by pointing to those examples they can find in jails for instance.

1) Can you provide some actual evidence for your claim that the NAACP tolerates racists?

Trying to paint the whole tea party movement as "racist" just because they can't account for every individual member's views on race is termed "broad brushing" or "stereotyping", in otherwords they are citing a few examples in an attempt to paint the whole movement as racist, and that is the very definition of prejudice.

2) The NAACP is not concerned about "taxes" and "big government", that is not their purpose, dumbass. That's like criticising the make-a-wish foundation for not tackling world hunger.

Oh, then why did it speak up about the tea party movement while maintaining its silence on the Black Panther's obstruction of voting areas and intimidation of white voters?
You can find racists in all walks of life, believe it or not, they do have other interests besides attacking every black person they meet. And calling someone a 'dumbass' because he disagrees with your point of view is uncalled for, I would say something more about it, but I do not wish to derail this topic with personal attacks, and I wish you would do the same out of respect for this site.

3) The NAACP went out their way to NOT paint the tea party with a broad brush, they were talking about a racist element within the tea party movement.

Oh really? Aren't there more racist organizations like the KKK, the Aryan Nations, and some radical Islamicists that actually threaten life and limb rather than a some people who gather to protest high taxes? If the NAACP was really concerned about racism, it would save its efforts for groups that are actually organized for racist purposes, rather than for groups that may have some members who are racist, but the NAACP is in the business of discrediting and smearing other organizations by making allegations without basis about the group organizer's motives based on a few allegations of racist incidents. The NAACP acts as soldiers by attacking Obama's political enemies with smear tactics which are very similar to those used in the McCarthy era, in otherwords they are conducting an anti-racist witchhunt, and trying to force people to prove they are not racist in an attempt to change the subject and get the tea party movement busy defending itself against these allegations, its no different that screaming that someone is a communist and trying to ruin that person's career if he can't prove otherwise. This goes against innocent until proven guilty.

[Tom_Kalbfus]

I'm going to sleep so unfortunately I can't join in the inevitable beatdown, but I trust it'll be glorious.

1) Can you provide some actual evidence for your claim that the NAACP tolerates racists?

Not surprised he's not backing his assertion up.

No, it just takes time to type up a proper response. You can't really expect me to respond in 2 seconds and then deem it as a non-response, now can you.

[Tom_Kalbfus]

most participants, including racists, probably realizing that bringing up their pet issues would probably be disruptive to the cause, and those racists who deliberately fly swastikas for instance are probably deliberately trying to disrupt the tea party movement by changing the subject - now who does that serve? Does it serve those who would like to reintroduce segregation? No not really, but it does serve the liberal cause, just as someone burning an American flag in an anti-war protest would serve the conservative cause.

So there is a secret liberal conspiracy to have racist signs at tea party rallies to make them look bad? Do you have any actual evidence for this? Or are you just talking out of your ass?

Why do you attempt to read between the lines instead of reading my words? You sound prejudiced when you do that, like you are trying to smear me, just like the NAACP is trying to smear the tea party movement.

I see this thread hurtling towards the HoS very quickly.

who's being hostile, who's calling me names like "dumbass", that is a personal attack, so please stop it. I never alleged it was a secret conspiracy, I just asked who does it serve, you can draw your own conclusions whether it is a secret conspiracy or not, because I have not done so.

BTW, I find it hilarious that people complain about "high taxes" when 95% of them got a tax cut from Obama. Where were these assholes when George Bush was in power? Ah, I forgot he's republican and a white guy. He gets a free pass.

The money comes out of their pockets from the inability to find a job. Raising taxes on high income people simply means there is less money to hire lower income people with.

[Ryan Thunder]

The money comes out of their pockets from the inability to find a job. Raising taxes on high income people simply means there is less money to hire lower income people with.

Because that money totally comes out of the pockets of the rich people and not from y'know, actual companies, with investors.

[Tom_Kalbfus]

I thought it was going to be subtly racest when I read "cotton on" in the first line.

And then it hit me over and over with a 2x10, nice solid whacks to the face. Holy shit, massa?! I also liked how they linked themselves to Lincoln. As if the tea party has anything to do with the abolition of slavery.

It was the first step towards the abolition os slavery:

"We hold these thruths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The Tea Party movement started the American Revolution which authored this document called the Declaration of Independence, and that declaration was also the basis of the Abolitionist Movement which was organized to end slavery.

[ClownPrinceofCrime]

It was the first step towards the abolition os slavery:

"We hold these thruths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The Tea Party movement started the American Revolution which authored this document called the Declaration of Independence, and that declaration was also the basis of the Abolitionist Movement which was organized to end slavery.

I do believe there is quite a bit of difference between the Boston Tea Party and the Tea Party movement of today...