NAACP resolution condemns racism in tea party

[Johnny Bravo]

  By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press Writer Heather Hollingsworth, Associated Press Writer   – 36 mins ago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Leaders of the country's largest civil rights organization accused tea party activists on Tuesday of tolerating bigotry and approved a resolution condemning racism within the political movement.

The resolution was adopted during the annual convention in Kansas City of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spokesman Chris Fleming said. Tea party organizers disputed claims of racism and called on the NAACP to withdraw the resolution.

Debate was mostly closed to the public, but the final version of the resolution "calls on the tea party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the tea party," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau.

"I hope it will empower the tea party to actually look at itself and see that there are those who are noticing things that I think most tea partiers don't want," he said.

The final wording of the resolution won't be released until the NAACP's national board of directors approves it during its meeting in October. But the original called for the NAACP to "educate its membership and the community that this movement is not just about higher taxes and limited government." It said something could evolve "and become more dangerous for that small percentage of people that really think our country has been taken away from them."

"We felt the time had come to stand up and say, 'It's time for the tea party to be responsible members of this democracy and make sure they don't tolerate bigots or bigotry among their members,'" NAACP President Ben Jealous said ahead of the debate.

"We don't have a problem with the tea party's existence. We have an issue with their acceptance and welcoming of white supremacists into their organizations," he said.

Tea party activist Alex Poulter, who co-founded a Kansas City-area group called Political Chips, disputed the allegations. He said the movement is made up of a "diverse group of folks who are upset with what is going on with this country."

Poulter said he has seen no evidence of racism within the movement.

"It's unfounded, but people are running with these accusations like they are true," he said.

A group called the St. Louis Tea Party issued its own resolution Tuesday calling on the NAACP to withdraw the proposal.

Though not affiliated with either major political party, tea party activists espouse a political philosophy of less government, a free market, lower taxes, individual rights and political activism.

The group has faced occasional claims of racism, most notably in March near the end of the bitter health care debate. U.S. Reps. John Lewis, Andre Carson and Emanuel Cleaver said some demonstrators, many of them tea party activists, yelled a racial epithet as the black congressmen walked from House office buildings to the Capitol. Cleaver, D-Mo., also said he was spit on.

A white lawmaker said he also heard the epithets, but conservative activists said the lawmakers were lying.

"They are pulling people together and focusing on the negative, and then it's hard to make anything positive out of that," said Anita L. Russell, president of the Kansas City, Mo., branch of the NAACP, which introduced the resolution. "And then these groups, these extremist groups, are looking for something, and they are latching on to this."



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_naacp_tea_party


  They just don't get it.

[Ichiban]

A case of the pot calling the kettle black?   

[twyacht]

I wonder if the NAACP will condemn the inciting remarks of King Shabazz and the killing of white babies?

Hmmmmm?

[MikeBjerum]

Not even going to waste my time reading the article!

Any organization that identifies itself by race has denied itself the right to scream racism!

[jaybet]

Rich... isn't it?

[Sponsor]

[crusader rabbit]

A case of the pot calling the kettle black?   

Racist!

How about a little condemnation for the NAACP as a racist org???   

Look...  No organization can control everything every member might want to say or do.  Have there been some "undignified" signs at Tea Party events?  Sure.  Is the overall org somehow racist because of that fact?  No.  Not any more than the Democratic party is racist because Byrd was a Grand Klegal in the KKK....    Oh...  Wait.  I just undermined my own argument.  Sheesh.

[Hazcat]

....and Michelle Obama addressed the convention and said they were right!  But WE are the racists!

[Woody]

 Any time a group keeps using the race word, they are socialist/communist inspired, and they are the racists.
 They have no facts for the case they are trying to make, so they use bullying and peer pressure. The phrase indicates they are totally misinformed and for some there is but one cure.

[Solus]

I wonder if the NAACP will condemn the inciting remarks of King Shabazz and the killing of white babies?

Hmmmmm?

Not in their charter.  Bigotry and violence against Whites by blacks is not covered.

[jaybet]

I heard an NAACP member on NPR this morning saying, "We have always been labeled as a racist organization. AS SOON AS YOU SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF THEY CALL YOU A RACIST". (My emphasis).
DUH! I really have no time for race baiting people or groups, but if a white "speaks up for himself" (which these days includes being in the Tea Party or disagreeing with Obama) he's immediately a racist.  It just ain't so.