21 October, 2010

Why I Can’t Take the NAACP Seriously



Yesterday, the NAACP released its report on the Tea Party and racism. They have a nice little website to go along with it: www.teapartynationalism.com.

Their biggest “evidence” of racism is the claim by Congressmen John Lewis (D-GA-05) and Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN-07) that racial epithets were shouted at them by Tea Partiers on the day before the health care vote.

I’ve been pretty blunt lately. Let me continue.

John Lewis and Andre Carson are liars.

The events they described never happened. Four videos of the scene in question have been brought to light. None of them show the events unfolding the way these gentlemen describe. Not one piece of evidence has yet been unearthed that corroborates their story, despite an offer of $100,000 for such evidence by Andrew Breitbart.

Several months have gone by. No one has come forward to claim the money.

Recently, a UCLA grad student named Emily Elkins decided to look into these claims of racism at Tea Party events. She took a novel approach. She went to the 9/12 March in Washington D.C. and photographed every single sign she saw.

The results?

Ekins photographed about 250 signs, and more than half of those she saw reflected a "limited government ethos," she found - touching on such topics as the role of government, liberty, taxes, spending, deficit and concern about socialism. Examples ranged from the simple message "$top the $pending" scrawled in black-marker block letters to more elaborate drawings of bar charts, stop signs and one poster with the slogan "Socialism is Legal Theft" and a stick-figure socialist pointing a gun at the head of a taxpayer.

There were uglier messages, too - including "Obama Bin Lyin' - Impeach Now" and "Somewhere in Kenya a Village is Missing its Idiot." But Ekins's analysis showed that only about a quarter of all signs reflected direct anger with Obama. Only 5 percent of the total mentioned the president's race or religion, and slightly more than 1 percent questioned his American citizenship.

But such evidence didn’t stop Ben Jealous,  President of the NAACP.

NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said tea party groups must repudiate any racist elements within their ranks and prevent them from using tea party events as a platform for views against ethnic and religious minorities.

“These groups and individuals are out there, and we ignore them at our own peril,” Mr. Jealous said. “The danger is not that the majority of Tea Party members share their views, but that left unchecked, these extremists might indirectly influence the direction of the Tea Party.”

Notice the creative use of innuendo here. He never comes out and directly says that the Tea Party is racist, just that they should “repudiate any racist elements within their ranks”. You know, that’s a good idea for any organization. I think any time any group congregates they should start out by saying “Anybody out here who is a racist, we don’t want you here and we’re not interested in what you have to say”. This should apply at Tea Party rallies, Amway conventions, church picnics, boy scout camp outs, stockholder meetings, etc. Clearly what Mr. Jealous suggests is ludicrous.

IF racist elements attempt to “influence the direction” of your group, yes, you should put a stop to it, and call them out. Until then, they are best left ignored (usually). You give such fringe elements power when you recognize them.

The NAACP has long since lost sight of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people. For many of our white brothers as evidenced by their presence here today have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

[…]

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

The NAACP is all about divisiveness. It has forgotten that what King wanted was inclusiveness. In fact, the Tea Party and the NAACP should be working hand-in-hand. They both claim to desire the same thing: freedom. Of course, the NAACP is no longer interested in freedom. They long ago shackled themselves to the Democratic party, and have no desire to free themselves from those shackles. Thus, any attempt to lessen the power of the Democrats, or worse yet, to lessen the hold the Democrats have over blacks, is cause for fear and alarm.

For more about the NAACP’s surreal attempts to tar the Tea Party with unfounded accusations of racism and extremism, go here.

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