Blog: 'Radical NAACP leftists' persecuting Tea Party movement over alleged racism

NAACP mulls resolution decrying Tea Party 'racism'; Free Republic members respond: 'klan with a tan' and 'pot calling the kettle white'

News that the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will propose a resolution this week condemning racism within the tea party movement" is not being taken well by some conservatives.

The Kansas City Star notes, "The resolution, scheduled for a vote as early as Tuesday by delegates attending the annual NAACP convention in Kansas City, calls upon '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.'"

Complaining that the "NAACP has more of a political agenda now," Brendan Steinhauser, "director of campaigns for FreedomWorks, which organizes tea party groups," tells The Kansas City Star's Judy L. Thomas, "I just don't see racism in the tea party movement. Racism is something we're absolutely opposed to."

Gary Langer, director of polling at ABC News, apparently agrees with Steinhauser, "While our data don't speak to views at the individual level, in the broadest, population-based sense, we don't see it."

We covered the question in our extensive look at the movement in May [link to pdf]. Certainly suspicions of racism are there: We found that 57 percent of people who oppose the Tea Party suspect its members of racial prejudice (specifically, against President Obama). That declined to a quarter of those who are neutral toward the movement, and 10 percent of its own supporters.

Certainly views on race differ among groups, and as we noted at the time, Tea Party supporters are less apt than other Americans to see racism as a major problem. But that view also is associated with attributes other than being a Tea Party supporter - being very conservative, for example, and being white.

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As we reported: “A statistical analysis indicates that the strongest predictors of supporting the Tea Party are views of Obama, ideology, partisanship and anger at the way the government is operating. Views on the extent of racism as a problem, and views on Obama’s efforts on behalf of African-Americans, are not significant predictors of support for the Tea Party movement.”

At Think Progress, Nina Bhattacharya argues that the tea parties have a "well-documentedhistoryof racism and wrongful co-opting of the civil rights movement."

Last year, Tea Party members analogized President Obama to a “monkey.” In March, Tea Party protesters hurled racist epithets at civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and spat at Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO). At a recent July 4 rally in Lexington, KY, Daily Kos documented Tea Party members selling shirts declaring “Yup, I’m a Racist!”

But, according to the conservative Gateway Pundit blog, the NAACP is a "radical leftist group that labels black conservatives 'Uncle Toms,'" Condemning the entire NAACP over statements made at one press conference, the blog links to a video of a speaker in St. Louis attacking black conservative activist Kenneth Gladney, who was "injured in a scuffle at a health forum" last August.

Back in the day, we used to call someone like that, and I want to remind you, uh, when this incident occurred, I was really struck by a front page picture of this guy, which we called, a Negro, i mean that we call him a Negro in the fact that he works for not for our people but against our people. In the old days, we call him an Uncle Tom. I just gotta say that. Here it is, the day after a young brother, a young man, I didn’t mean to call him a brother, but on the front page of the Post Dispatch, ironically, he’s sitting in a wheelchair, being kissed on the forehead, by a European. Now just imagine that as a poster child picture, not working for our people.

At a thread at the conservative site Free Republic, (which Gateway Pundit hat-tipped as the source for The Kansas City Star report), tea party defenders complain, many of whom call the group the NAALCP, with "L" standing for "liberal":

Pretty funny, coming from an association that is based solely on race.

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The paid leaders and all the various volunteers are in fact professional racists.

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The pot calling the kettle white?

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The only incidents of bad behavior at TEA Party rallies I've heard of have come from imposters. That is, so-called "liberals" and leftist attempting to infiltrate a rally and then foment trouble by displaying previously hidden racist signs and/or shouting racist remarks.

The so-called "liberals" are anything but liberal. They are a desperate and morally bankrupt group without a shred of decency or conscious.

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To the NAACP, everyone is racist,except the NAACP. The klan with a tan.

An ABC News article posted Monday afternoon shows that the NAACP is working "in coordination with 170 other groups, including labor unions," to protest the Tea Party movement in an upcoming DC march.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in coordination with 170 other groups, including labor unions, is planning a protest march in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10 as the next step in building momentum against the Tea Party.

The "One Nation" march is designed as an antithesis to the Tea Party, and it's about "pulling America together and back to work," an NAACP spokeswoman told ABC News.