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The Tea Party has not taken kindly to allegations of racism. AP Photo
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What may have been even more revealing than the NAACP resolution accusing the Tea Party of racism was the reaction of the new political organization to the allegation. The NAACP called on the Tea Party to repudiate the allegedly "racist elements" within the Tea Party. As evidence of such racism the NAACP pointed to various signs displayed at Tea Party rallies and actions of various Tea Party members.
The response from the Tea Party has been complete denial coupled with virulent attacks on the NAACP and anyone taking their side. The St. Louis Tea Party said the NAACP resolution was a "bigoted, false, and inflammatory" statement. Sarah Palin, arguably the most prominent spokesperson of the Tea Party, also denied any racism within the party, and called the resolution a "false" and "appalling." Palin also accused the NAACP of engaging in "divisive politics" by passing the resolution.
In her response, Palin also quoted President Reagan to try and make the point that the "evil legacy" of racism is a thing of the past. The reference to Reagan is ironic since Reagan himself was accused of racism at times during his political career. The following is an abbreviated list of controversial events dealing with race during Reagan's career:
- In Philadelphia, Mississippi (where three civil rights workers were killed in the 60's) Reagan gave a states' rights speech during the 1980 campaign. The speech was largely interpreted as a play to get the white vote in the a southern stronghold for white supremacist.
- While President Reagan attempted to repeal many provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Reagan questioned the sincerity of many Civil Rights leaders saying, "Sometimes I wonder if they really mean what they say, because some of those leaders are doing very well leading organizations based on keeping alive the feeling that they're victims of prejudice."
- Reagan defended the tax exemption status of Bob Jones University. The university's tax exempt status was revoked based on their official policy banning interracial marriages.
- As President Reagan opposed the establishment of the Martin Luther King holiday. He ended up signing the law when faced with a veto-proof majority in both chambers of Congress.
- President Reagan did veto the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988. That veto would be overridden by both chambers of Congress with a bi-partisan two-thirds super majority.
When Reagan was accused of racism because of these events, he took it personally as an attack on his integrity. Reagan would point out that he played football with African-Americans in high school. He would claim that his opposition to civil rights legislation was based on states' rights and his belief in smaller government. Much like the Tea Party, President Reagan claimed that it was not about race, but instead about political philosophy.
However the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were about race. Before the two laws were passed African-Americans could not sit at the same lunch counter with whites in many areas of the South. African-Americans were effectively robbed of the right to vote in much of the South before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Reagan can say it is not about race, and the Tea Party can claim it is not about race, but to the people affected by these laws it is all about race.
More deeply, both President Reagan and the Tea Party reflect a belief that the denial of outward racism is good enough, and any further questioning on the matter is an assassination of character. Reagan and the Tea Party essentially claim that a person is either a racist or not. There is no middle ground in which one's racial attitudes inadvertently affect behavior. However actions occasionally speak louder than words. When Reagan promised to fight for states' rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi without ever mentioning the struggles with race in that area it said more than any statement on his racial beliefs ever could. When the Tea Party opens up their convention by calling for a return to literacy tests, or allow blatantly racist signs to be displayed at protests, it says more than any Facebook post from Sarah Palin ever could.
Comments
Ryan Witt has got to be loving this. Like the manufactured Maddow/Paul flap over the Civil Rights Act, the new improved NAACP/Tea Party racist flap both play into Liberal hands with almost no effort.
Nevermind that Rand Paul' original statement about the Civil Rights Act was based on the bedrock of Constitutional Law (as were all of Reagan's comments mentioned).
Nevermind that the NAACP is an racially exclusive organization (whites couldn't get away with that) which, like every other race-bating panderer alive, cannot demonstrate any institutional support for or acceptance of radism in the Tea Party (they can't find any video or audio that proves racist intent from ANY source).
Yet, happily for Ryan Witt and his fellow Obamadrones, proof is not required when you just keep repeating your lies over and over and it takes more than a sound bite to refute them.
So Ryan, enjoy your euphoria.
America is slow to anger, but righteous in her wrath. See you all in November.
a bigot like Stanley denying bigotry, then justifying it.
The reek of desperation in the halls of liberal's dens across the nation must be getting think now, it will be unbearable by November. When all else fails, the left has their one tried and true play, race, race and more race. No one wants to be called a racists so it the best tool democrats have left and they will splash it on heavier than ever now.
Witt, your effort to smear a great and decent man like President Reagan as a racist is your most pathetic and feeble rant yet.
Conservatism is an intellectual pursuit, as opposed to liberalism, which is purely emotion-based. Consequently, most conservatives seek out a myriad of viewpoints--from the right to the left--when researching various issues.
I've read over two dozen biographies of Ronald Reagan, ranging from liberals like Richard Reeves and Washington Post columnist Lou Cannon, to conservatives like Stephen Hayward and Craig Shirley. Not one of them agreed with the assertion that Reagan was a racist; some of them, including Cannon, went to great lengths to prove that such a notion had no basis in fact.
So guess what? Given the choice of believing a third-tier blogger like yourself, or the serious writers who chronicled the larger-than-life career of Ronald Reagan, I'll go with the real journalists. See, Ryan, in the halls of journalism, you really don't count.
The racist TPPM meme is a collusion between the lame stream press, (the State run media) and the blogs and the Demonrats and the newspapers.
The TPPM did not disappear as they thought it would so their guns are a blazing. ALL OUT WAR against them. When Palin is polling the same as Obummer you know they need to declare war.
War has been declared and the TPPM will not back down against the oldest slur in the nation, racism.
The words are out there but the PROOF IS NOT! Where is the PROOF?? It is ALL PURE OPINION based without facts.
Man you guys have fallen for the Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity bull$hite hook line and sinker. Amazing.
Thanks so much for the enlightening and concise article. I especially love the sentence "Reagan can say it is not about race, and the Tea Party can claim it is not about race, but to the people affected by these laws it is all about race." It really says it all in terms of establishing multiple perspectives on the subject of institutionalizing racism.
What I really want to comment on is all of the name-calling in the responses to your article. Is that supposed to be a viable defense for Reagan and the Tea Partiers? We'll just bully everyone in to siding with us.......Some of us left that sort of debate technique on the playground in elementary school.
Joni---it's not about bullying, it's about facts. There are no serious biographies of Ronald Reagan that back up Witt-less' assertions that he was a racist. Period. I listed several authors--both on the right, and the left---who offer varying assessments of the Reagan Presidency. However, all of them are in agreement that he was not a racist.
What this IS about is an effort by liberals like yourself to tear down the greatest President in modern times, Ronald Reagan. He conquered stagflation, created 18 million new jobs, restored our standing in the world, and won the Cold War. You liberals can't stand facing the truth, or the spectacular success that occurred during the Age of Reagan.
Making it worse is the fact that your boy Obama is failing so badly. His top priority was "jobs, jobs, jobs", and he's lost 2.7 million of them, as the unemployment rate has soared from 7.7% to 9.5%.
That's not hope. And it's not change. It's just failure.
Joni says: What I really want to comment on is all of the name-calling in the responses to your article...
So, the TPPM has been called racists, nazis, bigots, has bee accused of calling congressmen nagger, has been accused of spitting on them, all WITHOUT PROOF of any of it and you are concerned about name calling?
What do you expect? To sit back and take it? Not on you sad life Joni. We will see you on 11-2!
It's gonna be a wild night to see the Oldermans, and the guy with the chill up his leg and that guy Maddcow get in fetal positions wondering just what went wrong.
The local Tea Parties have been inundated with phone calls since the racist NAASCP blather from people looking to JOIN!
Where can we send a check to the NAASCP for their recruiting work for the TPPM?
Ask yourself WHAT political party defines people along racial lines? The Democrat left. Conservative Republicans couldn't care LESS about the color of someone's skin, just the content of their character. It's too bad the left has hijacked what was once a truly noble cause and turned it into merely one 1 continuous political smear. The NAACD (National Association for the Advancement of Colored Democrats)has no true, permeating, racism to fight, so in order to fill their coffers they have to make up imaginary racism. Mr. Witt, do you even know who Thomas Sowell is? How about Shelby Steele? How come they aren't welcome in the NAACD?
NAACP was painting the Tea Party with a wide brush. It's a big lie.
Using that "R" word is the left's tired and old tactic to get their base riled up. It should be ignored. It's BORING, PREDICTABLE, TRANSPARENT, AND IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK, BUT HEY, IT GAVE RYAN AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRASH REAGAN SO IT WASN'T ALL FOR NOTHING!
Once again people point to others bad behaviour to support theirs. Racism is not a political condition, it is just part of us as humans. Any of you that say there isn't racism or biggotry around you are clearly lying to youselves. Has the Tea Party described the NAACP as racist? What happened to being judged by the content of our character? Did that get to inconvenient? Face it everybody is a biggot. Its human nature. People should be very careful about using the word loosely less it loose its meaning.
Racism might be a truth but as history has shown,it can be dealt with by accepting that it still exists. I don't think that the NAACP was being unfair in asking them to expel bigot members. I don't really understand why the TP didn't just do that on their own a long time ago, if that is only a few bad apples and not the whole group. The "R" word still gets used a lot, but that's only because there is so much of it and the fact that it isn't even subtle is disturbing to those who want to believe in an America where people aren't judged by their name or skin color, or national origin, or first language, or their culture, but rather by who they are as people. If any of you think that's too much to ask or react violently to the idea then you really need to sit and examine yourself and what it says about you to not be able to treat people like you would like to be treated.
Joni says: What I really want to comment on is all of the name-calling
Oh, the name calling of RACISTS is kewl but other name calling is not?
What an ahole!
Racism was the least of Ronnie's problems. With his arms sales to Iran, chemical and biological weapons to Saddam, support to dictators and death squads in South America, one could say that he was pal'n around with terrorists. He was the original "worst ever" that put our country on this path into the economic ditch.
Marilyn,
Thanks for the history lesson; where did you go to school, Cuba?
If you don't remember the Reagan era as leading us back into the direction of prosperity and optimism after the depressing and defeatist attitude of Jimmy Carter....
Remember when the left's lie about 'oil' was that we were going to run out soon?
Remember when Americans were held hostage for 444 days, til Reagan got in and they immediately released them, before they got their asses kicked?
Remember when we had a president that spoke lovingly and proudly about our country, lowered taxes and ended the cold war, by having the guts to denounce communism as evil and telling them to 'TEAR DOWN THIS WALL". Remember how the liberated people celebrated in the streets?
I guess not.
Gigi, I was an adult during the Reagan years and there is nothing wrong with my memory. For someone who professes to want us to remember our history you sure do love the myths.
Gigi says... "Remember when the left's lie about 'oil' was that we were going to run out soon? "
Can you get any more selfish than that? Of course we are going to run out of oil soon. Sure we might have enough cheap oil for your generation, but your grand kids will be cursing us for not developing alternative cheap fuel sources while we drill at all costs for every last drop of Petroleum.
The last reserves will go to the military.
Marilyn,
Which 'myths' would those be?
That he was optimistic about America? That he lowered taxes? That he ended the cold war, by demanding that the 'wall' be torn down? That people were celebrating in the streets? It can still be seen on youtube. But then again, libs don't believe their own eyes and ears, they only believe what Obama, Keith, and Katy tell them.
Frumpy,
Of course we're going to run out of oil soon? And just how do you know this Frumpy, my dear? They were saying it 35 years ago.
And if they thought anybody would still buy it after this many years, they'd still be trying to sell it.
Necesity is the mother of invention. I have perfect faith and confindence in our children and grandchildren that another solution will be developed when it becomes necessary.
It's called the free market, competition, and capitalism. What they're going to curse us for is allowing a bunch of power hungry politicians throwing their money away before they have a chance to earn it!
They will curse us if we allow this country to keep going down this road to socialism where they will not have the same opportunities for success and wealth as we have had. As long as we leave that in tact for them, they will solve any problems they are confronted with.
Yes, those myths. I could go to the trouble of presenting you with the evidence, but why bother when you will reject anything that would shake the foundation of your worldview.
Marilyn
Oh, contrare. I wish to believe the truth. I have video on youtube and personal knowledge and experience. What have you got? You've made alot of horrible accusations that contradict my experience and observations in every way. I've never heard this crap you and Witt are spewing, but nothing surprises me.
Back in the old days, before youtube, there was something called investigative journalism. Robert Parry is a good starting point.
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