Tea Parties Make Space for Bigots

[cali]

July 15, 2010

By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Good for the NAACP. We need an honest conversation about the role of race and racism in the tea party movement. Thanks to a resolution passed this week at the venerable organization's national convention, we'll get it.

The minute you say there are racist elements at the tea parties -- reflected in signs at rallies, billboards, and speeches from some of its major figures -- the pushback goes from cries of persecution to charges that those who are criticizing divisiveness are themselves the dividers.

So let's dispense with the obvious: Most of the opposition to President Obama comes from people who are against his policies, not his race. The tea party movement is motivated primarily by right-wing ideology, not by racism.

But guess what? Nothing the NAACP is saying contradicts this. Its contention is that there are clearly racist strains in the tea parties and that the movement's leaders and the politicians who profit from its activism should denounce them plainly and unequivocally.

Here's what Ben Jealous, the NAACP's president and CEO, asked of the tea party movement: "Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them and their actions. We will no longer allow you to hide like cowards."

The NAACP is doing exactly what conservatives have done for decades in demanding that liberals and progressives separate themselves from left-wing extremists who trashed America, burned flags and praised foreign dictators. The racists are the tea partiers' flag-burners. It's fair to ask the democratic left to condemn extremism. It's fair to ask the same of the democratic right. (Note the small "d.")

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/07/15/tea_parties_make_space_for_bigots.html