California Conservative

Benjamin Jealous’ op-ed is one of the most tepid responses to a major flap I’ve seen in ages. Here’s what I’m referring to:

It is unfortunate that at a time when our nation is reeling in the midst of one of the most devastating downturns in our economy since the Great Depression, the NAACP is compelled to deal with a disturbing, corrosive attack from the Tea Party.

Instead of joining us to repudiate racism, Tea Party leaders have attempted a tit for tat and demanded that we condemn the New Black Panther Party for reported hate speech. It is a false argument. Of course we condemn hate speech from anyone and any organization, including the New Black Panther Party. But that party is a mere flea compared to the influence and size of the Tea Party. And the New Black Panther Party is not a member of the NAACP. What we are asking the Tea Party to eschew is not the racism of some outside organization, but the bigotry within.

Mr. Jealous’ argument is flimsy at best. The NAACP’s mission statement speaks rather expansively about what its mission is:

The following statement of objectives is found on the first page of the NAACP Constitution, the principal objectives of the Association shall be:

• To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens
• To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States
• To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes
• To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights
• To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination
• To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.

The NAACP can’t seriously argue that they’re taking “all lawful action” to guarantee people can exercise “their constitutional rights.” Their inaction is essentially turning a blind eye towards people’s constitutional right to vote. That’s the opposite of taking “all lawful action to secure the exercise” of people’s constitutional rights. Here’s what Chairman Gerald Reynolds said in his opening remarks to the USCCR’s July 6th hearing:

As most of you are aware by now, the litigation stemmed from an incident on Election Day 2008 in which two members of the New Black Panther Party appeared at a polling station in Philadelphia. Video and eyewitness testimony showed that they stood at an entrance to a polling place dressed in paramilitary garb and black combat boots. One brandished a nightstick. They hurled racial epithets at whites and blacks alike, taunting poll watchers and poll observers who were there to aid voters.

How can an organization that proclaims itself to be a civil rights organization tolerate anyone hurling “racial epithets at whites and blacks alike”? For that matter, how can the NAACP sanction with their silence the “taunting [of] poll watchers and poll observers who were there to aid voters”?

I’d think that guaranteeing the smooth operation of polling stations would be Civil Rights 101. I’d think that preventing the hurling of “racial epithets at whites and blacks alike” would elicit, at minimum, a tersely worded statement from the NAACP.

By not speaking out against the NBPP’s threatening behavior, the NAACP is saying that they aren’t concerned with people’s civil rights unless they fit into a certain category. Even then, the NAACP won’t step forward if the perpetrators aren’t white.

That isn’t what Bobby Kennedy fought and died for. That certainly isn’t what Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned when he fought and died for all men to be treated equally based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

In this case, the NAACP is saying with their inaction that people’s civil rights are directly tied to whether the perpetrators’ skin color. Since the perpetrators’ skin color was black, in the eyes of the NAACP, the perpetrators shouldn’t be punished. That some of the victims of the NBPP’s abusive behavior obviously isn’t the NAACP’s concern.

This statement in President Jealous’ op-ed is especially infuriating:

The NAACP is working hard to move our nation forward. We have joined with almost 200 other organizations representing people of all races, creeds and faiths to form a movement to pull America back together and put America back to work. “One Nation Working Together” is the antithesis to the bitter polarization being bred by the Tea Party and its ilk. It represents a clarion call to unity, to come together as a country.

The NAACP can’t say that they’re “working hard to move our nation forward” if they’re turning a blind eye towards the NBPP’s thuggish actions. People don’t want situational or conditional enforcement of this nation’s civil rights laws. They’re demanding that the New Black Panthers be held accountable because standing silent is appeasement.

How dare the NAACP say that TEA Party activists are breeding “bitter polarization” when they tolerate the thuggish behavior embodied by the NBPP’s behavior at that polling station in Philadelphia.

As a TEA Party activist, I know what is and isn’t tolerated. I know with certainty that if anyone associated with the St. Cloud TEA Party events made a racist comment, we wouldn’t tolerate that behavior. We’d demand a sincere apology from any person who made racist comments. Likewise, we’d demand that they leave the event and never return. WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS.

The NAACP owes America an apology for its situational indignation of racism. More importantly, the NAACP owes civil rights legends like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. an apology for straying far from the principles he fought his entire life for.

Finally, the New Black Panther Party owes America an apology for threatening people who tried voting or who tried monitoring the elections.

Technorati Tags: Racism, Ben Jealous, NAACP, Resolution, TEA Party, New Black Panthers, Voter Intimidation, Thugs, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Civil Rights

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 3:55 am and is filed under Activism, Author: Gary Gross, Corruption, Democrats, Election 2008, Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.