July 19, 2010

Race Roils Tea Party Movement

By Lloyd Marcus

Who on earth could be calling me at 5:30 am? It was CNN. After apologizing for the early call, the producer, almost giddy with excitement, said that Tea Party spokesperson Mark Williams made "what some would call" a racist comment on his blog about the NAACP.

As for me, CNN was requesting that I, being a black spokesperson for the Tea Party Movement, come on the air to address Mark's comment. I told the CNN producer that I had not read it. The response was, "I'll e-mail it to you. Please read it and call me back."

After reading Mark's comment, I told my wife, "This is much ado about nothing. I am not going on the air allowing them to put me on the defensive defending Mark Williams." My beautiful, wonderful, and wise wife replied, "Do the interview, but do not defend Mark. Use this as an opportunity to defend the Tea Party Movement."

It is truly unfortunate that some on our side are so easily put on the defensive. NAACP president Ben Jealous slandered millions of decent Tea Party patriots by saying we tolerate racist signs. We do not. Not one liberal mainstream media outlet demanded that Jealous produce the "Lynch Barack Obama" and "Lynch Eric Holder" signs he claimed to have seen. Thus, the liberal media are saying these violent, racist signs exist, and the Tea Partiers are guilty simply because Jealous says so.

Furthering their efforts to discredit the Tea Party movement by portraying them as racist, the liberal media attacked our Mark Williams for a satirical comment on his blog. Mark is a personal friend who is not a racist -- far from it. On his blog, Mark was making a point about the blatant hypocrisy and backwardness of the NAACP.

Meanwhile, the liberal media typically ignores "real racism" coming from the left. A member of the New Black Panther Party boldly proclaimed he hates crackers (white people) and that they need to "kill more crackers." Has the liberal media confronted the NAACP about denouncing the New Black Panthers' hate-filled, racist statement? No, they have not.

And yet, folks on our side ran to the microphones to denounce Mark Williams and the Tea Party Express, and both were "expelled" from the National Tea Party Federation. Dear Lord! People, wake up and smell the liberal media manipulation!

As for those so-called racist signs, in my travels with Tea Party Express attending over two hundred tea parties nationwide, I have not seen one overtly racist sign. Researchers have documented that the same sort of negative images which were called "patriotic" and "celebrated" for exercising free speech when used against George Bush are now considered racist when used against Barack Obama.

As far as Democrats, the Obama administration, and the liberal mainstream media are concerned, Obama's race trumps everything.

In a blatant assault on our free speech as Americans, for the first time in U.S. history, we have a president of whom any criticism, satire, and negative portrayals will be attacked as racist. Offenders are denounced, shunned, and defamed by Obama's Enforcers, the liberal mainstream media.

Falling into the defensive trap, some Tea Party leaders have suggested that we change our name. They say, "The term "Tea Party" has become so negative." The liberal mainstream media is going to trash us no matter what we call ourselves, even if we change our name to the "Happy Go Lucky Really Nice People" movement.

News flash! The goal of the liberal mainstream media is to "crush" the Tea Party Movement. Obama is their guy. The liberal mainstream media's unprecedented protection of Obama during the election, skipping the usual vetting process for one applying for the job of leader of the free world, won Obama the White House. Along with their racist support because he is black, the liberal mainstream wholeheartedly embraces Obama's socialist/progressive agenda.

Thus, it is foolish for Tea Party patriots to pander to our enemy, the liberal mainstream media. Relentlessly, the liberal mainstream media Obama-ites and Progressivism religious zealots will distort, lie, and do whatever is necessary to divide and conquer us. Brothers and sisters, please do not fall for it. God bless.

- Lloyd Marcus, (black) Proud Unhyphenated American

Spokesperson/Entertainer of Tea Party Movement & Tea Party Express
The American Tea Party Anthem CD/album
Confessions of a Black Conservative, foreword by Michelle Malkin
President, NAACPC (National Association for the Advancement of Conservative People of ALL Colors)
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