KANSAS CITY Mo. -- Leaders of the countrys largest civil rights organization accused tea party activists on Tuesday of tolerating bigotry and approved a resolution condemning racism within the political movement.
The resolution was adopted during the annual convention in Kansas City of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People spokesman Chris Fleming said. Tea party organizers disputed claims of racism and called on the NAACP to withdraw the resolution.
Debate was mostly closed to the public but the final version calls on the tea party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the tea party said Hilary Shelton director of the NAACPs Washington bureau.
I hope it will empower the tea party to actually look at itself and see that there are those who are noticing things that I think most tea partiers dont want he said.
Sarah Palin a vocal tea party supporter said in a statement late Tuesday that she was saddened by the NAACPs claim that patriotic Americans ... are somehow racists. The former Alaska governor said claims that tea party activists judge people by the color of their skin were false and appalling.
The final wording wont be released until the NAACPs national board of directors approves the resolution during its meeting in October. But the original called for the NAACP to educate its membership and the community that this movement is not just about higher taxes and limited government. It said something could evolve and become more dangerous for that small percentage of people that really think our country has been taken away from them.
We felt the time had come to stand up and say Its time for the tea party to be responsible members of this democracy and make sure they dont tolerate bigots or bigotry among their members NAACP President Ben Jealous said ahead of the debate.
We dont have a problem with the tea partys existence. We have an issue with their acceptance and welcoming of white supremacists into their organizations he said.
Tea party activist Alex Poulter who co-founded a Kansas City-area group called Political Chips also disputed the allegations. He said the movement is made up of a diverse group of folks who are upset with what is going on with this country.
Poulter said he has seen no evidence of racism within the movement.
Its unfounded but people are running with these accusations like they are true he said.
A group called the St. Louis Tea Party issued its own resolution Tuesday calling on the NAACP to withdraw the proposal.
Though not affiliated with either major political party tea party activists espouse a political philosophy of less government a free market lower taxes individual rights and political activism.
The group has faced occasional claims of racism most notably in March near the end of the bitter health care debate. U.S. Reps. John Lewis Andre Carson and Emanuel Cleaver said some demonstrators many of them tea party activists yelled a racial epithet as the black congressmen walked from House office buildings to the Capitol. Cleaver D-Mo. also said he was spit on.
A white lawmaker said he also heard the epithets but conservative activists said the lawmakers were lying.
They are pulling people together and focusing on the negative and then its hard to make anything positive out of that said Anita L. Russell president of the Kansas City Mo. branch of the NAACP which introduced the resolution. And then these groups these extremist groups are looking for something and they are latching on to this.
KANSAS CITY Mo. -- Leaders of the countrys largest civil rights organization accused tea party activists on Tuesday of tolerating bigotry and approved a resolution condemning racism within the political movement.
The resolution was adopted during the annual convention in Kansas City of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People spokesman Chris Fleming said. Tea party organizers disputed claims of racism and called on the NAACP to withdraw the resolution.
Debate was mostly closed to the public but the final version calls on the tea party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the tea party said Hilary Shelton director of the NAACPs Washington bureau.
I hope it will empower the tea party to actually look at itself and see that there are those who are noticing things that I think most tea partiers dont want he said.
Sarah Palin a vocal tea party supporter said in a statement late Tuesday that she was saddened by the NAACPs claim that patriotic Americans ... are somehow racists. The former Alaska governor said claims that tea party activists judge people by the color of their skin were false and appalling.
The final wording wont be released until the NAACPs national board of directors approves the resolution during its meeting in October. But the original called for the NAACP to educate its membership and the community that this movement is not just about higher taxes and limited government. It said something could evolve and become more dangerous for that small percentage of people that really think our country has been taken away from them.
We felt the time had come to stand up and say Its time for the tea party to be responsible members of this democracy and make sure they dont tolerate bigots or bigotry among their members NAACP President Ben Jealous said ahead of the debate.
We dont have a problem with the tea partys existence. We have an issue with their acceptance and welcoming of white supremacists into their organizations he said.
Tea party activist Alex Poulter who co-founded a Kansas City-area group called Political Chips also disputed the allegations. He said the movement is made up of a diverse group of folks who are upset with what is going on with this country.
Poulter said he has seen no evidence of racism within the movement.
Its unfounded but people are running with these accusations like they are true he said.
A group called the St. Louis Tea Party issued its own resolution Tuesday calling on the NAACP to withdraw the proposal.
Though not affiliated with either major political party tea party activists espouse a political philosophy of less government a free market lower taxes individual rights and political activism.
The group has faced occasional claims of racism most notably in March near the end of the bitter health care debate. U.S. Reps. John Lewis Andre Carson and Emanuel Cleaver said some demonstrators many of them tea party activists yelled a racial epithet as the black congressmen walked from House office buildings to the Capitol. Cleaver D-Mo. also said he was spit on.
A white lawmaker said he also heard the epithets but conservative activists said the lawmakers were lying.
They are pulling people together and focusing on the negative and then its hard to make anything positive out of that said Anita L. Russell president of the Kansas City Mo. branch of the NAACP which introduced the resolution. And then these groups these extremist groups are looking for something and they are latching on to this.
