I stated in a past post my thoughts on the Tea Party as “…bigoted, xenophobic, and often hypocritical bluster.” I was taken to task for this statement and rightfully so as it was overly general and I am sure by no means speaks to the true and structural frustration many in this country on the right and left have with government. My foot-in-mouth moment was pointed out by an author on this blog and I looked to clarify what I meant in a reply to his comment…….WHICH brings me to the Tea Party’s latest black eye and this one maybe even bigger than the slurs they were hurling at folks like Civil Rights hero turned big tobacco proponent John Lewis during the health care fiasco. In a recent mock letter to Abraham Lincoln Tea Party stalwart Mark Williams you know the guy that said Muslims worship a “monkey god” wrote the following:
“We Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!”
The entire “letter” is presented below so as to not be accused of taking something out of context. Look this needs to be – in the words of the real American former governor of Alaska – unconditionally refudiated by the Tea Party, with a simple “Mr. Williams specifically and this way of thinking is not something we will tolerate in the Tea Party anymore!” That is all nothing more or less. I don’t want to hear excuses or reversals of the problem. The issue is there is a latent and at times out-of-the-closet motif in the Tea Party that Mr. Williams illustrates beautifully. I would just like some clarity as some of the Tea Party’s ideas with regard to personal privacy are quite appealing and ones those on the left have been making for years. There is very little delight in that respect but there is a canyon’s worth of daylight when it comes to race, compassion, and concern for the defenseless, voiceless, and losers of what Warren Buffett called the ovarian lottery. Until the Tea Party purges itself of hate speech there is no need for a right-left discussion.
“Dear Mr. Lincoln
We Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!
In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.
The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.
And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!
The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out of control spending.” Again, they directly target Colored People. That means we Colored People would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.
Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is outrageous! How will we Colored People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?
Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.
Sincerely
Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Head Colored Person”
Mark talk (It’s not Right vs. Left, it’s Right vs. Wrong!): “I feel compelled to separate myself from any further involvement with the Tea Party Express so that I can pursue other interests and to free the tea party movement from any more distraction based on my personal comments or blogs.
The media coverage over a recent satirical posting on my personal MarkTalk.com blog risks injuring the Tea Party Express, the tea party movement as a whole, and the people in this movement who I respect and admire so much. It has become increasingly unacceptable that the media and our domestic enemies continue to anoint me as the official voice of a massively diverse and broad-based movement and that they do so for the explicit purpose of distorting my plain, working class, American English in all its political incorrectness.”
This guy really puts the muck in muckraker! Why not stop by Mark’s blog sometime and enjoy an insurance quote as a tasty chaser to his venomous vituperation?