KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Leaders of the country's 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 of the resolution "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 NAACP's 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 don't want," he said.

The final wording of the resolution won't be released until the NAACP's national board of directors approves it 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, 'It's time for the tea party to be responsible members of this democracy and make sure they don't tolerate bigots or bigotry among their members,'" NAACP President Ben Jealous said ahead of the debate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_naacp_tea_party


"We don't have a problem with the tea party's 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, 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.

"It's 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 it's 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."

I read about this,,,

'“We take no issue with the Tea Party movement. We believe in freedom of assembly and people raising their voices in a democracy. What we take issue with is the Tea Party’s continued tolerance for bigotry and bigoted statements. The time has come for them to accept the responsibility that comes with influence and make clear there is no place for racism & anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry in their movement,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Last night after my speech, I was approached by an African American member of the NAACP and the Tea Party. He thanked me for speaking out because he has begun to feel uncomfortable in the Tea Party and wants to ensure there will always be space for him in both organizations. I assured him there will always be a place for him in the NAACP. Dick Armey and the leadership of the Tea Party need to do the same.”


seems like more of that freedom of expression stuff, some things in our government the tea party doesnt like and feels needs to be snuffed,, ,this just seems a smaller scale of things in the TP movement that some dont like and feel need to be snuffed as well

What racism?Anti semitism??????? I haven't heard a single word from the tea party movement talking about how they have a problem with race,skin color,national origin or any other issues dealing with race.There has been well over 100 hundred rallies with some having tens of thousands of people all with at least a dozen cameras rolling from local and national TV stations.Where is your proof?All they have is one person claiming he was called a racist name which could not be verified and there were many witness's saying that they were there and it never happened.

If you don't have the proof to back up your story you have nothing.I am also surprised there are some people using names like The "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People" and talking about racism.The term "Colored people" is a relic that died in the 1970's with the advancement of civil rights.If the blacks wants to get over racism I suggest they drop the term "Colored people".

I am also hardly surprised that the NAACP made these claims.They were Obamas biggest supporter for election and also Obamas biggest supporter for the health care bill.

as am I, and a member,,,,with just as much right to use the term colored as others have to use negro or 'blacks'

These attempts at diverting the public attention away from the mismanagement and incompetence shown by this administration will no longer work.

They can send out their attack dogs from now until the end of time, but that isn't going to fix the economy or create jobs.