While Glenn Beck continues to pathetically assert that he is a modern-day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his listeners and viewers are the rightful heirs to the civil rights movement he spearheaded, it may catch some by surprise that tea party leaders claim their movement is about advancing the civil rights of Americans.
During a debate Wednesday night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, tea party spokesman Mark Williams — who moonlights as a radio talk show host — blasted the NAACP for not doing anything to fight crime in the inner city, as well as advancing issues that go against the U.S. Constitution.
I had to do everything I could to maintain my composure, considering NAACP's long and storied history has been about forcing Americans to actually uphold the Constitution and apply it evenly to all citizens, especially African-Americans.
Yet as Williams continued his tirade, I really did want to hear exactly what civil rights issues he and other tea party members are fighting for. I'm sure that if you talk to civil rights organizations — the folks who are on the frontlines every day — that would come as a surprise. I asked Williams if he would be willing to sit down and meet with the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and other civil rights organizations to actually find common ground on various civil rights issues. His response? Attend the more than 70 tea party rallies in the fall as a participant.
Yea, right.
So with my suggestion in mind, it would be great for Williams, Sarah Palin and other tea party leaders, advocates and supporters, especially those candidates receiving their backing in November, to clearly state their position on some of the civil rights issues of the day. The following are not in a particular order of importance:
1. Education: President Barack Obama and the Democratic establishment are against the notion of school vouchers. Republicans have advanced the issue for years, yet in Illinois, it was GOP members who could have made the difference in vouchers being offered to students who attend the schools that rank at the bottom in Chicago. State Sen. James Meeks (who is also founder/senior pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, where I'm a member) fought hard to pass the measure, but he was rebuffed not only by a lot of folks in the Democratic Party, but also a number of Republicans. While we all wait for the day when our public education is fixed for the have-nots, will the tea party make education a civil rights issue and demand that students in the worst schools be allowed to leave via vouchers? Will the tea partiers fight to equalize funding across the board for those inner-city schools that are unable to compete with suburban schools?
2. Racial profiling: There is nothing more insidious and unconstitutional than to watch police officers pull folks over or frisk them, not based on anything in particular but the color of their skin. Numerous cities and states have documented this horrible practice. The NAACP is gearing up to advance a federal anti-racial profiling bill.
Will Mark Williams and the tea party join them in an effort to say no more to this hideous practice?
3. Voting rights: The right to vote is at the heart of our democracy, and it's shameful to watch members of both political parties use archaic rules to prevent folks from voting. We have seen voters with no history of criminal activity purged from voting rolls. It's time that we have consistent rules nationally, and not be subject to various state, county and city rules. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the Bush vs. Gore decision that there is no affirmative right to vote in the United States.
Our Constitution forbids the rights of minorities and women from being disenfranchised — it's interesting to note that basically white men can be denied the right to vote, depending on how you look at this. For instance, in Chicago, if you move from one address to another, you are automatically removed from the voting rolls. Why not have your voting rights follow you to a new address? We have a driver's license that is legally in all parts of a state, so why not the voting card?
To fix the overlapping and confusing rules, it's time we amend the Constitution and establish a clear and affirmative right to vote. Tea partiers, are you willing to support that? Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. has had such a bill ready to be voted on for nearly a decade.
4. "Don't ask, don't tell": Tea partiers claim they are all about the U.S. Constitution and are patriots. OK, fine. How crazy is it for someone who is gay being kicked out of the U.S. military solely because of his or her sexuality? The right wing has made a major effort to keep gays and lesbians from serving openly, and the left has fought to have the measure repealed. If the blood of a homosexual flows the same on the battlefield as a heterosexual, then what's the problem? Mark Williams, is this the kind of civil rights you and the tea party support or oppose?
5. Leading a 21st-century Poor Peoples Campaign: At the time of his assassination in 1968, Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were planning the Poor Peoples Campaign set for Washington, D.C., to show the plight of poverty in America. Today, we have Republicans in Congress who are against a jobs bill and extending unemployment benefits, but they are ardent supporters of keeping the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Will the tea party put the concerns of America's poor at the forefront of their movement?
The Civil Rights Movement wasn't just about those people at the top, but it also included the downtrodden, disenchanted and ignored. I haven't heard tea partiers talking about the least of those among us. So, Mark, will we see tea partiers descend on the nation's capital to demand that lawmakers stop ignoring the nation's poor?
It's easy for Williams and other tea partiers to casually toss out that they are fighting for the civil rights of Americans. Fine, put your money where your mouth is. Heading into the midterm elections and 2011, it's time to call the tea party express together at the table with the civil rights establishment to forge a comprehensive civil rights strategy.
Saying it is one thing, tea partiers, but doing it is another. You've talked the talk, but now it's time to walk the walk. So, what say you?
Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the forthcoming book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin." Please visit his website at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
|
 |
Comments
|
3 Comments | Post Comment
|
|
Education: President Barack Obama and the Democratic establishment are against the notion of school vouchers and yet, you continue to support this administration. Hypocritical, at best.
2. Racial profiling. The NAACP spews hatred against all people, who are not white. I have worked in 37 States and have seen white, Asian and Hispanic people vilified just because they are not “African-American” Only the NAACP is allowed to say “Colored”. And yet, you support this organization. Hypocritical, at best
Voting rights. The New Black Panthers advocate “killing cracker babies” and were video-taped, blatantly intimidating voters. Eric Holder, a Democrat, has a proven policy of not prosecuting “blacks”. And yet, you support these policies. Hypocritical, at best.
4. "Don't ask, don't tell. Homosexuality walks hand in glove with pedophiles and NAMBLA and yet, as a Baptist, you support these perversions. Hypocritical, at best.
5. Leading a 21st-century Poor Peoples Campaign. Asking The Tea Party to support your specific agenda, as opposed to an all encompassing protest against big government is hypocritical, at best.
Lloyd Marcus is the best known Tea Partier and I have yet, to see you defend him. Larry Elder, Walter E Williams, Thomas Sowell are a few the pro-conservative members of your “race' that I have never known you to support. Recently, I read an interview with another black Tea Partier, (Both of their names escape me, at the moment) who was castigated by a white “journalist”.
70% of Americans are white. 12% are black. 16% are Hispanic. 2% are “other”. Tea Party rallies have been shown to generally mirror these percentages, so more white people are visible. Somehow, that makes The Tea Party racist.
Democrats fought to keep slavery intact, enacted the Jim Crow laws, embraced Klansman Byrd and a host of others, and generally produced programs to keep black people poor and dependant. And yet, you embrace this political party. Hypocritical at best.
No matter how you distort words, none of the 5 proposals that you support fall within the realm of Federal governments Constitutional powers. And that, my hypocritical friend, is the focus of the Tea Party; limited Federal government. Until this is curbed, everything else will never change.
Comment: #1
Posted by: David Henricks
Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:06 AM
|
|
|
|
Here's the bottom line. The naacp is the real racist in this country. I know it, all the black people know it, the media knows it, and all the white people know it. It's obvious. White people are not the racist, at all, like they may have once been a couple of generations ago and the black community knows this. Yet they dwell on it and seem intent on making the white community pay for mistakes that are decades old. This in it's self will create racism. I'm a 55 year old white man and I look at all people as human beings that have the same want's, needs, likes, and dislikes as me. The color of the skin means absolutely nothing. It's what,s in a persons mind and heart that means everything. If the naacp would stop screaming racism over so many issues that have nothing to do with race then racism would not be and issue at every corner. It's as if they're crouched and waiting like a tiger ready to strike at racism and if nothing is said then they strike anyway. Once again,who are the real racist? Black comedians pound on white people with they're racist comedy acts, but do white people scream racism? No. Because white people can take a joke and it's only and act. The comedian may mean it, but that's o.k. because white people aren't that easily offended because we don't wake up in the morning with racism on our minds worried about who's going to offend us with some sort of racism. Here are a few examples of racism: Naacp, be t[black entertainment channel], the united negro college fund, the black panthers, oh and we can't forget Oprah [don't let her fool you, she's as racist as they come. What if a white woman of power and wealth started a school in South Africa for white girls, what if there was a white entertainment channel, what if there was an organization called the naaWp. All I can say is CAN YOU IMAGINE. Here's another good question. Did you vote for our President because of the color of his skin? If you did then then not only are you a racist, but you are a serious dumbass. An intelligent person would never in his life vote for the leader of his country and the free world and race be the basis for that vote. I voted for Mccain simply because he was the lesser of 2 evils . Mccain was more experienced and that means plenty when being a leader. Personally I'm waiting for the chance to vote for Colin Powell. Leaders with military experience is everything. They may not be so quick to send young people off to war when they know the horrors of it first hand. If black people feel they are not being treated fairly then here's what it is going to take to overcome. Stop being responsible for 75% of the crime in the cities, stop making babies and then not being there to help raise them,stop destroying the English language,[you are in America, we speak English, not ebonics] teach your children to be productive, not a product of the welfare system. White people are not the racist folks. We all[white and black know this]. White people want to and would embrace black people if it were not for the fear that they are going to mugged, or robbed of there tax dollars down at the social services dept. The answer for a harmonious existence is simply this,TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL. This goes for everyone, white, black, red, whatever, simply teach your children well.
Comment: #2
Posted by: barry nash
Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:30 AM
|
|
|
|
I say you're a HYPOCTIT!!!!!!!
Here's what I say;
#1 - Education: Roland, can you find out why the drop-out rate of Historically Black Colleges is on the rise?
#2 - Racial Profiling - Can you find out why 4 White college students were racially profiled and attacked by you and your groups because a Black woman accused them of raping her and instead of getting the facts of the case you and your fellow thugs invaded the Civil Rights of these White Men. They were profiled by you and your groups because of the color of their skin and the color of the "victim's" skin.
#3 - Voting Rights - Can you find how why you and the NAACP totally disresptected the voting rights of the people of South Carolina when they voted for Mr. Greene? And can you also find out why an AFrican-American is attacked, beaten by one of your fellow thugs but has noever been charged.
#4 - January 1, 1994- Democratic President Clinton signs Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy into law. Maybe he can help you on that one.
#5 - Leading a 21st-century Poor Peoples Campaign: Roland, will you find out how the city of which one of the most wealthist African-American women in the world and the "First African-American" President call home has one of the highest Poverty rates among African-American Children in the country?
You might want to go take a long look in the mirror before you start calling out people. Oprah made over $312 Million Dollars last year and the city where she films her shows has one of the highest African-American poverty rates in the country. Why is that Roland. I look forward to your reply. Are you calling on Oprah and President Obama to find out why?
Comment: #3
Posted by: Ronda
Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:51 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
