^lortlanh (Observer
Maj<29, 2013
Page 9
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My Tea Party ‘Taliban’ Comment
Racists don’t like being called out
J ulian B ond
I have alw ays
s u s p e c te d th a t
racists didn't like
bein g c alled out
for their racism .
N ow I have proof.
W h e n I to ld
M S N B C 's T h o
m as R oberts that the T e a P arty w as
"the T aliban w ing o f A m erican p o li
tics," a firestorm erupted.
A rguing the IR S w as co rrect to
target them for ex tra scrutiny, I also
said, "H ere are a gro u p o f people
w ho are adm ittedly racist, w ho are
overtly political" and therefore w o r
thy o f IRS concern.
I w as not prepared for the slew o f
angry em ails, including tw o from
self-identified black people (y o u r
w orst nightm are, one said) I re
ceived.
M any o f them sugg ested I leave
the country, rem iniscent o f the "G o
back to A frica" chants racist crow ds
o f w hites shouted at b lack p ro test
ors in m y youth.
by
O ne said m y ad v an ced age
- 1 am 73 - m eant I w ould not be
around to m ake such m isch ief
m u ch longer, and I should p re
pare fo r that q u ick eventuality.
A few suggested m y e m
ployer fire m e, not know ing that
I retired from that jo b a y ear
ago. Several o f the m essages
w ere badly w ritten w ith m isspelled
w ords, including one from a relative
by m arriage — you can't choose your
in-law s—reading "Y ourcallingfolks
T alab an s borders on traitorism ."
T his sam e co rresp o n d en t noted
I had been "head o f the m ost classic
racist group in o u r country," refer
ring to the N A A C P , w hose board I
ch aired fo r 11 years. O thers ch arac
terized the N A A C P , the nation's
oldest civil rights g roup, interracial
in m em b ersh ip and ded icated to ra
cial integration since 1909, in the
sam e w ay.
A fter an ex ch an g e o f m essages
w ith som e o f them , trying to c o n
vince them that w hile I o p p o sed it,
I didn't co n d em n every m em b er o f
the T ea Party, the interactions b e
cam e m ore civ il and less hostile.
Som e even w ished m e w ell.
B ut to a p erson they rejected the
labels "racism " and "racist," even
as I thought I h ad p roved that the
T ea Party has had racist, anti-Sem itic
and nativist elem ents fro m its b e
ginning until today.
O ne source is a study co nducted
fo r the N A A C P b y the Institute fo r
R esearch and E ducation for H um an
R ights.
T h eir study, called "Tea Party
N atio n alism ," fo u n d "T ea Party
ranks to be p erm eated w ith co n
cerns about race and national iden
tify and oth er so-called social is
sues. In these ranks, an abiding
o b sessio n w ith B arack O b am a's
birth certificate is often a stand-in
fo r the b e lie f that the first black
p resid en t o f the U nited States s not
a "real A m erican."
It says T ea Party o rg an izatio n s
have given platform s to anti-Sem ites,
racists and b igots and "hard-core
w h ite n atio n alists h av e b een a t
tracted" to T ea Party protests.
T he link betw een the T ea Party
and the Taliban was m ade by a prom i
nent R epublican office holder.
In 2008, the W ashington Post
rep o rted that fo rm er C hairm an o f
the R epublican C ongressional C o m
m ittee and p resent day C o n g ress
m an Pete S essions likened the G O P
H ouse m inority to the T aliban, say
ing, "Insurgency, w e u nderstand
perhaps a bit m ore because o f the
T aliban."
Just as m y argum ents failed to
co n v in ce m y co rresp o n d en ts, so
apparently does the actual evidence:
N ot the ugly racist signs and p lac
ards d isp lay ed at T e a Party rallies,
not the shouts o f the "n" w ord aim ed
at m em bers o f the C ongressional
B lack C aucus, not the spittle hurled
at civil rights icon and C o n g ress
m an Jo h n L ew is, not the racists e x
pelled from the T ea Party for their
venom , not the association o f m any
m em bers w ith the C ouncil o f C o n
servative C itizens, a lineal d escen
dant o f the W hite C itizen C ouncil,
not the anti-gay slurs aim ed at form er
C ongressm an B arney Frank, not the
m e m b e rs w h o se r a c is m , a n ti-
Sem itism and x en o p h o b ia should
be an em barrassm ent ~ not all o r any
o f this co u ld g et them to ack n o w l
edge the label "racist."
M y b lack co rresp o n d en ts even
claim ed that th eir race p rohibited
th em from b ein g racists, as if skin
c o lo r w as a p ro scrip tio n against
ignorance. A nd m any o f m y p re
sum ably no n -b lack corresp o ndents
accu sed m e o f being a racist, so m y
race apparently offered m e no p ro
tection from this evil.
W hat is the lesson h ere? T hat
the label "racist" has becom e so
toxic that alm o st ev ery o n e rejects
it? T h at the toxicity m akes the label
u n acceptable but its actual practice
is still tolerable fo r m any? O r that it
is a defense against itself?
A s the relative-I-try-not-to-claim
w ro te, "I don't know any w hite
p eople w ho hate blacks like you
a d v o c a te b la c k s s h o u ld h a te
w hites." O r o n ly that w hile the
U n ite d S ta te s h a s m a d e m u ch
p rogress in race relations, w e still
have a long, long w ay to go?
Julian Bond is chairman emeri
tus o f the NAACP.
Unemployment Biggest Crisis in America
Jobs needed to
rebuild America
L ast w eek in C leveland, the N a
tional U rban L eague lau n ch ed one
o f the m ost am bitious econom ic res
cue m issio n s in o u r history. “Jobs
by M arc M orial
R ebuild A m erica: E ducate, E m
I f y o u ’ve been
ploy, Em pow er5 ’ is a $ 100 m illion
w atching the new s,
p u b lic -p riv a te -n o n p ro fit p a rt
y o u ’ve p ro b a b ly
nership aim ed at putting A m erica
n o ticed th e re ’s no
b ack to w o rk and targeting c o m
shortage o f scan
m unities w h ere h elp is n eeded
dals o r m a n u fa c
m ost.
tured crises com ing
U sing a co m p reh en siv e c o m
out o f W ashington
m unity d ev elo p m en t approach
these days.
to the nation ’ s em ploym ent and ed u
B u t the b iggest crisis o f all - the cation crises, this in itiativ e brings
epidem ic o f double-digit unem plo y to g eth er federal, co rp o rate and n o n
m ent and the huge g u lf o f econom ic profit reso u rces to create econom ic
disparities that co ntinue to plague opportunity in 50 U.S. cities through
m illions o f A m ericans - seem s to be the U rban L eague affiliate netw ork.
attracting little attention.
T he pro g ram co n sists o f both
T h e N ational U rban L eague is c o m m u n ity in v e s t m e n ts a n d
shifting the n a tio n ’s focus b ack to g ra ssro o ts le g is la tiv e ad v o ca c y .
th e jo b s c ris is, n o t by re c itin g T he cam paign ’ s five-year, $ 100 m il
gloom y and w ell-w orn statistics, but lion com m unity investm ent co m p o
by p u tting a co m p reh en siv e so lu nent includes jo b training for yo u th
tion on the table.
and m ature w orkers, co lleg e p rep a
|Jortlanh OOhserber
P u blisher :
E d it o r :
Established 1970 ---------------
Mark Washington
M ich a el L eig h to n
E xecutive D irector :
Rakeem Washington
C reative D irector :
P aul N e u fe ld t
O ffice M anager /C lassifieds :
A dvertising M anager :
ration, a jo b s netw ork, entrepreneur-
ship support, sm all bu sin ess financ
ing and reso u rces, and tax credits.
T h e c a m p a ig n ’s g rassroots a d
vocacy co m p o n en t w ill focus on
federal legislative action in support
o f a b alan ced an d responsible fiscal
plan as w ell as backing fo r efforts
th a t sp u r jo b c re a tio n in h a rd -
pressed urban com m unities.
T h is includes our long-standing
support fo r the passage o f the U r
ban Jobs A ct, co -sp o n so red by Sen.
K irsten G illibrand and C o n g ress
m an C h ak a F attah , an d fo r the
P roject R eady ST E M A ct, spon
sored by C o n g ressw o m an M arcia
F udge.
W e stood w ith acting Secretary
o f the U .S. D epartm ent o f Labor
Seth H arris, C leveland M ayor Frank
G. Jackson, C uyahoga C ounty E x
ecu tiv e E dw ard FitzG erald and U r
ban L eague o f G reater C leveland
P re s id e n t M a rsh a M o c k a b e e to
k ic k -o ff the Jobs R ebuild A m erica
Lucinda Baldwin
Leonard Latin
cam paign.
A s a d e sig n a te d Jo b s R e b u ild
A m erica m arket, the U rban L eague
o f G re a te r C le v e la n d re c e iv e d
$ 950,000 in com m unity investm ent
F o r the Jobs R eb u ild A m erica cam
paign, w e have pu t to g eth er an ex
panded coalition o f public and pri
vate partners w ho have pledged
their expertise and resources. They
include the U.S. D epartm ents o f
L abor, Justice and T reasury and
m ore than 20 m ajo r corporations.
A s A m erica faces the low est la
bor force participation rate in alm ost
35 y ears and u n accep tab ly high
urban unem ploym ent, creatin g jo b s
and econom ically viable co m m u n i
ties m ust involve all o f us w orking
together, including the governm ent,
corporate and n o n-profit sectors.
It’s tim e to shift from the debate
about the problem o f u n em ploy
m ent to taking co n crete action to
solve it. N ational U rban League af
f ilia te s a n d o u r J o b s R e b u ild
A m erica coalition are p rim ed to do
ju s t that.
c o m p e titiv e g ra n ts fo r th re e s ig
n a tu re N a tio n a l U rb a n L e a g u e
p ro g ra m s - the U rb a n Y o u th E m
p o w erm en t P rogram , the E n trep re
n e u r s h ip C e n te r p ro g r a m a n d
P ro je c t R ead y : P o st S e c o n d ary
S u c c e ss P ro g ra m .
T his funding w ill help the affili
ate ex pand existing program s and
introduce new ones to better serve
the needs o f the local com m unity,
including the design o f a new 21st
C en tu ry w ork fo rce d ev elo p m en t
system to reach thousands o f jo b
seekers, w hile targeting som e o f the
m ost vulnerable unem ployed.
Since the start o f the G reat R e
cessio n , U rban L eague affiliates
across the nation have served as
Marc Morial is president and
econom ic first responders for co m chief executive officer o f the Na
m unities devastated by jo b loss. tional Urban League.
USPS 959-680 ---------------------
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