Allow me to clarify: the resolution does not call the Tea Party racist only that there are many examples of racism in the Tea Party movement and that the Tea Party needs to address that and censure those elements.

Tea Party Express organizer (and right wing hate radio personality) Mark Williams took issue with the NAACP’s resolution and, well, decided he’d voice his opposition with a little “satire”

link “he’d voice his opposition with a little “satire”

— and a bit of a problem. Williams’ “satire” (a supposed letter from NAACP President Ben Jealous to Abraham Lincoln) is rife with racist stereotypes and probably did the exact opposite of what it was intended to do (sorry, no link, Williams pulled the post).

Here’s the letter Williams posted:

“Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Coloreds 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 coloreds. That means we Coloreds 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 coloreds 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 NAACP Head Colored Person”

Odious and idiotic. And it makes exactly the point the NAACP raised in its resolution.

Look, I’ve been to a couple of Tea Party rallies in Archuleta County and I’ve seen nothing that could be construed as racist. Based on that experience, I can assume that the vast majority of Teabaggers aren’t racist.

However, there is a problem — a huge problem — with signs showing President Obama with a bone through his nose or the White House amidst a field of watermelons (among many examples) that point to a racist element in the Tea Party movement.

Williams waved off his blatant racism with an attack on “PC” and some mealy-mouthed kumbaya language. A weak response, in my mind.

The NAACP pointed out something the Tea Party movement doesn’t want to acknowledge — that there are some fringe elements in the party who are indeed racist.

It’s their problem. And unless it acts swiftly to censure and expel those who would engage in racist language, the Tea Party will never see its fortunes rise beyond a marginal, extremist movement.