Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks, explains, “The idea is to create a platform for African-American Tea Party leaders, Hispanic Tea Party leaders and Jewish Tea Party leaders to get out there and talk about why they’re involved and why these issues matter so much to them.”
The campaign comes in response to recent attacks made against the Tea Party movement, primarily by the NAACP. The so-called “civil rights” group targeted the Tea Party movement at its 101st conference when delegates voted on a resolution calling for “all people of good will to repudiate the racism of the Tea Parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.” If that was not enough, the NAACP teamed up with George Soros to launch TeaPartyTracker.org, a website that they claim “monitors racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement.”
Rather than focusing on the “failed policies of the stimulus,” unemployment, and the government’s usurpation of healthcare, Kibbe asserts that the NAACP and other left-wing groups are “trying to change the conversation,” instead redirecting attention to allegations of nonexistent racism within the Tea Party movement.?
In August, black members of the Tea Party Express held a press conference to address allegations of racism in the Tea Party movement. They declared that claims of racism were merely ploys to discredit the movement and distract from the importance of the Tea Party’s message.
At the conference, Kevin Jackson, author of The Big Black Lie, told journalists, “There are two kinds of people I have never seen at a Tea Party: a racist and anyone who owns a yacht. And if they do own a yacht, they pay their taxes.”?
However, despite the best efforts of Tea Partiers to dispel the stereotypes, members cannot seem to remove the bulls-eye from their backs.
Kibbe contends, “It’s ironic that the left that so eagerly celebrates the notion of diversity is attacking what I believe to be the most diverse political movement in my lifetime.”
An April Gallup poll shows that the Tea Party movement “best reflects the racial composition of the country.” According to the poll, 75 percent of the United States population is non-Hispanic white, while 11 percent are non-Hispanic black, and 15 percent belong to other races. Within the Tea Party movement, approximately 75 percent of the members are non-Hispanic white, while 6 percent are non-Hispanic black, with the remaining 15 percent belonging to other races.
Can the NAACP boast such diversity in its membership?
While efforts from the Left to target and discredit the Tea Party movement may certainly be a nuisance, Kibbe views the efforts as clear indications of fear. “They are afraid of the Tea Party, and, frankly, they’re afraid of the diversity of the Tea Party. If you actually take the time to get to know the people in the Tea Party movement, you see an amazing amount of diversity — not just different skin colors but people literally from all walks of life that have united around the idea that the government is too big and is spending too much money it doesn’t have.”?
Tea Party leader Reverend C.L. Bryant was once a member of the NAACP until he discovered that the group cared more about liberal politics than civil rights. Likewise, Bryant was discouraged by the NAACP’s unwillingness to deal with the “economic slavery” imposed on the American people by the federal government. Additionally, Bryant charges the NAACP with perpetuating the black Americans’ victim status.
“There are people in the world who do have shackles on them, but here in America, a person has full rights of the Constitution, regardless of their skin color. In fact, I defy anyone to name one thing in this country at this point in time that would hinder you from being whatever you want to be because of your skin color — it just does not exist.”
Instead of dividing Americans by race, the Tea Party movement has united Americans under principles of limited government, individual freedom, and fiscal responsibility. It is that very unity that continues to threaten divisive groups like the NAACP and George Soros’s various leftist organizations, provoking attacks of all varieties. Diverse Tea is the next line of defense against such attacks.
Photo of Tea Partier: AP Images
