When the “little” teapot is up to its neck in hot water, it whistles then blows off steam, and what a head of steam. By now the whole of the United States has visited and re-visited the remarks of the candidate with cement shoes. To say that the Champaign County party was concerned about its write-in candidate, Al Reynolds’ campaign has now proved to be the understatement of the Mid-Term elections.
In his quest to write off African American men in his statement during the Wednesday, October 20, Candidates Forum, The GOP candidate wrote himself off with negative connotations. However un- warranted his comments were, shows a lack of leadership potential. He has shown the Party who he really is and Democrats alike believe him. One doesn’t have to look far to see that in ‘speaking from my heart,’ as he contends, will get the swiftest boot made in America.
When the Champaign County NAACP decided to partner with the League of Women Voters and Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice to hold a Candidates Forum, little did we know what would be on the menu that would later have to be pooper-scooped and thrown out as trash. No re-cycling here! Reynolds wrapped himself into a neat little bundle of race-related stereotypes of minorities and departed from the core values of the Grand Old Party.
On the other hand, it is ironic that such an outrage is never experienced when history’s prevailing nationality and color of a President resides in the White House. And to think this person founded the East Central Illinois Tea Party in 2009 perhaps to carry out such a tirade. These type of verbal attacks shows the length of the scope of influence which continues to grow and produce extreme and racially charged acts of injustice.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is not calling the Tea Party or everyone in the Tea Party racist. We are, however, calling for the Tea Party and its leaders to renounce the racist elements in the organization. We have come too far to turn back. We have fought too hard and too long, 101 years, to roll the clock back to the days of unconstitutional acts that jeopardize the freedoms of all people.
The glamorization of Tea Party activity has not gone unnoticed by the NAACP. It is our job as the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights group to blow the whistle on racism and inequality, in all its forms, as we did when we fought to desegregate schools, and just as we are continuing to do now on unemployment and the need for jobs. Therefore, we call upon all people of good will, including Conservative leaders and leaders of the Tea Party to repudiate (renounce, reject or rebut) the factions within that are racist, which is un-American and immoral. We cannot sit idly by while racist elements are being poured as libation into the framework of American democracy.
The NAACP resolution not only calls for this repudiation, it complements a resolution that calls for civility in political discourse and is one of over 80 resolutions on jobs, education, predatory lending, climate change and other critical issues ratified by the board on October 15, 2010.
When the NAACP discovers brands of tea, like the Al Reynolds’ type, we say, “Thank you Alice for the invitation, but we do not care for any, and do something about that “Mad Hatter!”
Rev. Jerome C. Chambers, Jr.
President, Champaign County NAACP
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