Defining Racism

Racism could be an ongoing issue in America, and it also would seem to be a bludgeon wielded by those who would silence critics of the President.

This week's news that the NAACP is determined to produce a resolution branding the Tea Party as a racist organization would appear to me to be the latter.

Ongoing charges of Tea Party racism are based on questionably marginal signs that those with hair-trigger race sensibilities might interpret as racist, while others like myself fail to connect them with any overtly racist messages.

Perhaps the only truthful statement about the racism charges leveled at the Tea Party was apparently given recently by a guest on MSNBC. The essential message she shared was that those who oppose liberal policies are inherently racist, because in her alternate universe, black folks are disproportionally benefitted by socialist redistrubution and harmed by capitalism. Ergo, conservatives are racist simply because their philosophies of limited government, low taxes, and free market capitalism harm the black community.

Perhaps the most prominent "proof" being offered by the Tea Party accusers is the outrageous and manufactured charge of black congressmen who accused protesters of spitting at them and using the "N" word as they walked through.

The problem with that widely reported event is that it's an overt lie. There were hundreds of witnesses, plus many video recordings of the event. None of the witnesses actually observed anything resembling what the congressmen charged, nor does a single video confirm it.

The entire incident was staged by a group of black congressmen, who purposely decided to walk through the Tea Party protest crowd after passing the Healthcare bill. The logical assumption behind the reason they chose to take a stroll through the crowd is that they hoped to receive some sort of racial abuse they could exploit.

The fact that the demonstrators certainly were vocal in expressing their opposition to the passage of the bill, but never hurled racial invectives in any way, failed to provide the evidence of Tea Party racism the congressmen hoped for.

So they decided to make it up. And the media has no interest in following up to find out whether or not their charges are true.

Power Line has a whole series of articles on that incident which is the root of the NAACP's resolution. The $100K reward for evidence proving the congressmen's charges remains unclaimed.