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NAACP Webcast Cuts off During Debate of Tea Party Resolution

By Philip Klein on 7.13.10 @ 6:44PM

Just as NAACP delegates were debating a resolution Tuesday afternoon condemning racist elements within the Tea Parties, one NAACP member complained that there were reporters in the room even though it was supposed to be closed to the press. At this point, a live webcast broadcasting the event (which I was watching) was cut off.

When I contacted the NAACP press office earlier in the day, a spokesman at first insisted that I wasn't watching a live broadcast, but in fact a rerun from last year, or the night before. After the webcast got cut off, I called again, and a spokeswoman was startled that anything would have been broadcast online, reiterating that the resolutions process was supposed to be closed to the media. They seemed genuinely caught offguard, and promised to get back to me while they investigated what was happening.

Before the webcast got cut off, I was able to get some sense of the working language in the draft resolution. To be clear, a lot of this language was being debated before the webcast got cut off -- one reason, no doubt, that the NAACP prefers to wait until it has the final language before releasing any details on resolutions.

But from what I saw on the screen, one provision said that "Some Tea Party members have used racial epithets and verbally and physically abused African-American congressman and others, and have been charged with making dangerous threats against duly elected public officials..."

Another line of the resolution called the Tea Party movement a "threat to the pursuit of human rights, justice and equality for all."

The working draft concluded:

"BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the NAACP call upon all people of good will specifically but not limited to all political parties and human rights organizations to publicly repudiate the racism and expel the racial instigators of the Tea Party, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era."

One delegate raised objections to the word "expel," arguing that it would violate free speech rights, while others debated whether they should use the singular Tea Party or refer to Tea Parties plural. There was also an effort to include the language "some," to prevent people from interpreting it as an attack on all Tea Party groups.

I'll update this post when I have more.

UPDATE: The Kansas City Star reports the resolution passed.

View all comments (12) | Leave a comment

craised| 7.13.10 @ 8:06PM

NAACP is one of the most racist organizations out there, thanks to polically correct liberals and poverty pimps like obama's Rev Racist, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson no one ever calls them out for being racist.

Missy| 7.13.10 @ 8:28PM

Andrew Breitbart's still waiting for someone to pick up his/her $100,000 after proving the claim of tea party racism toward black congressmen. Not one taker.

How many tea partiers carry police batons around?
Talk about racism.

Alan Brooks| 7.13.10 @ 9:46PM

Perhaps. But I don't like it that white trash think their families are Ubermenches.

Like, when a beautiful white woman goes to the bathroom, does it smell like chocolate?

Crooz8er| 7.13.10 @ 10:22PM

Dude, seriously, how many 'shrooms you do tonight?

Nobama| 7.14.10 @ 12:27AM

Alan's hero is Roman Polanski.

Liberal perverts of a feather flock together!

Neo| 7.14.10 @ 1:13AM

Eric Holder said that Americans are cowards to talk about race, and today we saw that in full glory.

Frankly, from what I've seen of the passed resolution, in contrast to what was talked about beforehand, it seems that they must have gotten a few "grown ups" in the room.

But the real problem is that since we have gotten our first (real) black President and a bit before, it has become more and more obvious that there is a real problem in the black community with race relations. They still live in the 60's, and the early 60's at that. They have refused to see any improvement in race relations because it will interfere with their world view of self pity and victimhood. It really must be a miserable life.

martin j smith| 7.14.10 @ 7:51AM

The NAACP and the Obama administration fear exposure. Transparency is not in the dictionary of approved words. Thus the resolution seems to me to have serious moral defect of cowardice just as the Obama administration does ( not allowing reporters near the Gulf ). So without moral support the NAACP resuaolution is full of crap.
I simply say: Long Live the Tea Party Movement !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

michael eiseman| 7.14.10 @ 10:32AM

The only color the TEA PARTY sees is RED! Red ink from deficit and Red Communist in the White House...we don't give one damn bit about Obama's skin color or that of anyone else for that matter. The NAACP is a racist shill for the Democratic Party

NAACP=KKK=Black Panthers

Terry Ott| 7.14.10 @ 10:36AM

The NAACP is a tremendously important entity. They gather somewhere every year to eat in restaurants, stay in hotels, rent cars, hail cabs and drink some adult beverages. And for those few days a Kansas City or Detroit or Milwaukee or Cincinnati experiences a hospitality sector uptick.

Another benefit: Without such conventions there would be fewer places for junior reporters and out-of-favor media types to be sent, looking for the mountain-from-molehill issue or comment.

Recognize the caginess of the NAACP to meet in the one week out of the year when there is no sports coverage to speak of in the various media. It fills that need for irrelevant news and hyperbolic commentary for several days.

May the NAACP (Narcissistic And Anachronistic Convention Participants) carry on forever. Coming soon to a depressed city convention center near you.

Nate| 7.14.10 @ 3:28PM

Barack Hussein Obama. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Lenrouq| 7.16.10 @ 2:09PM

"But the real problem is that since we have gotten our first (real) black President and a bit before, it has become more and more obvious that there is a real problem in the black community with race relations. They still live in the 60's, and the early 60's at that. They have refused to see any improvement in race relations because it will interfere with their world view of self pity and victimhood. It really must be a miserable life. "

I FIND THIS STATEMENT incredibly ignorant for several reasons off the top of my head. To go in depth would put this whole page to utter shame.
1) I don't know if you all remember this but slavery just ended not to long ago; the psychological impact (the same devastating effects that occur in post-war victims, concentration camp victims, etc) that resulted from slavery and the stripping of a peoples identity still lingers heavily in even the most affluent of Af/am/black families today...do your research

2) Victim? Has anyone noticed that blacks are quite resilient? Like every other immigrant we were forced to learn the American way of doing things; we're still not accepted here UNLESS we talk white, act white, and entrench ourselves in what is seen as acceptable by the predominant white culture. food for thought.

3) Stuck in the 60's? Laughable. While it can be argued that some civil rights leaders are "milking dead cows" it is no different that when leaders in the Jewish or Muslim community in America (and even Americans themselves) constantly reiterate in the face of political or written persecution the HISTORY and the STRUGGLE that their people have had to get to where they are and usually talk about how offended they are. And please don't let someone talk about America...lol. Modern day Minutemen will be up in arms ready to not only defend our "freedom" that was so hard earned by the "American" (Uh...Spanish, FRENCH, Native Americans, and Slaves) people but to shut the mouths of any naysayers who would dare speak against our great country and it's historical journey towards independence...pathetic. Let's open up the lens here and widen our perspective a little.

4) "there is a real problem in the black community with race relations"
What?! Are you serious? A few black leaders, however influential they may be, do not speak for the WHOLE community. Before Obama, black comedians were talking about race and breaking barriers consistently in communities across the nation because it WAS NOT being talked about in the places it needed to be. EVEN STILL when you hear comedians now they always seem to come down to an issue in their material about a difference between black and white ppl...why? Because the race problem still exist! People make skits about it and talk about it comedically because even though that black man/woman is making a lot of money when they get off of the stage they are still black! Stigmas do still exist! People think that because Obama was elected that race issues suddenly have disappeared.
I'm guessing everyone on this page has (of course) been to the inner-city; you have all seen the abundant resources given to students to achieve just as much as their suburban counterparts with a $7,000 difference (minimum per kid) between them. You all of course have been to places like Philadelphia where I live, where opportunities abound for all black ppl to do better, and have no doubt witnessed a society where there are no barriers at all to education or employment. We all just sit around relishing in the days when our self-pity and victimhood were the things that kept us afloat, and we all embrace the social welfare system (suprisingly not our invention....can someone say, "17th Century England?"....but we sure get a lot of credit for it...maybe if we did get credit for the inventions we have made we wouldn't be having this conversation....surprisingly when the welfare system started in the 30's blacks weren't eligible....hmmm.)

You know, if what you say is true, a worldview is not created in a vacuum. I know you would cringe and become even more irritated if I said that "whites" where responsible for part of this "victim" mentality, but I won't....I just tell you the watered down truth that you certainly did INFLUENCE it in the past, and still do to a certain extent. Maybe not YOU personally, but the culture around us does. I find it interesting that those who never were subjected to humiliation or even understand what it means to be less than in a predominant culture always find a way to totally dismiss the psychological underpinnings of another culture, and find a way to dismiss their part in it. I'm not asking for reparations, but I think, like the NAACP (in it's foundational, and purest form) what most people are asking for is just acknowledgment that things are not as cookie-cutter clean as our theories or personal worldviews tell us.
Call hypocrisy what it is in any form, any organization, or any culture...but let's look at the foundations of things and widen our perspective as well.
thanks for "listening"