For Immediate Release: July 12, 2010Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or cell (703) 568-4727      or dalmasi@nationalcenter.orgJudy Kent at (703) 759-7476 or jkent@nationalcenter.org
Black Activists Condemn NAACP Resolution Against Tea Party Movement

Washington, D.C. -  As the NAACP plans to use its group's prestige to bash the tea party movement, members of the Project 21 black leadership network are urging delegates at the NAACP's national convention not to turn the NAACP into a pawn for progressive political bosses. "As a frequent speaker at tea party rallies around the country, I can assure the NAACP that the tea party movement's concerns are about President Obama's policies and not his race," said Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli. "I'm deeply concerned that the NAACP is being used as a political tool to do the dirty work of the progressive movement. Instead of criticizing tea parties, the NAACP would be better served denouncing the racist comments made by a member of the New Black Panther Party and their voter intimidation outside a Philadelphia polling place in the last presidential election."According to a report in the Kansas City Star, the NAACP, which is conducting its 101st annual convention in that city, will take up a resolution as early as Tuesday to urge "all people of good will to repudiate the racism of Tea Parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era." Kansas City NAACP chapter president Anita Russell said the tea party movement is "really not about limited government." The resolution reportedly dwells on "explicitly racist behavior" that relies upon anecdotal posters opposing President Obama and allegations of the use of racial epithets by tea party participants. Project 21's Borelli added: "I urge the delegates to read the Contract from America - a list of policy objectives for Congress that was developed by tea party members nationwide. These objectives are clearly about limited government and liberty. In fact, the NAACP should be very concerned Obama's cap-and-trade energy policy will lead to higher energy prices and higher unemployment - particularly among poor and minority households."Borelli, who has spoken at tea party events nationwide (including last year's 912 rally at the U.S. Capitol) is the author of the commentary "Liberals Crash Tea Party, But Stay Silent On Black Panther Hate Talk," published by FoxNews.com on July 12, 2010."Personally, I'm tired of arguing with the ignorant," said Bob Parks, a Project 21 member who has also participated in tea party events - including the rallies outside the U.S. Capitol the weekend of the House votes on Obamacare. "Al Sharpton recently tried in vain on his radio show to get me to apologize for alleged tea party racism. He tried to get me to apologize for racial epithets hurled at Congressman John Lewis that only Lewis seemed to hear. I would guess neither Al Sharpton nor the overwhelming majority of NAACP members have ever been to a tea party, so they speak from intentional ignorance. While liberals scream racism at the tea parties purely because of their audacity to oppose Obama, it's the progressives who seem to feel free to use racial epithets against others as they know - as is seen in this instance - that the NAACP turns a blind partisan eye."The NAACP's Russell reportedly is "pretty certain" the anti-tea party resolution will pass. "Progressives have hijacked the NAACP to the extent that the group stands silent as conservative blacks suffer indignities for their beliefs. Some NAACP even egg on this appalling behavior - providing political cover and lapdog services for these elitists," said Project 21 member Kevin Martin. "As a conservative black man, I have felt more welcomed and at home within the tea party movement than among those of my own who side with the this new NAACP. If a few random signs of President Obama looking like the Joker is indeed racist, then where was the NAACP when conservative blacks are depicted as lawn jockeys, Oreos and Uncle Toms?""The level and depth of ignorance and misrepresentation of truth is unquantifiable," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie, another speaker at tea party events in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan. "The simple truth is that the tea party movement is about smaller government, lower taxes and an adherence to the Constitution. The NAACP is welcome to disagree with the tea parties, but in making that complaint they must be truthful and not fall prey to ignorance and perceived disaffection."A $100,000 reward offer made by Andrew Breitbart to anyone who can provide video and audio evidence that racial epithets were shouted at Congressional Black Caucus members by tea party activists on March 20 remains unclaimed months later.Project 21, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information about the history of Project 21, visit the Project 21 website.