logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Tea Party Nationalism

Rick Cohen
October 22, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Fall 2010, 2010; Source: NAACP | The NAACP is distributing a new report prepared by the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights on “the links between certain Tea Party factions and acknowledged racist hate groups in the United States.”

In his forward to this report, NAACP President and CEO Ben Todd Jealous declares, “We know the majority of Tea Party supporters are sincere, principled people of good will.” That being said, the report delves into evidence of “those Tea Party leaders who espouse racist ideas, advocate violence, or are formally affiliated with white supremacist organizations.”

The IREHR authors tell many of the well known stories about over-the-edge Tea Party personalities such as Mark Williams formerly of the Tea Party Express, ousted after he penned a racist rant that he said was satire, though that was by no means his first foray into repulsive racial imagery. The report also details examples of McCarthyist ravings about Muslims embedded in government and the military, Tea Party protestors calling Congressman John Lewis the n-word and spitting on Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, and other examples of obnoxiously racist language or images.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

The report is not long on specific events or statements that can be attributed to Tea Party organizations as opposed to the positions of Tea Party people with extreme views—the anti-immigrant crowd with vile commentary about Mexican immigrants, the “birthers” challenging President Obama’s legitimacy as President, and more. But you can hear many of the same comments in regular commentary on Fox News from Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and ubiquitous guest commentator Michelle Malkin. Heck, even on “The View,” guest Bill O’Reilly blamed Muslims in general for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, prompting Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to storm off the set.

The IREHR report is better on descriptions of various local and regional Tea Party organizations and how they interact, sometimes less than collegially, and the interactions of Tea Party groups with social conservatives such as anti-immigrant and anti-Muslims organizations. The report may not make a hugely compelling case of sanctioned or tolerated Tea Party racism, but it reveals a movement that describes itself as basically libertarian, with plenty of streams of traditional social conservatism on race and immigration.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Remaking the Economy: Caring for the Care Economy
Steve Dubb, Adria Powell and Jenn Stowe
Race, Class, and Climate: Organizing for a Better Future in Pueblo, Colorado
Jamie Valdez
Faith as a Pathway to Climate Action
Anmol Irfan
Countering Authoritarianism: Forging a Progressive Response to Fragmentation
john a. powell and Sara Grossman

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.