Wednesday, July 21, 2010

NAACP VS TEA PARTY

In conversations with friends and family, we all concurred it was ill-advised for the NAACP to draft a resolution calling upon the Tea Party to condemn the racist fringe of its organization.

In our collective reasoning, we all acknowledged that the Tea Party does have an ugly and racist under-belly. In fact, the election of President Obama seems to have served as a rallying call to protest action for this element. However, as the proverbial grandmom use to say, pick your battles wisely.

Therefore, the questions are, what are the tangible benefits of this battle? Will it improve, advance or address the urgent needs of the black community or is it just a side show that wastes energy, time and resources?

The answer is a resounding no - it doesn't help us. Winning a public debate with Tea Baggers does absolutely nothing to help people of color. In fact, it just inflames their core demographics and calcifies their racism. It makes good TV but it doesn't move us forward.

After this week's flap over Shirley Sherrod of the USDA - her out of context and edited comments at a NAACP event that were supposed to prove that the NAACP tolerated reverse racism - served as an example of the tit for tat fight we can expect.

Once again, grandmom also said: Don't get in a mud fight with a pig. You both come out muddy and dirty and the pig likes it.