CAUTION Incensed at Observer’s Support for Racial Divisiveness
Charlotte, NC – September 22, 2014 – CAUTION, the organizational arm of the Charlotte Tea Party, announced today that it is calling on the Charlotte Observer to retract an article by Barbara Schreiber published in the Friday edition of the paper entitled, “Willie Little Takes on TEA Party, Klan in Exhibition“.
The article promotes a local exhibition by artist Willie Little called “In the Hood,” which is presently on display at New Gallery of Modern Art in Charlotte. This display is described as “an indictment of TEA Party extremists who perpetuate the ideology of the Ku Klux Klan.”
Christian Hine, the President of CAUTION, learned of the article over the weekend when several members of the organization began emailing him links to the online version.
“People are upset,” said Hine. “TEA Party members are united in a belief in the God given worth and dignity of all people. We fight for the individual, regardless of race, against the unnecessary encroachment of government in our everyday lives. To have an article in a major publication simply present as accepted “fact” that the TEA Party is in any way, shape, or form affiliated with the disgusting beliefs of the KKK is not only factually incorrect, but deeply insulting.”
Hine continued, “The TEA Party and Liberty movements have a lot to offer our friends in the minority community. We stand against corruption in government, high taxes and burdensome regulations that squeeze out economic development and opportunity, wealth transfers in the form of tax subsidies for millionaires and billionaires, assaults on the rights of parents to choose their children’s educational opportunities, the militarization of the police, etc. The TEA Party is not the enemy of any race. To the contrary, the promotion of government dependence and entitlement by those on the left is far more damaging to minority communities.”
“I would hope that the Charlotte Observer would have the good sense to disassociate itself from the position of furthering the divisive rhetoric found in the promotion of this display. The TEA Party is open and welcoming to all who share our values of freedom, opportunity, and limited government.”
CAUTION meets every Monday evening at the Dilworth Neighborhood Grille in Charlotte from 6-7:30PM.
The idea that Tea Party organizations have racists and bigots having a substantive say in policy and participation is neither new nor without substance. All it takes is a quick Bing search on photo’s of signs at Tea Party rallies to confirm it.
Y’all might insist that a confederate flag is patriotism and not racism but it’s not, it is the ultimate symbol of racism and the KKK. Y’all might insist that displaying an image of the POTUS caricatured as an ape is not racist, well it is by any definition. And you might have come up with clever language that allows you to be racists without using the old bigoted words, but that does hide the underlying bigotry.
Let me ask, as a percent of Tea Party followers, just how much is non-white? I’m thinking about 3% at most.
Yo Zon,
I work uptown, Monday to Friday, 8-5. If you’d like to call me a “racist” or “bigot”, have the stones to do it to my face. You state the date and the time.
MM
Zon has no stones. He is strictly into name calling and making up things to suit himself. If anyone is racist, it is the Democratic Party. They hold people down and then tell them they are helping them.
Try this quote: ”
Elbert Guillory is a state senator from Opelousas, Louisiana.
Guillory was a Democratic lawyer who was first elected to the Louisiana State House of Representatives in 2007. In 2009, he ran for the state senate and won. On May 31, 2013, he boldly stood up and declared that he was switching his party affiliation to the Republican party because it was the political party of freedom and the Democratic Party was the party of the big government form of slavery.
Read more at http://godfatherpolitics.com/11358/black-democratic-senator-switches-to-gop/#QbMVBOqjCKEIttio.99
Why don’t you try answering my question and respond to my point instead of trying to pick a fight you can’t win, dumbass?
Ask me the question in person. Date, time and place, punk.
Oh, so you really are a dumbass then.
please let me know when and where you guys are going to fight. Zonboy may have shot his mouth off one time too many,
Sorry Rick looks like Zon is going to hide behind his mamma Janet Yellen’s skirt while he throws working families out of their homes like a good banker.
musicmax,
If you are going to pick a fight with zon tell him to bring a gun. All you will need is a knife because this is one time that bringing a knife to a gunfight will result in a win.
Poor Zon he could not win a fight with a 10 year old girl.
Alright gentleman, I understand the anger here, but let’s not resort to calls for violence. Let’s debate the issue.
Christian,
I’m not trying to tell you how to run your blog, but can’t we all just stop feeding the trolls here. Nothing is more pathetic than one anonymous troll challenging another anonymous troll to fisticuffs in the real world. Why even validate their anonymous trolling with a response?
I recall seeing this story in the Observer online, but never clicked through to actually read. You should invite Mr. Little to speak at an upcoming CAUTION meeting so he can defend his views in public.
Zon has been stalking Christian for awhile. He was always on his case on the Observer Forums before they became Facebook tracking devices.
Everybody knows, the KKK is associated with the DEMOCRATIC SOUTH. Well, there may be an exception somewhere.
I, too, was offended by this artist’s misjudged perception of the TEA party…Zon, the reason there aren’t MORE ‘nonwhites’ in the TEA movement, is BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE low information MORONS, who have NO clue about freedom and liberty…MOST of them have been dumbed down by our government screwls!
This artist should apologize for his dumbassery…
Thanks for making my point for me.
This is not helpful.
I finally got a statement from Rick Thames added to the story. He had the following statement added to the end of the story:
“A review of the “In the Hood” exhibition at the New Gallery of Modern Art that said some “tea party extremists” perpetuate the ideology of the Ku Klux Klan should have attributed that viewpoint to the exhibition.”
In other words – “We didn’t call you racists – he did.”
Lame attempt to apologize and extremely insulting.
The Observer has a more direct connection to racism with their brethren in Raleigh whose founders were proud white supremecists and instigated the Wilminton riots of 1898.
Why would they even promote such a distasteful display in the first place? I don’t care if the idea is attributed to the exhibition or not. The fact the Observer is carrying it at all tells me what they think. There is no objective journalism there. It’s a puff piece for a show that perpetuates racial disharmony.
Do a Bing search on “racist tea party rally signs”. That should answer the question for you.
What about signs like:
“Get OFF the government plantation”
“Democrackkks…the ORIGINAL ‘party’ of SLAVERY”
“Democrackkks are criminals from the TOP down”
are these signs racist? No, not in the democrat way at all…
Well they are certainly infantile, bigoted, sophomoric, and about as deep as a mud puddle. Just what you would expect from a tea drinking wing nut.
Please stop “helping”.
Zon, taking exception to people like yourself I see. Typical hypocrisy of a alinskyite.
The editorial staff at the Observer is nothing more than the Publishers of a Newsletter for the Local Democrat Party. Anything to get the base out in November to keep the Hag’ in office whether true or not they will publish.
The North Carolina McClatchy papers are both organs for state and local government.
Zon,
I would first like to point out that during one of the original Charlotte Tea Party events, two gentleman carrying a Confederate battle flag were asked to leave the event. I do not view that flag as racist, but as we can see here, it gives talking points to those in opposition to us. That is a conversation for another time however.
If you take any large, politically charged rally, there will always be signs and banners that reflect extreme views and not necessarily those of the organizers. Are there a few questionable signs that show up at Tea rallies? Absolutely. There were also effigies of Bush and calls for his murder at democrat and leftist rallies. Neither is OK, but I think we have the sense to understand that some people are just idiots.
I do know that there are plenty of examples of the left infiltrating Tea Party events and carrying horrible signs as a way to discredit us. Again, in Charlotte, there was a gentleman who carried a set of bull testicles on a stick. He claimed it was a “tea bag”. He too was asked to leave.
More on point, I would agree that the number of minorities who participate in Tea Party events is small…as with the GOP as a whole. Honestly, this is unfortunate, but not because I’m seeking any artificial quota. (If that were the case, could I call the NBA racist for not having enough white players?) I just actually believe that the policies espoused by the Tea Party would do wonders in helping elevate the entire nation…minorities included, and probably some of the primary beneficiaries.
Why don’t they show up? Probably because the perception within the community is as presented by the “art exhibit”. The perception is that we hate black people and don’t want them. This couldn’t be further from the truth in actuality. As I said, we welcome ALL people who believe in our values. Race is not a factor. Heck, if anything, I sometimes think when we do get minority participation, the welcoming is almost overboard. We’re just so excited to see it!
I would welcome you Zon or even Mr. Little to attend one of our regular meetings. I am willing to bet that the perception you hold would be dramatically challenged.
Thanks, Christian. I appreciate the thoughtful commentary. I don’t think I recall calling any one group specifically out for bigotry in my post. And certainly not your organization to my knowledge. And certainly not Max, so I’m puzzled at his umbrage to the point of physical confrontation. Nor do I think the artist was calling out any local groups.
My statement, and the statement of the artist, that Tea Party groups are known for bigotry is not unfounded. For cryin out loud do Google search, it’s well documented and everybody knows it. To suggest otherwise is just plain denial. There are bigoted statements IN THIS THREAD. But hey, shoot the messengers for pointing it out.
You say so yourself, we want them to be a part of our ideology. Yet tolerate and defend other Tea groups that are visibly intolerant of minorities. From Rebel flags to racist caricatures at rallies, I don’t see, nor do any minorities see, any condemnation coming from Tea groups of bad and insensitive behavior within their ranks. When children, yes children, who happen to be minorities, are stranded on our border and numerous conservative groups wanted the POTUS to break the law Republicans passed and send them immediately back (while simultaneously announcing plans to sue him for breaking the law). There are videos of Tea Party Patriots blocking the road to keep these children, yes children, from going to shelter. Shouting obscenities to children, yes…children. Nobody saw any condemnation over that behavior, in fact it was cheered in conservative circles.
Tea groups can say ‘oh no, not me’ all they want over the question of racism in their ranks. But as a recovering bigot, I can spot it a mile away. And so can every person of color. The most obvious sign is saying ‘I’m not a bigot’, or ‘I have black friends’. News for you, all humans are bigots to one degree or another. It’s just that some of us are more aware of it and have the humanity to suppress it.
Tea groups have a choice. They can come to terms with it as a movement and express intolerance for intolerance within its ranks (not until then will people hear their arguments of substance). Or, ignore it and become a minority party overall. Republicans overall are mostly members of a race that will be in the minority in less than 15 years. To say nothing of all the white Democrats.
Tic-Toc. In the time it took to write this, 50 or so persons of Hispanic descent became legally eligible to vote. And they do not like the Tea Party, or conservatives in general, by very, very large margins.
In other words, embrace law-breaking illegal aliens or be called racist?
Most Americans are of European and Native American Ancestry just like most Mexicans are. We’re the same race.
Zon – Did you see any of the stories of Texas Tea Partiers taking supplies and toys to the border? Or do you see what you want to see?
http://www.glennbeck.com/2014/07/21/here-are-23-incredible-photos-from-glenns-visit-to-the-border/
We can’t admit that Tea Partiers can show compassion – that would blow the complete narrative that only Progressives show compassion (by throwing hundreds of children into small buildings – by enticing people to spend their entire life savings on coyotes to traffic their children across the border – by supporting the continued exploitation of all minorities in their political agenda).
Get off your high horse – Democrats invented & perfected racism and racial politics.
Whatever. It’s your political funeral. Again, I’m not a Democrat. One thing is certain, the Democrats have successfully painted you wing nuts into a corner as anti-gay, anti-minority, anti-women and anti-education. You can keep moaning about it and throwing out Glenn Beck’s propaganda that only resonates in the wing nut echo-chamber, or change your ways. Sounds like y’all are going to keep pretending you don’t have a demographics problem. Fine by me.
http://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/249902/study-tea-party-not-racist
Found by googling “tea partiers not racist”.
Man do your homework. It’s not hard
Dennis, if one observes closely one will notice that Democrats say things about others that apply to themselves. ie Harry Reid talks about the big spending rich people, even names the Koch brothers, but it is the Democrats who are raising the most money from rich people. The same is true of Obama when he talks about almost anything.
Then there are actions. Conservatives do for others with their own money, while socialists/Democrats talk about doing and generally are more interested in doing for others with your money.
This was a buzz I sent in – the CO didn’t find it to their taste.
Leftist: you work, I’ll spend.
Zon, being a good banker, fits perfectly.
Hey Zon
While we are all googling racist tea partiers I have a proposal for you
Why don’t you google “confirmation bias.” The Wiki article will do.
Read it. Reread it. Look in the mirror and look for similarities.
By the way, I wrote to the museum to ask about their funding. Here is the response. Thankfully this is a private, for profit, endeavor…which of course begs the question why they oppose the ideas of free market capitalism in it’s displays.
“Good morning, Christian. We are a private for profit retail gallery and such don’t receive funding.
Thank you
Irina
Irina Toshkova
Gallery Director”
Judging from her name, I bet Irina has a lot of KOMOSOL art on display over there.
Christian,
I suspect the museum is presently what sells. They may or may not appreciate the hypocrisy – even as they sell tickets etc.
is presenting what sells
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