tomllewis

From JoeDanMedia

Nathan Burchfiel posts the above headline in NewsBusters.

If you thought media coverage of the Aug. 28 “Restoring Honor” rally hosted in Washington D.C. by Fox News host Glenn Beck seemed like just another attack on conservatives, you’re not alone. As noted by the Daily Caller’s Jim Treacher, much of the coverage had a common thread: describing the crowd as “overwhelmingly white.”

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King’s message.” — Associated Press

“Attendees at the rally Saturday largely honored organizer requests that they not bring banners or political signs. Instead, the predominantly white crowd, many seated on folding chairs and accompanied by their children, wore t-shirts with slogans including ‘Got principles?’ and ‘Restoring Honor.’” — AFP

“Meanwhile, many in the predominantly white crowd bent over backward to insist that they are not racists and to note that the crowd was courteous, despite heat and density.” — James Hohmann, Politico

“Beck says he and his overwhelmingly white followers ‘are the inheritors and protectors of the civil- rights movement.’” — Ben Adler, Newsweek

“Though the audience at the event was overwhelmingly white, many of the speakers were African-American, including a woman who sang a song about unity.” — Brian Montopoli, CBS

“Claiming the legacy of the nation’s Founding Fathers and repeatedly evoking civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., the speakers at the ‘Restoring Honor’ rally exhorted a vast and overwhelmingly white crowd to concentrate not on the history that has scarred the nation but instead on what makes it ‘good.’” — Philip Rucker & Carol Morello, Washington Post

“A relatively dense and overwhelmingly white crowd stretched from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial out past the Washington Monument.” — Mark Benjamin, Salon.com

“The speaker list was diverse, including African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans; Jews and Christians; clergymen, military veterans and sports stars, including Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals. The crowd, however, was overwhelmingly white.” — Michael A. Memoli and Kim Geiger, LA Times

“Out in the overwhelmingly white audience… politics was everywhere, with Tea Party supporters describing the damage they envision for President Barack Obama’s Democrats in upcoming midterm elections in November.” — Mitch Potter, Toronto Star

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Or, how about as another overwhelmingly white crowd gathers, anxious about the economy. Is this group racist too???

and, from RightwingNews: John Hawkins asks:

Simple Questions: If Tea Parties Are Racist Because The People Attending Are Mostly White….

* Are newsrooms racist because they’re mostly white?

* Is Kos’ Netroots Nation racist because it’s mostly white?

* Are the Senate Democrats racist because their caucus is mostly white?

* If the crowd at an opera is mostly white, does that make it racist?

* How about a rap concert? Is Jay-Z a racist because most of the people showing up at his concerts are black?

* Some of the pro-immigration rallies that have been held have been attended overwhelmingly by Hispanics? Does that make them racist?

* If there are different answers here, are there any reasons for the different answers besides the fact that liberals hate conservatives and lie about us being racists because they believe it benefits the Left politically?

And, Brian S. Wise, on Bernard Goldberg’s website writes in Predominantly White.

The media knew what it wanted the Glenn Beck rally to be; and when it didn’t turn into the world’s largest cross burning, the media did the best it could to stay within a preconceived template. Good luck finding a mainstream media story on the rally that doesn’t mention the crowd as “predominantly white,” or some offshoot thereof. The Associated Press noted a “large, predominantly white crowd,” as did Politico, as did the AFP, et cetera. The Washington Post saw the crowd as “overwhelmingly white”; as did the LA Times, Toronto Star, Salon.com – you get the idea.

And, from Media Bigotry Showing By Aaron Gee

The amount of anti-conservative vitriol wrapped in accusations of racism that make it into the reporting and commentary on the Tea Party movement or town hall meetings is shocking. The dinosaur press constantly uses an undertone of “Tea Party racism” to explain anti-big government sentiment. The examples are almost too numerous to list. Researching via the excellent Newsbusters, a media watchdog group, allows me to provide you with an abbreviated list of examples.

1. Chris Math: Palin Supporters Racist — ‘White vs. Other People’
2. Cynthia Tucker – 45% to 65% of townhall protesters are racist
3. Tea Party Opposition to Minimum Wage Racially Suspect
4. Tea Partiers Are All Racists Who Hate Black President
5. Howard Dean; ‘Lost Souls’ follow ‘Racist-Hate-Monger’ Beck
6. CNN – Racial Tinge To Tea Party Movement
7. NYT’s Krugman Sees Racism Among Town Hall ‘Mob’
8. Variety Columnist Accuses Fox News of Catering To Racial Fears
9. MSNBC’s: White Working Class Voters Racist
10. Journolisters Plot To Change The Conversation About Rev Wright

Juan Williams:

They don’t have to turn it. I mean, this is the way the media treats all race stories in this country, Jon. It’s always that black people are the victims, white people are the perpetrators. You know, it’s white guilt, black victimhood and it’s constant, it’s in every area, not just this, but in terms of our political discussions about race that to me are always one-side and twisted and prevent us from having the honest kind of dialog that is so important.

via NewsBusters.

Besides the pleasure of seeing black conservatives challenging the claim that “Tea Party” members are racists, there’s a very interesting concept that begins at 9:40

and, answering a question from a CNN reporter, Project 21 members Niger Innis (of the Congress of Racial Equality) and Bob Parks, along with Frantz Kebreau of the National Association for the Advancement of Conservative People of All Colors, question the validity of claims that the tea party movement is racist. Niger points out the “agent provocateur” angle, Bob talks about misrepresentation and Frantz questions whether the charges of racism are hyped from the very start. This clip was taken from a gathering of black conservatives at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on 8/4/10.

The Project 21 black leadership network is a program of The National Center for Public Policy Research.

Kevin Jackson and Tea Party Express members say racist claims about the movement are being exaggerated by left wing opposition.

As contrast, here’s Shirley Sherrod’s husband:

John Mc Whorter has been one of my favorite writers for some time.

Click here for the full 47 minutes.

I met Allen West at the 2008 CPAC, when he first ran for the Congress (in Florida). He was quite dynamic, but we both knew that he was very unlikely to win (did any Republican win in 08?). Now in 2010, he has a great shot.

I don’t see myself as African American, Black American. I see myself as an American.

H/T The Right Scoop.

His web site is: www.GoWest2010.com

The above concept is the same as Morgan’s Freeman’s (posted a week ago)

Here’s West’s 2010 CPAC appearance on Jihad and Islam for Freedom Defense Initiative.

I love this guy. How refreshing. Will someone please show this to Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the NAACP.

via NewsReal Blog

Bill Randall speaking about NAACP claims of Racism in the Tea Party

via Gateway Pundit

Uh, what would happen if a conservative said what Bill Maher said here (22 second video).  -  Language alert.

Where’s Al Sharpton?

At about 45 seconds in, this American says: “Black Americans have been following Democrats over a cliff for the last 40 years.

at 4:16 the color of his sin is not a reason to fear him, what we gear is loss of liberty what we fear is our rights being taken away…”

at 4:42 – “His color has nothing to do with it….”

Here’s a recent Frank Rich column.

MSNBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asks a black man “There aren’t a lot of African-American men at these events, have you ever felt uncomfortable?

So once again the Lame Stream Media tries to portray the majority of people who attend “Tea Party” events as racists.

Hypocrisy is always frustrating, on both sides of the aisle.  So, how many black people are there on msnbc? Let’s count them below.

There are many many African Americans who are conservative. Here’s just the few that I read. And, as Darryl Postell said: “These are my people.”

Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Walter Williams, Larry Elder, Star Parker, Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, Joesph Phillips, Armstrong Williams, Harry Jackson, Jr., La Shawn Barber.

I’ve long thought that the term African American is just one more way that Liberals & Progressives use to undermine the conservative principles that America was built on. Another of the many forms of identity politics played (successfully) by Democrats and the MSM.

All four of my grandparents were born in Budapest Hungary. My mother was born there. At no time in my 63 years have I considered my self a Hungarian American. I believe that being an American is the essence of what we are. A country of all immigrants. Not Italian Americans, or German Americans, or Ethiopian Americans, etc.

Mary Baker posted an article on The American Thinker “Why I Am No Longer an African American.”

She writes:

After observing the attitudes of African Americans and gaining an understanding of the drive to classify Black Americans as African Americans, I must now say that I can no longer identify myself as an African American because this classification holds several proclamations and principles to which I no longer identify with as a citizen of this country.  This title holds anti-American sentiments to which I cannot embrace. I have never held to the viewpoints of those from the Black Power Movement, Nation of Islam, or the Black Nationalist Movement. I don’t think about Africa, or what it would be like to live there, as I have always been content living in the country of my birth, where I grew up in a small town in Louisiana. The classification of me as an African American says that although I live in America, my loyalty and allegiance are to Africa.

She goes on to point out:

I began to think about how we all got to be categorized in the first place.  I have not noticed on any forms that the category of American is an option to be selected.  Is this division amongst us perpetrated by our very own government?  It is obvious that the inspiration for the classification of African American has nothing to do with those born of African descent.  It is a radical group of Black Americans who hold to the anti-American views of those shared by Jeremiah Wright, Professor Gates, Jesse Jackson, President Obama and many others who came out of the radical Civil Rights Movement.

The people she mentioned have all capitalized on division and “group” identity. It is the continual battle between the collective versus the individual.
It is such a pleasure to read articles by people like Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Walter Williams, Larry Elder, Star Parker, Michael Steele and many others…. including Mary Baker, who concludes with:

I hope that I will find others like me who are willing to break ties with the things that divide us, and embrace the timeless principles that have made this country the greatest nation on earth. That is why, when the next U.S. Census occurs, I will be making a new category just for me, the classification of being an American.

I believe that for America to get back on a real conservative track it will be black Americans who will help that movement, by understanding what the authors listed above believe and begin calling themselves Americans.

H/T American Power

Andrew Klavan: For many years, there’s been one group in the American melting pot that has consistently underperformed in terms of productivity, intelligence and moral behavior.

We’re speaking, of course, about celebrities.

via Smitty at The Other McCain

People like this are going to save our nation from the madness taking place in Washington DC.

From Afrocity’s blog Autographed Letter via HipHopRepublicans:

In November it will be a year since the election of 2008. The election that gave America its first president of color. It does however, come as something of a surprise that I would have to make a video asking Barack Obama to bring an end to the “post-racism”.  There are more crucial issues for Americans today than our wasting precious time on false claims of racial frustration.

From her website: A Mostly Center-Right Place for Those With Irritable Obama Syndrome and Diversity Fatigue.

You can read about her here.

In the constant stream of hypocrisy, can you imagine if a Republican ever described a black man as “This Black Boy?” Political Correctness only applies to non-Liberals.

via Gateway Pundit.

The Lamentations of the Elite [Victor Davis Hanson]

Van Jones in his final communiqué says, “On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.” I have not watched the now supposedly infamous Beck exposures, but I am curious what exactly constitutes a “vicious smear campaign.” Did Jones or did not Jones in public and in interviews compare the president of the United States to a crack-cocaine addict, assert that white people are polluting the ghetto, that only white students commit mass murders in the public schools, that Republicans are a**holes, and sign a petition calling for an investigation of the Bush administration’s purported role in causing 9/11?

» Read the rest of this entry «

I love Walter Williams. He always has a clear and rational way of explaining serious issues:”

President Barack Obama won an unprecedented 96 percent of the black vote. That’s not much of a news story since blacks typically give their votes to the Democratic candidate. Blacks are probably the most politically loyal people in the nation and it is almost taken as gospel, at least among civil rights organizations and black and white liberals, that the only way black people can make socioeconomic progress is through the politics of race and special government programs. However, such a vision can be subjected to empirical evidence.

In 1940, when blacks were politically impotent, their poverty rate was 87 percent. By 1960, before blacks achieved much political power, it fell to 47 percent. During that interval, in various skilled trades, the incomes of blacks relative to whites more than doubled. Before 1960, there were no anti-poverty programs or affirmative action programs that can explain an economic advance that exceeded any other 20-year interval, though there were Truman and Eisenhower administration attacks on some of the gross forms of racial discrimination. A significant chunk of black progress occurred simply through migration from rural areas in the South to big Northern cities. Between 1960 and 1980, black poverty fell roughly 17 percent and continued falling to today’s 24 percent. The decline in black poverty between 1960 and 1980 might have simply been a continuation of a trend starting much earlier and cannot be attributed solely to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, President Johnson’s War on Poverty, or Richard Nixon’s affirmative action.

» Read the rest of this entry «