Hennessy's View

Seth Godin’s daily blogs are amazingly timely.

Today Seth talked about having someone’s back.  He explained that the time we need to feel that someone has our back is when things are tough, not when they’re going well.

No, if you want her to go all in, if you want her to take the risk and brave the fear, then it sure helps if you’re there too, no matter what. There’s a cost to that, a pain and risk that comes from that sort of trust. After all, it might not work. Failure (or worse! embarrassment) might ensue. That’s precisely why it’s worth so much. Because it’s difficult and scarce.

If you’re wondering why so many tea partiers responded so forcefully to the left’s cynical and exploitive attempt to politicize the Tucson tragedy, this is why: we’ve got each other’s backs.

Whether I like it or not, there are people—good people—who are Tea Partiers because I opened my mouth.  That’s not to say I’m some sort of hero.  It’s to say that I incurred an obligation to those who followed my lead.

When cretins in the media libel good men and women whose only crime is showing up at events I helped organized, I get really, really unhappy.  When a county sheriff who neglected his duties for years blames me for a horrendous crime perpetrated on his watch, I respond. I know no other way.

That’s why we preempted the NAACP’s vile bigotry. That’s why we relentlessly attack the left’s stream of bile over Tucson.

It’s not because we’re particularly brave or heroic, but because we seem to have an inherent understanding of duty.  Speaking for myself, it’s how I was raised. It’s what the Navy and Dominican Sisters taught me, reinforcing lessons from home.  I only wish that I were as loyal and fearless as my friends.  I’m not.

I suspect that our motives won’t make sense to leftists. I’m not sure progressives have the capacity to understand sacrifice for others.

To contrast that tiny cadre of progressives with our side, I’ll let you in on a little secret: some tea partiers who don’t like me.  Some of us on the right don’t get along.  Some of us like each other but don’t work well together.  And yet . . .

And yet, when the chips are down, when our “movement” faces its greatest challenges, when we have every opportunity and reason to save ourselves and forget our comrades, we seems to rise to the occasion. In crisis, conservatives lift their game, and liberals descend into the abyss.

I know others have my back . . . I don’t even have to look.

The vast majority of Americans now see the left’s callous exploitation for what it was. So do some honest liberals, like Jon Stewart.

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When the NAACP’s Ben Jealous fired a reckless volley at the Tea Party, he missed his marked and struck an innocent woman.

One week ago tonight, the news cycle was alive with the excitement of a heavyweight fight.  The NAACP’s Ben Jealous needed to raise money and restore a sagging membership. He decided to pick a fight with the Tea Party. 

On Monday, the NAACP leaked a resolution to the Kansas City Star that stated:

The resolution . . . calls upon “all people of good will to repudiate the racism of the Tea Parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era. [emphasis added]”

By painting as ‘racist’ the 20 million people who have attended a Tea Party event, the NAACP forced the hand of Tea Party organizers. That response came from the St. Louis Tea Party with a resolution condeming the NAACP for lowering itself into the gutter.

The fight continued into the Sunday talk shows.  The NAACP backtracked, softened its resolution, and softened its rhetoric in the wake of criticism.  At times, Ben Jealous even tried to claim he’d never said what he’d said.

Then on Monday, video emerged of a USDA bureaucrat, Shirley Sherrod, addressing an NAACP meeting. In the video, Sherrod talked about withholding information and assistance from farmer because the farmer was white. The audience approved.  The woman was forced to resign under pressure from the White House. The NAACP denounced Sherrod’s blatant racism.

But that was only half the story.

If anyone had bothered to watch the whole tape (over 40 minutes long), they’d have learned Sherrod’s story was a story of redemption.

Shirley ended up going above and beyond to help the farmer save his farm.  She got over his whiteness and helped his humanity. Though she tells her story in subtle tones, it is a rich story of transformation.

Starting fights is easy.  I’ve done it myself. But the consequences are often far worse than intended. The suffering rarely limits itself to the combatants. There’s always collateral damage. 

Perhaps the best thing to come from Ben Jealous’s recklessness was  not a discussion of race, which I believe we have too many of. The lesson here is: be very careful before throwing the first stone, because you have no idea who it will strike.

I said nasty things about Shirley Sherrod yesterday online. I hope no one read them, but I know that’s a false hope. I am sorry.  I should have waited for all of the facts, but I did not.  Shame on me.

Take an hour and listen.  You may not agree with everything Shirley says. That’s okay. But I don’t think you’ll be able to avoid the conclusion that is a good woman trying to do the Lord’s work the best she can with the life she’s given. That’s about as American as you get.

UPDATE:  Or maybe not. Dan Riehl thinks I’m being a softy. Is she a Marxist and an unrepentant racist? I’ve been too willing to see the best in people before.

Dana Loesch has more. She points out that Sherrod calls out the NAACP for starting a fight where none was needed. But also points out that the “post-racial” Obama has intentionally fomented racial mistrust that has fostered this nasty environment. 

Darin Morley: “Fifty years ago we were segregated by law. Today, we’re segregated by our own choices.”

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Between a touch of the flu and the flurry of activity over this very issue, I missed the best, most direct breakdown of Ben Jealous’s misguided and hypocritical attack on the Tea Party.  Read this column by Michael Graham on BostonHerald.com dated Thursday, July 15.

Money quote:

When you’re looking for bigots at a Tea Party rally, they’re on the fringe. When you’re looking for them at the NAACP, they’re on stage.

Ouch.

When we find bigots, even on the fringe, at a St. Louis event, we drive them out. And we don’t hide the fact that they were there.

At the April 15 Tea Party in Clayton, MO, Adam Sharp and several others drove from the park a guy wearing Nazi crap. They did it by standing next to him with a sign that read “Fake Tea Partier” while Sharp verbally challenged him.  Lee Fang, a “researcher” with American Progress with a history of shredding the truth, has doctored Sharp’s great video (without legal permission). Here’s what actually happened.

Perhaps if the NAACP treated the racists and anti-Semites in their midst the way the Tea Party does, Mr. Jealous wouldn’t be so busy back-peddling from his hypocritical lies today.

By “racists” and “anti-Semites,” I mean Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton, to name only a few.  As Mr. Graham pointed out, “This is the leadership of the NAACP, not some lone kook in a vast crowd.”

Now that the President and Joe Biden have admitted that the Tea Party is not a racist movement, it seems Mr. Jealous and the NAACP are all alone, twisting in the wind.

Mr. Jealous seemed to want us to admit we’re intolerant?  We are.  We don’t tolerate racism. Period.

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Sometimes it is personal.

Beginning with a simple blog post in February 2009, the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition has attracted over 40,000 people to dozens of events and online crusades.  The vast majority of these folks represent America’s highest ideals in character and citizenship.  We are educated, polite, and patriotic.  We are stand-up people who fix our own problems and earn our own livings.  We are not perfect, of course, but we understand that no one else can live our lives for us.

When we announced those events and asked people to show up, I don’t think any of us considered the responsibility we were taking on.  But we were.  We were asking strangers to take a risk, to take a stand. That invitation carried an implied promise of reciprocity: if you stand with us, we’ll stand by you.

Then, on Monday, we heard the cruel lies and invectives hurled by Ben Jealous and other NAACP representatives. Their attacks were aimed at the women and men who answered our invitations.  People of good character and reputation were being labeled racists simply because they deigned to say, “enough” to the the government we, the people, created.

We could not let the NAACP’s baseless accusations stand. We did not want this confrontation, but we will not be silenced.

I emailed our resolution to the NAACP’s headquarters at midnight on Tuesday and went to bed.  I set the alarm for 5:00 and prayed. In the morning, I got out of bed and prayed again. I posted the resolution on stlouisteaparty.com.  I wrote my thoughts on this blog, and I headed to work, praying all the way.  See, you’re never really sure, in a situation like this, how it’s going to work out. You do what you think is right and prepare for whatever comes your way.

Since Tuesday, my prayers have been answered repeatedly.  Besides the support from big names like Sarah Palin and Andrew Breitbart, we’ve received dozens of emails:

My tea party admires yours, for your courage, and would like to adopt/ sponsor/support your resolution, by posting it on our website at www.ncteapartyrevolution.com as well as our facebook group.

From Texas:

THANK YOU for condemning the NAACP for their revolting and hypocritical insults of Tea Partiers everywhere.

I live in a small city in West Texas, where our Tea Party generally preaches to a like-minded choir. But I know I speak for every conservative in West Texas when I say thank you again, for having the courage to speak frankly.

Massachusetts

Congratulation on your resolution condemning the NAACP. We are standing by your side on this issue. May we use your resolution as a template for our own resolution here in MA?

Colorado

As the chairperson of the Elbert County Tea Party I am going on record, and per the request by the St. Louis Tea Party for us to join with them, in condemning and exposing the totally illogical and dishonest nature of the NAACP’s actions.  In the end they discredit themselves and harm their mission much more that they do ours, but we must have the courage and the willingness to stand up and call dishonesty exactly what it is, DISHONEST!

And dozens of others around the country. Plus, Jesse Jackson stepped away from the NAACP accusations, Dave Weigel said the NAACP’s stunt backfired, and former NAACP chapter president defended the Tea Party.

When you do the right thing, good people will stand up for you.

How much more personal can you get?

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The NAACP has decided that it’s worth time to call 20 million American patriots “racists” for advancing liberty and economic opportunity. 

At midnight, the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition sent a resolution condemning the NAACP’s bigotry and hatred to its Washington bureau.

The Tea Party’s principles are simple and clear:

• Smaller federal government
• Lower taxes
• Fiscal responsibility
• National defense
• Federalism

Those are precisely the tools to lift all Americans out of poverty. They’ve worked every time they’ve been tried.  In America, we just haven’t tried them in awhile, due in large part to the NAACP’s advancement of socialism.

Each of these First Principles protects the rights of every American—the rights inherent in our humanity, not phony “rights” invented by a bureaucrat.  We stand for rights given by God that no man, no government, can justifiably deny or diminish.  Our principles are the very same principles that the NAACP stood for in 1909 but has wandered away from since the 1970s.

When you look at the crime and poverty and family breakdown of the African-American community, where median household income is below that of illegal aliens, you see a half-century of failure by the NAACP. When you consider that the NAACP blocks every effort to educate the poor through school vouchers, you realize that the NAACP is all about power for a few, not opportunity for everyone. When you see that the NAACP refuses to condemn New Black Panther Party calls to murder police officers and babies, you understand how far that organization has fallen.

None of those persistent problems was caused by the tea party movement, yet the principles of the tea party are exactly what’s needed to wind down the multi-generational destruction in the African-American community.  As I have said repeatedly, we measure compassion by the number of people lifted out of poverty, not the number who remain trapped. We promote hope and achievement through liberty, safety, and pursuit of happiness.  That’s all we want.

The NAACP was once a vital weapon in the war against segregation and oppression. All that’s left is abigoted and malicious shell that does far more harm than good for people who need a break. 

The NAACP should give reason and decency a break by withdrawing its false and defamatory attack on the tea party movement.

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