July 26, 2010
Presumption’s Power: Open Letter to the NAACP Leadership
By: Gary H. Johnson, Jr., Senior Advisor for International Security Affairs at The Victory Institute
On July 13, 2010 the NAACP delegates to the 101st Annual Convention held in Kansas City, Missouri unanimously passed a Tea Party Amendment, asking the Tea Party to censure racism and hate within its ranks. Referring to the Tea Party, President and CEO of the NAACP Benjamin Todd Jealous, remarked “The time has come for them to accept the responsibility that comes with influence and make clear there is no place for racism & anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry in their movement.” In light of this charge, the recent media focus on the New Black Panther Party prompted many conservatives to criticize the NAACP leadership for treating the New Black Panther Party with kid gloves.
Ben Jealous, then, in a July 16 editorial entitled “Why We Passed Our Tea Party Resolution” originally posted at CNN.com, argued that the Tea Party demands for an NAACP denouncement of racist statements of the New Black Panther Party were a “tit for tat” and a “false argument” and the organization of Malik Zulu Shabazz amounted to “a mere flea” in comparison to the “influence and size of the Tea Party.” Jealous then noted the fact that the 101st Annual Convention was held in Missouri, the home state of the Council of Conservative Citizens, branding the organization as a descendant of the White Citizens Council, stating that “Their fealty to racism is not obscured.” Further connections and references were made to Stormfront.org and other KKK and White Power linked organizations by Ben Jealous, linking the activities of these organizations with the Tea Party via Presumption.
"The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor," Nathaniel Currier, 1846
One may have little luck finding the actual text of the Tea Party Amendment/Resolution; however, in perusing the NAACP website, one finds that the final text of the document will be revealed in October 2010.
Ben Jealous’ decision to link KKK and other White Power organizations to the Tea Party has allowed a conversation to develop that has led to the awakening of America to the fact that the Tea Party Movement’s “self-appointed” leadership does indeed police its spokesmen whenever racism or hate becomes apparent in its loose ranks as the case of Mark Williams proves.
However, what is certain is that the Tea Party is not a Party…it is a movement. This movement is to a large extent an umbrella of concerned grassroots advocates of a number of different agendas, some which mesh on core issues, and others which hold fringe values. There is no official thing such as a Tea Party. The leadership that exists, such as the Tea Party Express are more or less organized prefab vehicles for updates and support established by concerned citizens with the wherewithal and knowhow to put together an information campaign. In this, the NAACP’s decision to hone in on the Tea Party’s “membership” is puzzling. One could understand the NAACP focusing its rhetoric and amendments directly toward the KKK or neo-Nazis or White Power advocate groups; however, to lump these groups in with the Tea Party could be construed as “Profiling.”
Having placed the discussion in these terms, the province of this letter, the comparison of intent and purpose may, perhaps, be best put forward with a focus on the Missouri group, Council of Conservative Citizens. Like the New Black Panther Party, the CofCC has a platform, or a statement of principles, which can be considered troubling.
The “Statement of Principles” was written by Sam Francis just before he died in 2005 and adopted without alteration by the group as a tribute to all he had done in his life to advance the cause of “Conservatives”. However, upon inspection, the document is racially charged.
In 14 points, the CofCC beliefs outline a world view based on White Supremacy. Noting that the United States is a “Christian Country,” the beliefs state that “the United States is a European country.” This European slant of the beliefs describes the rationale for anti-immigration: “We therefore oppose the massive immigration of non-European and non-Western peoples into the United States that threatens to transform our nation into a non-European majority in our lifetime,” stating “illegal immigration must be stopped, if necessary by military force and placing troops on our national borders,” continuing “We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called ‘affirmative action’…to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of Southern people…”
The Council of Conservative Citizens’ statement of principles then goes on to list 12 more beliefs, including that the United States should reject “one-world state” threats to U.S. sovereignty through treaties and conventions that violate constitutional rights of Americans. The group believes in the proper balance of power among the three branches of the U.S. government, States’ Rights and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the sanctity of the family unit, private property and free enterprise. The Council of Conservative Citizens rejects ruinous taxation and welfare for legal and illegal immigrants. While focusing on racial integrity, the group also rejects the presence of homosexuals in the military, opposes continued U.S. entanglement with organizations like NATO and the U.N., promotes trade protectionism for U.S. businesses, supports the right of American parents to reject multicultural brainwashing, sexual education, and ‘Afrocentric’ curricula taught by the Federal Government in public schools, opposes the establishment of a national police force or a globalized law enforcement, and seeks to protect the environment and natural resources of the United States.
It is obvious from this program of beliefs that the Council of Conservative Citizens espouses a narrative which intends to protect and preserve White Dominance, White Supremacy and White Power from the advancement of colored peoples and cultures into the fabric of America. However, while its racism is not obscured, the statement of principles does not – in any way – conflate with the message of the Tea Party, main stream Conservative thought, or Republicans. The narrative of a “European-America” does not hold with the ideals of Liberty and Justice from the perspective of Reason; rather, it perpetuates and justifies a cycle of racial identity in the pursuit of a false notion of political and economic integrity.
The danger, though, for the NAACP membership and leadership is the acceptance of the rationale found in the Council of Conservative Citizens as the only logical basis from which the principles and aims espoused can be formulated. That is, the Council of Conservative Citizens’ statement of principles lays out the justification for its agenda, which in many ways has similar ends to that of the Tea Party and Conservative movements in America, that in many ways has similar goals as the Republican Party; however, conflating the similar ends and goals of the Council of Conservative Citizens with “Right wing” political thought in America is a massive mistake. In this, Ben Jealous and the NAACP may have allowed the power of presumption to open the door of contempt and accusation in the advancement of a knee-jerk countering, largely political, narrative of its own faulty reasoning.
I bring this to the attention of the NAACP as a friend, an American, and a patriot, that I might ask for its members help in achieving a remedy to the crossroads in which we, as the nation of Liberty, find ourselves at present. I do not seek to judge the actions of your organization; however, I would ask that each member of the NAACP search within to judge themselves in the light of Presumption’s Power to blind.
When discussing the Council of Conservative Citizens, Ben Jealous notes that the group’s racist intent and purpose is “not obscured.” In this, he is correct; but, if his purpose is to raise awareness or lessen racial tension in America, one must ask – is the New Black Panther Party’s racist intent and purpose “obscured” in any way?
On July 15, 2010, on the Hannity Show at Fox News, the fact that the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund were separate entities was clarified to the American people in an interview that sought to determine if any links existed or advocacy activity existed by the NAACP on behalf of the New Black Panther Party.
On July 17, in an open letter to the citizens of Newberry County, SC entitled “An Amulet for Aurea” I invited the good people of the community to reject, in a united voice, the predatory activity of the New Black Panther Party and its National Chairman and President, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Esq. The reason for my concern was due the New Black Panther Party’s “10 Point Platform” which unabashedly calls for a separate state, reparations, and the establishment of a militant black power liberation army here in the United States of America. Indeed, like the Council of Conservative Citizens, the New Black Panther Party is a racist identity group, espousing a false narrative. However, in addition to the racism, the New Black Panther Party narrative agitates for hate and militancy in the achievement of its cryptic definition of racial justice.
Under the rationale of a narrative which coins the entirety of the U.S. Government, military and justice system to be racist, while calling for an end to 400 years of oppression by white capitalists, the Ten Point Platform of the NBPP agitates for two specific realities: 1) a Black Liberation Army known as an “African United Front”; and 2) a separate Black Nation.
Point seven states “We believe we can end police brutality in our community by organizing Black self-defense groups (Black People’s Militias/Black Liberation Armies) that are dedicated to defending our Black Community from racist, fascist, police/military oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment of white America’s Constitution gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all Black People should unite and form an African United Front and arm ourselves for self-defense.”
Further, point ten lays out a clear political objective in which the NBPP declares “we want NATIONAL LIBERATION in a separate state or territory of our own, here or elsewhere, a liberated zone (New Africa or Africa), and a plebiscite to be held throughout the BLACK NATION in which only we will be allowed to participate for the purposes of determining our will and DIVINE destiny as a people.”
I invite members of the NAACP & the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund to consider the naked racism and visceral hate evident in the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense platform. I further urge the entire leadership and legal defense team of the NAACP to disavow any common cause with the New Black Panther Party and to specifically, publicly, reject the militant group’s intent and purpose, defining for the record the fact that the New Black Panther Party led by Malik Zulu Shabazz is nothing less than an Anti-American Hate Group. For the NAACP to refuse to call out, shout down and condemn the New Black Panther Party, an organization whose racism and hate are not obscured, could only be the result of an ingenuous leadership intent on whitewashing the group’s platform due to the prejudices of the NAACP, which find a vocal mouthpiece in the NBPP.
When placed side by side, the advocacy of the Council of Conservative Citizens and the activism of the New Black Panther Party are distinctly different vehicles. In essence, the Council of Conservative Citizens is a group which advocates for protectionism of European descendants here in America in the guise of many key platform planks of Conservative America. In essence, the New Black Panther Party is an activist group calling for the rise of militant black liberation. Both groups hold views which are based on misguided and poorly formed narratives. However, while the Council of Conservative Citizens may be construed as a racist group, the New Black Panther Party can be seen as nothing less than a hate group.
The Council of Conservative Citizens and the New Black Panther Party both hold versions of history with built in prejudice and bias which distorts and twists member activity. For instance, the New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz claims that the Tea Party and the Republican Party are trying to “take America back” from a Black President. In truth, the ideology of progressivism that President Barack Obama embodies with every appeasement of foreign dictators and every act of liberal fascism through executive order, judicial appointment and congressional angling is what the Tea Party movement and Republican Party members seek to overthrow through a citizen awareness campaign that leads to a ballot box victory for Liberty and Justice.
What is unclear is whether the NAACP holds the same view of the “Take America Back” movements as the NBPP. The presumption of Malik Zulu Shabazz – that the White Man is an oppressor and inherently racist – has lead to his public national accusations that the Tea Party and Republican Party are racist in their intent of removing Barack Obama from the White House in 2012 and unseating the Democrat Party from majority power in 2010 and 2012.
Does the NAACP hold that FOX News, the Tea Party movement, the Conservative movement, and the Republican Party are inherently racist organizations as a presumption? Does the NAACP leadership hold the capacity to publicly differentiate between the Council of Conservative Citizens and the Tea Party? Does the NAACP leadership feel that the movement against the Barack Obama machine in DC is based on ideology or racism? Is it possible, in the opinions of the NAACP leadership, for Conservatives and Capitalists to hold reasons beyond race, based on fact and principle, which lead to a push for tighter border security and sovereignty maintenance, for smaller government and less bureaucratic control, or for private health care and for lower taxes? Is it possible to call for these without being labeled a racist or an uncle tom in the eyes of the NAACP leadership? Is it possible that racial blinders, political prejudice and the presumptions on the part of the NAACP leadership are the reason that the Tea Party Resolution was passed on July 13?
The Power of Presumption is its natural affinity for accusation. To accuse capitalism and the drive for lower taxes and secure borders, to accuse the Tea Party, to accuse Conservatives, to accuse the Republican Party, to accuse FOX News punditry of holding values rooted in racism and consistent with racism is precisely what Ben Jealous and the 101st NAACP Convention has participated in by conflating the Council of Conservative Citizens with the Tea Party during its 2000 delegate vote on a Tea Party Resolution in Missouri. The Power of Presumption is in its ability to incite a false sense of Righteous Accusation.
This Righteous Accusation mentality resulted in the recent resignation of Shirley Sherrod. The ingenuous nature of the NAACP shows its true colors in the “influence” of the small group on American politics. Bound by presumptions that FOX News would twist the words of the USDA bureaucrat, Shirley Sherrod, the NAACP leadership, particularly Ben Jealous, issued a statement to the press denouncing the message of Mrs. Sherrod which led to Tom Vilsack’s immediate request for her resignation, without any regard of the facts or the context of the statements. In this light, for the NAACP to worry over the “influence” of white voters in the coming elections and outcomes of political wrangling disregards the fact that every desire of the Tea Party, Fox News and the Republican Party has had zero “influence” in shaping American policy since the earnest beginning of the grassroots movement in 2009, while all the NAACP needs do is voice an accusation to cause a chain of knee-jerk reactions in the activity of the U.S. government. With one accusation, a woman, who believes FOX News to be a racist media outlet by her own actions and admissions, was publicly sacrificed on the bonfires of racism, providing President Barack Obama an opportunity to rise and act as moderator and healer, while allowing the presumptive Sherrod invective against FOX News to gain legitimacy and air time.
In full, the NAACP appears to be operating on the narrative of black liberation, which holds the White Man and Woman of today responsible for the white supremacy of their forefathers. This is the perception that America is witness to, today. In this, Ben Jealous, the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund are operating under the impulse power of presumption, advancing the narrative of black liberation, attempting to pretend away the militant strands of black liberation theology, all, while painting the entirety of the conservative movements in America, that reject the enslaving power of socialist and collectivist government control, with the unforgiving brush of racism in order to defend a Democrat Presidency that is chaired by a black man. The fact that the black man in the White House is the most radical liberal fascist the planet has witnessed since the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin or Mao is an inconvenient reality, apparently, to the holy fact that a black man has risen to lead America.
In this, the power of presumption has blinded the NAACP; it has blinded the white-guilt ridden, Chomsky-touting Alinskyites and anarcho-communists of America…and has blinded the fringe Democrat journolists.
Reason is nowhere in the dialogue. All is accusation and manufactured race baiting.
I for one refuse to pay for the sins of my forefathers. To demand that I pay reparations is irrational and propagates evil with evil. On the other hand, we could all learn from the past as a United country, without malice, without false narratives, with only love in our hearts, and the promise of opportunity as our commonwealth of heritage – as Americans. This future is possible. However, it begins with the NAACP laying down the collective cross of presumption and picking up the individual cross of Liberty. We are, at present, driving down a dangerous path…from presumption to accusation to punishment. The aim of presumption and accusation, from the perspective of the self-styled victim, is to target a race or a class, wholesale, for methodical punishment. The New Black Panther Party has moved from presumption to accusation and is now seeking punishment. The NAACP has moved from presumption to accusation. The road back to reason, for the NAACP, starts with the condemnation of the New Black Panther Party and its leader Malik Zulu Shabazz as a racist and hatemonger. All other roads lead to Punishment…though the road signs will read “social justice” along the way.
