Tea Party Leaders Urged to Reject Extremism, Attacks on Workers' Rights

Leaders from the NAACP, CWA, religious organizations, and other members of the One Nation coalition have urged Tea Party leaders to repudiate and condemn individuals and groups who are using the movement to spread their own messages of hate and extremism.

A new NAACP report, “Tea Party Nationalism,” exposed troubling connections that white supremacist, anti-immigrant, birther, and other hate groups are making with Tea Party organizations. The report was prepared by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.

On a teleconference to release the report, CWA President Larry Cohen said Tea Party extremists are pushing an agenda that is hateful to workers and workers’ rights. “Using language that makes their views seem acceptable, they want us to return to the worst part of a 19th century culture and business code that favored white supremacy and glorified the suppression of workers’ rights.”

“Whether it’s racism, or a hatred of workers’ rights and unions, such views are totally unacceptable and must be repudiated. Such extreme views are not shared by most Americans, including CWA members, who may be attracted to the Tea Party based on belief that government is too big, but who do not condone racism or union busting.”

The report was issued following another call by the NAACP that the Tea Party repudiate racist elements within the movement. The report identified one such extremist, Karen Pack of the Wood County (Texas) Tea Party, as an official supporter of Thom Robb’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. This summer, thanks to action by the NAACP, Mark Williams, the former leader of the Tea Party Express, was forced to step down after making racist remarks.

The report is available at www.teapartynationalism.com.