The following is a response to charges of racism at Tea Parties. I hope that you will consider using it. Thank you
In response to the mainstream media outlets that are trying to discredit the Tea Party Movement as racist, I feel that it is imperative that the truth be presented by one who’s been there.
First of all let me say that I am a conservative African American and a Veteran. I have not only attended several Tea Parties, but I organized the Tea Party event in Fort Wayne, Indiana in April of 2009! The event turned out to be well attended. Our keynote speaker was also African American; former presidential candidate, Dr. Alan Keyes. I also recently was a speaker at the Indianapolis, Indiana 2010 Tea Party, and I was the Keynote speaker in Wabash, Indiana.
I am outraged at the biased coverage of these events. The racist accusations against the Tea Party movement are false and do not portray the truth about a movement which is waking up Americans to the principles that founded this great nation. Every day a new charge is made, and the major media outlets refuse to allow someone like me refute these allegations and defend the Tea Party, and those that attend the rallies.
I challenge the media to allow an African American conservative patriot to evaluate the Tea Party movement based on experience. I also accept the offer to be that person, because I would like to share the truth about them from my first hand experiences.
I have attended dozens of these events, and have been featured as a speaker at several of them. I have also served on several U.S. Senate candidate panels, and was the moderator at a Senate and Congressional debate. I have also been asked to serve as a speaker at Town Hall Meetings. It has been wonderful to meet and to talk to those that attend. These are folk that love their country, share a deep respect for our Constitution and those that serve in our nation’s Armed Forces. It is a movement that unites everyone, regardless of race, based on those beliefs.
I have never encountered any racism at any of the events that I have attended throughout Indiana or in other states. Even after being the only Black person at a Tea Party in an Indiana town that has a very racial history in the past. The people there were friendly, and allowed me to ask questions, and to speak to them.
I have also attended rallies in the nation’s capital, and these have also been with out any incident.
I cannot sit by and allow a movement such as this to receive unwarranted negative publicity.
The movement is driving true patriotic Americans back to our founding principles and recreating a love for our Constitution. It does this across racial and cultural barriers. The Tea Party movement is bringing us together to stand up for a common cause; that of restoring the traditional values which encompass all people who call themselves Americans. Perhaps unity is what is what the naysayers really fear and the race card is always a handy tool to divide the people.
FREEDOM and LIBERTY (Use Them Or Loose Them)
Emery McClendon / KB9IBW
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