[TheMercenary]

GEVERYL ROBINSON Nails it again:

Robinson: NAACP shouldn't drink tea

Can someone please explain to me why the NAACP is taking on racism within the Tea Party movement when, according to reports from the Labor Department, the unemployment rate for black youth stands at 50.4 percent?

In addition, the national unemployment rate for blacks is a whopping 17.2 percent and the rates in five states exceed 20 percent, which is a 25-year high, yet the NAACP wishes to focus its attention on Tea Party billboards and the like.

The NAACP is supposed to be an organization whose mission is the advancement of "colored" people. However, recently it seems the only thing the NAACP is advancing is its time on the airwaves.

Do I think the Tea Party leaders need to publicly disavow the racist comments, signs and billboards that appear at some of their rallies? YES! However, I don't believe this is a cause that needs to be championed by the NAACP because there are more important issues at hand.

For example: According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, "fewer than 14 in 100 young black men actually have jobs." If the NAACP is truly devoted to the advancement of colored people, then why aren't they holding press conferences about the skyrocketing unemployment rates within the black community?

Why are there no forums or "Get Black to Work" campaigns being organized?

Any public denouncement of racism in the Tea Party movement by Tea Party leaders will more than likely be for public relations reasons and nothing more.

If the leaders were truly disturbed, concerned or disagreed with the antics of those within their ranks who have racist attitudes, they would speak out against such actions without the prompting of others.

As someone who has attended more than one Tea Party rally (I was curious, and although curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back), I can honestly say that there were a few wackos at one of the rallies I attended. But the other rallies were civil. The people I met did not seem to be racists, just mad at the government (and not Obama in particular).

I wanted to go to a few Tea Party rallies to get my own opinion about the organization. I didn't want to base my views on what I saw and heard in the media.

However, the billboard in Iowa sponsored by the North Iowa Tea Party comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin was despicable.

I understand that the overall message was to point out the socialist views shared by the three. But whoever thought putting a billboard of the president sandwiched between Lenin and Hitler was a good idea needs to have his or her head examined. The message was definitely lost in the visuals. The advertisement was disrespectful and racist as well.

Having said that, the NAACP needs to regain its focus and direct its attention to the immediate and dire needs of the community(s), which they aim to serve.

Otherwise they run the risk of becoming as useless and ineffective as the Hitler, Obama, and Lenin billboard in Iowa.

I understand their grievances with the Tea Party movement. But right now, the NAACP shouldn't drink tea until they have gotten to the meat of the real issues that plague the people they serve.

http://savannahnow.com/column/2010-0...ldnt-drink-tea