Recent racist attacks against Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson have been met with utter silence from black civil rights organizations nationwide, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Contacted for comment by The Daily Wire, the NAACP refused.
At a recent campaign stop in Harlem, insults and invectives were thrown at the presidential candidate, with protesters invoking everything from slavery to the Jim Crow South. Hecklers accosted the candidate, shouting “Uncle Tom” and calling Dr. Carson a “traitor to his race.”
When The Daily Wire asked the NAACP to comment on or even condemn these racial epithets, the self-proclaimed civil rights organization refused to do so. “We are a non-partisan organization,” tersely stated an NAACP representative via telephone.
When asked again whether the NAACP will consider releasing a statement condemning the vitriol and racism directed against Dr. Carson, the representative stated that they have no “intention” of doing so.
The NAACP representative then quickly ended the conversation with the phrase, “We have no comment.” When asked again whether the NAACP will consider releasing a statement condemning the vitriol and racism directed against Dr. Carson, the representative stated that they have no “intention” of doing so. Instead, the organization insisted that the NAACP has not “endorsed” any candidate, as if political endorsements are a pre-requisite for condemning racism.
After that conversation came to an abrupt close, The Daily Wire attempted to contact the NAACP again. The phone call disconnected immediately.
It would be one thing if the NAACP invariably refused to engage with political candidates or public figures altogether. However, that does not appear to be in the case. According to the NAACP’s own website, the organization spearheads a civic engagement project that “along with [about] a half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States, are frontline advocates committed to raising awareness for political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens in the electoral process.”
Raising awareness about the racist attacks against the candidate would appear to qualify as part of the NAACP’s civic engagement protocol. But alas, it apparently does not.
The NAACP does have a history of condemning what they perceive to be racist statements against particular politicians, so long as those politicians are not conservative. For example, in 2010, the NAACP went out of its “non-partisan” way to pass a resolution condemning “extremist elements with the Tea Party,” specifically citing unverified racist treatment of Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) at the hands of Tea Partiers. The full text of the statement is available here.
“The resolution came after a year of high-profile media coverage of attendees of Tea Party marches using vile, antagonistic racial slurs & images,” stated the NAACP. The NAACP’s hypocrisy here is underscored by the fact that some of the very same language the NAACP condemned when allegedly directed at Democrats has now been ignored when it is directed at Carson. According to the NAACP, “…NAACP delegates passed a resolution to condemn extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches.” No such statement of repudiation exists about the remarks of protestors in Harlem or the myriad of other instances of crude racial bigotry directed against Carson.
On March 23, 2013, The Daily Kos published an article entitled, “Dear Ben Carson, When A Person Has to Deny Being an Uncle Tom, It Usually Means They Are One.” The article began with the phrase, Ben Carson, the Tea Party GOP Mandingo.” The hyperlink The Daily Kos provides tracing the online history of “GOP Mandingo” is connected to a fringe website that appears to spew conspiracy theories. “The NY Times’ flattering profile of the very professionally accomplished Dr. Ben Carson is part of a concerted effort to make a compelling news story out of the Republican Party’s search for a viable black presidential candidate,” writes “Essayist and Cultural” Critic Chauncey DeVega, a contributing writer for the liberal sites Salon and Alternet.
The NAACP’s deafening silence demonstrates once again that the organization is happy to condone racism, so long as the victims are conservative.