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NH Tea Party Members Celebrate White Pride Day at New Hampshire State House

by: Zandra Rice Hawkins

Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 16:27:32 PM EDT
UPDATE (Dean): Or not:
Turns out, it wasn't the Tea Party. The small rally was organized by the Massachusetts-based white supremacist group North East White Pride.

"The Citizens Alliance seems like they were in error," said former Democratic Party chairwoman Kathleen Sullivan, who had called on local Tea Party-affiliated candidates to denounce the rally.

END UPDATE.

Shouting down the health care reform vote that will benefit working class families and small businesses all across the country isn't the only teabagger activity of choice today. Here in New Hampshire, people passing by the State House earlier today were treated to the "Don't Tread on Me Flag" flag flying proudly beside a "White Pride" banner.

While I won't bother to link to this racist material here, I did a quick search and it is, indeed, White Pride Day. Given the activities in DC over the weekend, how fitting that members of the group in New Hampshire should expose some of the real basis for their opposition to our country's leadership.

Staffers from NH Citizens Alliance caught this story today when they looked out their office window and saw the signs on display. Director Sarah Chaisson Warner issued an immediate rebuke, calling the behavior "disturbing" and "unpatriotic". She also stated:

"The elected officials and candidates in New Hampshire who have frequently spoken at Tea Party events and curried favor with them should quickly condemn this growing and disrespectful behavior before more damage is done."

Full release below the fold.  
Zandra Rice Hawkins :: NH Tea Party Members Celebrate White Pride Day at New Hampshire State House
For Immediate Release: Sunday, March 21, 2010
Contact: Sarah Chaisson Warner, 603-225-2097

NH Tea Party Members Celebrate White Pride Day at New Hampshire State House

Actions in New Hampshire follow national pattern of the disrespectful, racist and homophobic behavior that has characterized Tea Party activities

Concord, New Hampshire - Members of the New Hampshire Tea Party celebrated White Pride today in front of the New Hampshire State House by waving yellow tea party flags alongside "White Pride" flags and signs with the message "Diversity is the New Racism".

The activities locally mirror the national display of disrespectful, racist and homophobic behavior that has characterized Tea Party activities over the last several days. Salon.com's Joan Walsh broke down this weekend's incredible display of Tea Party behavior:

• Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis was taunted by tea partiers who chanted "nigger" at least 15 times, according to the Associated Press (we are not cleaning up language and using "the N-word" here because it's really important to understand what was said.) First reported on The Hill blog (no hotbed of left-wing fervor), the stories of Lewis being called "nigger" were confirmed by Lewis spokeswoman Brenda Jones and Democratic Rep. Andre Carson, who was walking with Lewis. "It was like going into the time machine with John Lewis," said Carson, a former police officer. "He said it reminded him of another time."

• Another Congressional Black Caucus leader, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, was spat upon by protesters. The culprit was arrested, but Cleaver declined to press charges.

• House Majority Whip James Clybourn told reporters: "I heard people saying things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try to get off the back of the bus."

• There were many reports that Rep. Barney Frank was called a "faggot" by protesters, but the one I saw personally was by CNN's Dana Bash, who seemed rattled by the tea party fury. Frank told AP: "It's a mob mentality that doesn't work politically."

• Meanwhile, a brick came through the window at Rep. Louise Slaughter's Niagara Falls office on Saturday (the day she argued for her "Slaughter solution" to pass health care reform, though it was rejected by other Democrats on the House Rules Committee). [Salon.com, 3/20/2009]

NH Citizens Alliance (NHCA) has worked for several years to confront racism locally. NHCA has also been a leader in the push for comprehensive health care reform, leading the NH Health Care for America Now coalition for the last two years and hosting regular health care reform meetings and actions for several years. NHCA director Sarah Chaisson Warner caught the Tea Party White Pride activities today while in her office preparing for today's federal health care reform vote. She has strong words for NH Tea Party members:

"The behavior of the Tea Party members is disturbing and unpatriotic," said Sarah Chaisson Warner, director of NH Citizens Alliance. "Racist and homophobic slurs do nothing to advance civil, public discourse and instead expose that the reaction to the elected officials and policies that the majority of Americans support is not based in opposition to the direction of the country but is directed instead by the deep-seated biases of the Tea Party leaders. This behavior should be exposed and the true motivations of the Tea Party movement should be examined further by the press and public."

"The elected officials and candidates in New Hampshire who have frequently spoken at Tea Party events and curried favor with them should quickly condemn this growing and disrespectful behavior before more damage is done," Chaisson Warner added.

This is not the first time tea party members have shown their racist behavior in New Hampshire. During President Barack Obama's visit to New Hampshire in August 2009, tea partiers shouted inflammatory statements and carried signs depicting the President as a 'witch doctor' (picture available upon request), among other things.

###

So how about Charlie Bass, Kelly Ayotte, Frank Guinta, others ... do you also support this behavior?
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NH Tea Party Members Celebrate White Pride Day at New Hampshire State House | 28 comments
did someone (0.00 / 1)
get pictures, Zandra?

member of the professional left  
There were a couple (0.00 / 1)
but unfortunately, they were taken from a camera phone and are too grainy to be of much use.

The photo-taker, understandably, was nervous to get too close.

Zandra Rice Hawkins (Granite State Progress)

[ Parent ]
Charlie? Hello Charlie?... (0.00 / 1)


Have you written a letter to the editor today? Have you donated today? Have you put up signs? Have you made calls? Have you talked to your neighbors?
absolutely disgusting. (3.33 / 6)
I would expect a statement of disassociation, at a minimum, by local Tea Party leaders, in less than 24 hours in the strongest terms.  Without that, any claim of being a mainstream movement is gone forever.

More important that Charlie Bass' comments will be Jack Kimballs, whose Gubernatorial campaign has sprung from the TP Movement and who claims to be their candidate.  

The clock is ticking..

Thank you. n/t (0.00 / 1)


birch, finch, beech
[ Parent ]
Patrick Hynes is whining (0.00 / 1)
Patrick Hynes is demanding an apology from Ray Buckley et al for linking the Tea Party to the racist protestors.  It is unclear what standing Hynes has to demand an apology from anyone.

-----

Thanks for all the fish

-----
[ Parent ]
Well..... (2.00 / 2)
I did a search, and it looks like these crazies yesterday are from a white supremacist group that predates the tea parties. So, mea culpa for blaming the NH tea party people for the actions of a group that has co-opted the Celtic Cross as part of their symbol.  It is always weird to me when Irish Americans take part in racist activites, or anti-immigration acitivites, like this North East White Pride group, given how the Irish were victims of so much prejudice, but, whatever!

That does not diminish the point by NHCA that some at the protests in DC over the weekend displayed racist and homophobic behavior, and that some tea partiers have displayed those tendencies in the past, as displayed here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

It is incumbent on all candidates who seek the support of any group to disavow the type of behavior that took place in DC this weekend. I don't suppose that Mr. Hynes thinks that spitting on congressmen, and hurling racial epthets at a hero like John Lewis, are events worthy of commentary.




"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
Good points (0.00 / 1)
The NH Tea Party coalition might deny involvement in the event at the State House, but they aren't denying that these individuals self-identify as part of their group.

Until there is a clear and decisive statement that the NH Tea Party coalition and the group as a whole doesn't endorse these racist ideas, we will continue to see a rise in the behavior.

The only reasonable explanation about why no statement has been made from the NH Tea Party coalition or candidates like Charlie Bass, Frank Guinta, Jack Kimball and Kelly Ayotte is that they think they might lose support if they stand up against these racist actions. That's a sad reason.

Zandra Rice Hawkins (Granite State Progress)

[ Parent ]
Charlie Bass, Frank Guinta, Kimball... (2.67 / 3)
Should denounce this racist crap immediately.
True patriots don't countenance racism, and if you don't denounce it, you are countenancing it. They should show some courage and stand up to the radical fringe elements.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    
The triple-axel of spin - (0.00 / 1)
Bill Bennett and others are now "explaining" that the very fact that some people object to racist actions, proves that racism no longer exists.
TEA Party / White Pride (0.00 / 1)
Why should anyone apologize or "distance" themselves from strangers they're not associated with? From the article it doesn't seem as if these guys had any information linking them to the TEA Party movement.

Why is it automatically racist to use the term White Pride anyway? From the article it doesn't seem as if anyone actually had a conversation with these guys, so it seems like poor journalism to call them 'racist' and link them to the TEA Party movement based on one flag. If they held a POW/MIA flag would you demand a statement from the VFW or other veterans groups?

While I can't agree with some of the DC protesters using the "N" word, or spitting on people as an American I must defend folks right to freedom of speech even when I may not agree with it 100%.

While they may not agree with everyone's viewpoint politicians should ALWAYS support the right to freedom of speech, and other rights that Americans have fought and died for.

your CONCERNS (2.00 / 2)
are duly noted.  

member of the professional left  
[ Parent ]
the right to spit curse and defame (0.00 / 1)
I must have missed that in the Bill of Rights

11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
re:the right to spit curse and defame (0.00 / 0)
I must have missed the part where I said it was a right to spit, oh wait I didn't. Thanks for putting words in my mouth. You do, however, have the right to "curse" if you so choose. It's a little thing called freedom of SPEECH. Defaming someone is in the eye of the beholder, if you're defamed take it to court. You can also choose to criticize someone, it's an opinion and not defamation.

Maybe freedom doesn't mean you have the right to an opinion which may or may not be popular?  

[ Parent ]
okay (0.00 / 1)
f*ck off  

11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
okay (0.00 / 0)
I guess the freedom to curse doesn't apply here.

Tiocfaidh ar la!

[ Parent ]
hypocrite n/t (0.00 / 1)


11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
fanning the flames of hatred leads to bricks through windows and death threats (0.00 / 1)
are you down with that Freedumbrob ? Bricks have been thrown though the windows of Congress members in Rochester, NY, Tuscon Ar, and Kansas, along with death threats for the children of those who voted in favor.

http://www.13wham.com/news/loc...
Congressman Louise Slaughter has a different take about the violence and anger. "I think it says the misinformation that people were given has worried them to a frenzy. They're worried about their jobs and their health insurance and to have this perpetual whipping up of untruths has been very bad," she said by phone from Washington.

Slaughter has been at the center of the push for reform. Last Thursday she received a chilling recorded message at her campaign office. "Assassinate is the word they used...toward the children of lawmakers who voted yes."

The FBI is now investigating.

Vanderboegh denies his blog advocates anything but vandalism. "How ambiguous is it if I say break windows? Am I saying kill people, absolutely not."




11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
The doctrine of nonresistance (0.00 / 0)
 against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

Ni neart go cur le chéile indeed

[ Parent ]
pffftttt n/t (0.00 / 1)


11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
freedomrob (4.00 / 2)
Apparently you didn't read the guidelines for Blue Hampshire.
I'd invite you to do so: http://www.bluehampshire.com/showD...

These are the guidelines for the ratings system:

Rating a Comment
You have the ability to rate the comments of others.  If you read something particularly useful or insightful, you may give the author a 4 or Excellent rating. On the other hand, if you feel that a comment was written whose sole purpose is to degrade the conversation or be intentionally abusive, you may choose to give it a 0 or Troll rating, a substantial number of which will cause the comment to be hidden. A significant number of troll ratings may also result in the account being banned. Note: Troll rating a comment simply because you disagree with it is considered ratings abuse and is grounds for banning the user.

Given that you became a member on the 21st, and the only posts you have made are on this thread, I'm guessing this you're a concern troll. What happens now is up to you.  

member of the professional left  

[ Parent ]
Thank you (4.00 / 2)
for pointing it out.

User disinvited.

birch, finch, beech

[ Parent ]
point of order (0.00 / 0)
http://www.bluehampshire.com/s...

11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
misuse of troll rating h/t (2.00 / 2)


11 Days
Have you knocked on doors today? Have you made calls ? Have you talked to your neighbors ?  
[ Parent ]
You use that word Freedom. I do not think it means what you think it means. n/t (2.00 / 2)


"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein
[ Parent ]
Misuse of "Our Day Will Come" (2.67 / 3)
But NEWP also misuses the Celtic cross, so what do you expect?  Irish American racists like Rob O'Donovan and NEWP have a pathetic lack of a sense of history, like how the Irish were the victims of prejudice and anti-immigrant hysteria in this country.

For more on the group, see http://www.splcenter.org/get-i...

And now Rob and his pals have gotten much more attention from all of us here than they merit.

Ni neart go cur le cheile.  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
While my Hibernian hemisphere (3.00 / 4)
was more than insulted at the misappropriation of the old IRA slogan, my German half went into cold outrage. Although my halves disagree frequently, they agreed on this. Ni neart go cur le cheile, indeed!
[ Parent ]
Proud to be troll-rated (4.00 / 3)
by a troll. Excellent double negative.
[ Parent ]
NH Tea Party Members Celebrate White Pride Day at New Hampshire State House | 28 comments

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