The Bigotry of Charles Blow

Since the advent of the conservative resurgence I have attended a number of TEA Party events, interacted with tens of thousands of TEA Partiers, trained over a fifteen-hundred with American Majority and spoken at several rallies and protests. One behavior I have never observed at these events or exhibited by the patriots around me is racism.

For some of you this may be a surprising revelation, considering the uncountable charges of racism levied at TEA Partiers. As a matter of fact, if a person was to draw a caricature of a TEA Party attendee based just on the main stream media coverage of such events I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out looking like a KKK Grand Dragon.

While I’ve been offended by the baseless accusations of racism that so many conservatives have faced, it was not until this last week that one such charge was levied against my person and a group of patriots with which I proudly associate.

On Tax day, I attended and spoke at the Lone Star TEA Party, in Grand Prairie, TX. It was a coalition event put together by 24 area conservative organizations. Apparently, Charles Blow, columnist for the New York Times, heard about our gathering and came to join us. On Friday he published an article titled, “A Mighty Pale TEA,” in which he gave his impression of the event.

In his article, Mr. Blow alleged he felt physically threatened at one point, refers to the diversity of the speaker lineup as “a bizarre spoof of a 1980s Benetton ad” and ended the article by saying that he “saw a political minstrel show devised for the entertainment of those on the rim of obliviousness and for those engaged in the subterfuge of intolerance.” It’s worth mentioning though that he at no point states that he was threatened (even in the most veiled of manners) and not once in his article does he mention interaction with another attendee. Never once does he mention any evidence of racism, although he continually purported that all those present were guilty of exactly that. Furthermore, only once does he give even a partial quote of a speaker, and only then to deride him for his lack of high-school degree.

Mr. Blow’s best efforts to prove racism on the part of TEA Party attendees did nothing more than expose his own lack of journalistic integrity. His column is one of the most egregious examples of a person fitting events to his preconceived notions I’ve ever seen. In an interview on the Laura Ingram Show, Blow further evidenced this point when he admitted that he didn’t even engage TEA Party attendees in conversation or interviews (to hear the interview Click Here.)

At the end of the day, we know that charges of racism will continue to be a theme among detractors of the conservative movement. The fact that the overwhelming evidence is to the contrary will not slow such accusations. Knowing this, conservatives must refuse to be distracted by such baseless claims and push forward trying to make this country a more free nation for each American, regardless of race, creed or gender. That is my goal. That is American Majority’s mission.

The best response I’ve seen to Mr. Blow’s article is a video from Alfonzo “Zo” Rachel, an African American conservative comedian. Zo spoke at the Lone Star TEA Party and was the speaker that Blow most specifically attacked. I’ve shared the stage with Zo twice now and know him to be an inspirational man. Check out his video response below: