Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), the second Muslim to serve in Congress, has created an enormous controversy by following Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) lead and lashing out at the Tea Party and its supporters in Congress.
Carson told a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and some of its supporters last week in Miami that, “some of them in Congress right now, of this Tea Party, would love to see you and me…hanging on a tree.” He also stated that some members of Congress would like to see blacks as second-class citizens.
These remarks come shortly after Waters stated that the “Tea Party should go straight to hell.”
Both supporters of the Tea Party and the lone GOP member of the Congressional Black Caucus are outraged. Congressman Allen West, a black Republican from Florida, called Carson’s comments racist and desperate. West, who has threatened to resign from the CBC if there is no effort to condemn Carson’s remarks, stated, “When individuals believe they are defeated in a political disagreement, they normally resort to race-baiting, which in my opinion is in itself racist.”
The founders of the Tea Party Patriots called for Carson’s resignation or removal from leadership of the CBC. In a statement both Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler said, “He (Carson) is clearly not fit to serve.”
Carson is the grandson of the late former Indiana Congresswoman Julia Carson. Rep. Carson has stated that he wished he had chosen different analogies in his speech but he’d not have changed any of the substance. He has not apologized.
His comments were first posted on line by The Blaze, a website that was founded by Glenn Beck. None of the three major networks have covered the story to date.
According to NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm, “Mainstream media disinterest in this story underscores a double standard. It doesn’t fit the narrative that conservatives are extremists and racists, so it doesn’t get covered. Thank God for the internet.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has not commented on Carson’s remarks.