NAACP Celebrates 101 Conference (and other things you may have heard about)

Well, quite a week is has been now hasn’t it.

In a move equaled only by President Obama’s race speech in 2009, the nation news has once again turned to questions of race and racism in the wake of what would other surely been a very sparely covered NAACP conference. While the Conference included a speech by First Lady Michelle Obama and focus on jobs, the news grabber was without a doubt a resolution condemning racist elements within the Tea Party movement. While not an official piece of policy until it is ratified by the Board of Directors in October, the response to the resolution was immediate. From Glen Beck to Mitt Romney, conservatives lined up to roundly denounce the claim and, in the case of many in the conserative blogasphere, condemn the NAACP as a racist association itself. The kicker was blatantly mocking letter written by Tea Party leader Mark Williamns. The letter, written from the “head Colored” leader of an antebellum NAACP like association asking Lincoln to repeal the emancipation of slavery because (to quote):

What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! … How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?

Among other gems. If nothing else, it is prompting new found interest and coverage of NAACP, as indicated in 500% increase in searches for NAACP over the last week, a new website and advertising campaign.