DISGRASIAN OF THE WEAK! Mark Williams, The Tea Party Express’ Non-Racist Racist
Having read and re-read and re-read and re-read the “parody letter” that Tea Party Express talking head Mark Williams wrote to Abe Lincoln in the voice of NAACP President Ben Jealous, speaking for “The Coloreds,” I’ve got to say:
I DON’T GET IT.
In an effort to defend the Tea Party’s position that it isn’t racist, Williams cleverly decided this week to turn the tables on an, uh, obvious target: the NAACP. He called them out for being “racist” (Naturally!) due to the fact that the 99-year-old organization’s name still includes the word “colored.”
In case you aren’t familiar with the NAACP, I’ve included their mission and vision statements below:
We at DISGRASIAN hate to lend any more attention to the Tea Party–they’re a fringe group that hardly deserves the amount of attention they receive, but dammitall if their amusing take on the English language doesn’t keep us coming back for more! When we heard about this incident, it fascinated us because we understand parodies. And jokes. Hey, we like parties. We felt we could be objective.
Here is the full screen grab of the letter (via The Reid Report):
Look, sometimes a parody is actually a parody. And if something is funny, sometimes it’s not racist (That said–if it’s not funny, it is indeed racist).
So, having just re-read the letter once more, I’ve got to declare:
I DON’T GET IT.
And I’M NOT LAUGHING.
And although he cites some fuzzy reasons for doing so, Williams has taken the letter down from his site. Perhaps he’s rightfully ashamed, perhaps he realizes he’s bad with a punchline, perhaps he understands that the NAACP is not motherfucking racist. And that his parody letter is.
Or perhaps, as before, he has completely missed the point.
Update: The National Tea Party Federation, a coalition unifying over 85 Tea Party organizations across the country, has expelled Mark Williams and the Tea Party Express “because of the letter that he wrote.”
[MarkTalk: Letter to Lincoln]
[TPM: Tea Party Express' Mark Williams: NAACP's Use Of 'Colored' Makes It Racist]
[The Reid Report: “Tea partier” Mark Williams writes ‘letter to Abe Lincoln’ … from the ‘coloreds’]
Filed under: Abraham Lincoln, Bad Jokes, Ben Jealous, Mark Williams, Missing the Point, NAACP, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Parody Letter, Racist Jokes, Really Stupid Americans, Talking Heads, Tea Party, Unfunny People, Unfunny Stuff, Why Does The Tea Party Get So Much Press?
Tea Party Press is essentially an onlooker slowdown in politics. You know it’s a big mess. You know it’s going to screw up your commute. Still, you slow down like everyone else for a gander cause maybe there will be a crazy story to tell later.
Holy shit! This asshole sounds like Mel Gibson’s best friend!
That guy is the biggest joke of all time.
[...] some fool named Mark Williams thought that was his cue, so he decided to let his racist flag fly with every anti-black stereotype in the book, pretending he was “satirizing” the [...]