Think Progress gave us a heads-up today on an important report released by the NAACP and the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights [IREHR] about Tea Party connections with white supremacist, militia, and anti-immigration groups. (See the story in the Kansas City Star.) "Tea Party Nationalism: A Critical Examination of the Tea Party Movement and the Size, Scope, and Focus of Its National Factions," by Leonard Zeskind and Devin Burghart of IREHR, is based on extensive research of
government documents and databases, including court cases, campaign finance reports and corporate filings.
"This is the first data-driven report of this type on the tea parties," Burghart said. "Understanding their membership structures was the crucial first step that enabled us to understand the complexity of the tea party movement and to be able to specify the role of racists and bigots in the movement."
The report can be viewed or downloaded here. (WARNING: The website is reealllyyy slow, at least in my experience .)
Salon also has the story.
I had an advance summary of the report by Burghart himself at The Montana Human Rights Network Annual Conference [.pdf] on October 9 at the University of Montana campus. Here in Montana, we have had first-hand experience with militia and white supremacist groups for decades. The objective of the day-long conference, 'Rage on the Right: Combating the Politics of Fear and Resentment', was to:
... examine the resurgence of right-wing organizing in communities across Montana and how local communities are responding.
Kevin Burghart was the keynote speaker.
Zeskind and Burghart have identified 6 Tea Party factions and about 3,000 chapters nationwide. Only one of of the factions, Freedom Works, has remained free of the influence of extremists. Established by Dick Armey and Steve Forbes, Freedom Works is concerned strictly with fiscal issues. They are primarily found in D.C., and only have about 13,000 members.
Michael Moore (no, not THAT Michael Moore), reporter for the Missoulian, covered Burghart's presentation:
The other five groups identified in a new report are the Tea Party Express, Tea Party [N]ation, Tea Party Patriots, ResistNet and the 1776 Tea Party.
Nationwide, tea party groups have about 2 million activists, Burghart said. In Montana, about 1,000 people belong to one of about 20 tea party chapters scattered around the state.
Big names on the Tea Party circuit include Richard Mack, a militia supporter, christian nationalist, and oath-keeper. He spoke at a tea party meeting in Montana recently. Another long-time militia supporter (and anti-Semite, and tax protester) from Montana is Martin 'Red' Beckman. These guys are nuts! (And we thought we were done with them 15 years ago!) But they are finding platforms to resurrect their extreme views in various factions of the Tea Party movement across the country.
'Birthers' are prominenet in the Tea Party movement, too. For example Amy Kremer, birther extraordinaire, is Chair of the Tea Party Express...the faction that has supported Sharon Angle (NV-Sen) and Joe Miller (AK-Sen).
A post by SJGulitti on Sunday at firedoglake.com summarizes:
...This report...lays out the following conclusions: "The result of this study contravenes many of the Tea Parties’ self-invented myths, particularly their sole concentration on budget deficits, taxes, and the power of the federal government. Instead, this report found Tea Party ranks to be permeated with concerns about race and national identity and other so-called social issues...Tea Party organization have given platforms to anti-Semites, racists and bigots, Further, hard-core white nationalists have been attracted to these protests, looking for potential recruits and hoping to push these (white) protestors toward a more self-conscious and ideological white supremacy."
The report contains huge amounts of information, including interactive maps for readers to check out the composition and strength of Tea Party groups in their state or city.
While only about 280,000 individuals are 'core' members of the Tea Party movement, 16-18% of the adult population in the U.S. are 'supporters'. Could we reduce that number by getting the word out about the nutty and dangerous connections that are taking root in the 'taxed enough already' movement? Let's try to make this report have an impact by November 2!