Black Conservatives Take Lead Role in Tea Party Movement

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Marcus [Lloyd Marcus], a black conservative who is now involved in the growing tea party movement, attributes the problems of his childhood neighborhood, his extended family and the black community in general to a “cradle-to-grave government dependency” that in the case of his cousins enabled an idle life of crime and drug abuse.

To Marcus, President Obama’s policies perpetuate that dependency. That’s why, he says, it baffles him and other black conservatives when the tea party movement is dismissed as somehow anti-black, as a rowdy bunch of ignorant, white protesters who have it in for the nation’s first black president.

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Marcus is one of a number of black conservatives who have joined up with, and helped lead, the conservative tea party movement since its inception. Though the movement has attracted criticism for its supposed lack of diversity–MSNBC host Chris Matthews recently called the groups “monochromatic” and “all white”–those minority activists who are involved say the movement has little to do with race, and that it is attracting a more diverse crowd every day.

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He [Marcus] and other black conservatives connected with one of the hundreds of tea party groups across America were largely active in conservative and Republican causes before the movement’s start in early 2009. They spoke and wrote about the need for smaller government, lower spending and lower taxes and warned that Obama’s candidacy would pose a threat to those values.

But in the tea party movement they found a group that not only reflected their views but provided a platform.

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Marcus does not advocate for the creation of a third party, but said the tea party groups should serve to pull the Republican Party back to the conservative roots from which it has strayed.

William Owens, a black author and publisher who with his wife traveled on the Tea Party Express tours with Marcus and has spoken at just about every stop along the way, also came out strongly against Obama in 2008. {snip}

When the tea party movement started, he said he found a way to build on what he was already doing, outside the Republican Party system which he calls out of touch. He first spoke at a rally in Las Vegas on tax day last April.

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He said the rallies are still “mostly white,” but that more blacks are getting involved. He took particular umbrage at Matthews’ comment, blasting out a press release that criticized the MSNBC host for “pushing conservative black Americans to the back of the media bus.”

Owens now publishes a journal documenting the tea party cross-country tours. The Multi-Cultural Conservative Coalition is also sponsoring the next leg of the Tea Party Express.

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Charles Lollar, a Maryland-based tea party supporter who is black, said there’s no validity to the racism charges.

“I’ve seen black faces in the crowd. I’ve seen Latino faces in the crowd. . . . It’s not a movement of color. It’s not a movement of party. It’s a movement of principle. It’s a movement of America,” Lollar said.

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David Avella, executive director of Republican recruiter GOPAC, said his organization hasn’t been actively mining the tea party movement for state and local candidates but that the groups could prove fertile ground for candidates.

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