National Tea Party Leader (who is Black) Kicks Out Tea Party Express & Mark Williams over his "Colored People" Letter!

NY Daily News Reports: Racism is tearing the Tea Party movement apart. The National Tea Party Federation has expelled a prominent activist group, the Tea Party Express, because it wouldn't rebuke and fire one of its leaders for writing an offensive blog post. Mark Williams, a California radio host who is leading protests in New York against a proposed mosque near Ground Zero and has drawn Sarah Palin to his rallies, had previously called the President an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug" and said Muslims were "animals" who worship "a monkey god." But when he posted a letter (he claims is satirical) this week from "the Colored People" to President Lincoln about how little they want to work, that crossed the line - especially after the NAACP called on Tea Party leaders to oust racists from their ranks.

Today, on "Face the Nation," the National Tea Party Federation spokeman David Webb (who is black) said, "We have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote." Webb called Williams' July 14 letter "clearly offensive." In the letter Williams wrote in what he said was the voice of slaves: "Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop! Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong." On taxes, Williams added, "How will we Colored People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? .. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn't that what we want all Coloreds to strive for?" Williams has since removed the letter, replacing it with a note urging followers to "fight those who seek to divide us by race."

Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous told CNN that other Tea Party leaders besides Webb, who is African American, should come out against racist elements in the movement. "We hope that the household names, Sarah Palin and so forth, will come forward and say the same thing," Jealous said, later adding: "We don't think the Tea Party is racist, but we don't think they've gone far enough yet either."

CNN reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, steered clear of the issue, saying: "I am not interested in getting into that debate."