Transcripts from The Joy Beher Show (Aired April 12, 2010 - 21:00:00 ET)
BEHAR: When most people think about the Tea Party Movement, African- American participants don`t immediately come to mind. But in a country as big and diverse as this one, we have to expect anything to be possible.
My next guest not only didn`t support Obama, he spends time at Tea Party Rallies. Joining me now is Tim Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation.
Tim, what`s the most offensive name you`ve been called for being a Tea Partier?
TIMOTHY JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN, FREDERICK DOUGLASS FOUNDATION: I think I would say Uncle Tom, a spook at the door, sellout. There`s obviously a host of names that black Republicans are often times called. So those are the ones I would say on air anyhow.
BEHAR: You`re saying you`re being called those names from whom?
JOHNSON: By blacks.
BEHAR: By other blacks who are more liberal?
JOHNSON: Absolutely.
BEHAR: Why do you think most people are uncomfortable with you being part of the Tea Party Movement?
JOHNSON: I think there`s a lack of understanding and there`s a portrayal out there in the media that base their impression as if every organization and every event needs to be thousands of blacks.
I mean the reality of it is, I went to the Republican Party`s national convention and there weren`t a bunch of blacks in Minneapolis, but we`re only 13 percent of the population. So I don`t understand why people think there should be so many blacks showing up at these events.
BEHAR: Let`s look at these posters. Can you see them?
JOHNSON: Not yet.
BEHAR: There you go. Ok, there`s one. You see that?
JOHNSON: Sure.
BEHAR: And then let`s see another one. "The Zoo has an African and the White House has a lying African."
And then this one, "Where is the birth certificate?" People do not believe he was born in this country. And then that one, "Go back to Kenya."
Can you honestly say there`s no racial element to these kinds of protests?
JOHNSON: Oh, no. I would never say that and the same thing I would say about the Democratic Party. They have a history of racial overtones. So I think you`re going to find that in any organization that you`re going to find some who go over the line with those racial slurs and those racial epithets. But that doesn`t mean that it represents everybody that`s part of the movement.
BEHAR: Then, why don`t you get rid of these people who are in the movement? Clean them out.
JOHNSON: I think there are people that had done that and I have spoken out on it. I know other black Republicans who have spoken out on that issue as it relates to those slurs and those disrespectful comments. And I`ve seen a whole lot more than -- worse than what you`re showing on TV.
And we`ve spoken out on that. I can`t help that the media hasn`t picked up on it but it doesn`t mean that we haven`t spoken out on it.
BEHAR: Look at this video of a woman holding a monkey with a sign. She`s being given the thumbs up sign, not kicked out. How is that ok?
JOHNSON: Again, I`m not saying that it`s ok. I`m not saying it`s appropriate. Once again -- but that`s one person out of thousands of other people in attendance. I can`t control -- I mean I`m not in charge of those events, so I can`t control what they do.
But I can just say where I stand on those issues and again speak for many black Republicans. I won`t say all but that we`re offended by those actions and those depictions but it doesn`t represent the whole movement or the issues on the table.
BEHAR: But sir, I did not hear one white or black person saying that that was a racist thing that was she was doing. I did not hear anybody in the Tea Party condemning that particular -- that monkey that she was carrying, that whole look.
JOHNSON: Well, again, outside of this opportunity and what came out with the Associated Press last week. I`m also the vice chairman of (INAUDIBLE) Republican Party and I don`t get phone calls asking me any of these comments or concerns.
Again, one of the problems that we have and the perception is that we keep going back to one or two people and assuming that those one or two people don`t speak out then it must be something ok for all of them.
BEHAR: Ok. Thanks very much, Tim, for joining me.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
BEHAR: Up next, Jim Carrey calls out Tiger and Elin on Twitter. I`ll have the details.