(CNN) — The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that represents the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled conservative commentator Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express because of an inflammatory blog post he wrote, federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday.
Appearing on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Webb said that Williams and the Tea Party Express — which has held a series of events across the country to generate support for the movement — no longer were part of the National Tea Party Federation.
“We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote,” Webb said of the blog post by Williams that satirized a fictional letter from what he called “Colored People” to President Abraham Lincoln.
Webb called the blog post “clearly offensive.”
Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon.
Williams wrote the blog post in response to a resolution by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that called on Tea Party leaders to crack down on racist elements in the movement.
Video: NAACP responds to expulsion
Video: Williams won’t be last ‘Partier’ booted
Video: Racist elements in Tea Party?
Video: Did Williams mock NAACP?
The NAACP, the nation’s main group advocating civil rights for African Americans, cited signs carried at Tea Party events and racial slurs reportedly shouted at black congress members during an event as some examples of racism in the movement.
The announcement by Webb on a Sunday talk show demonstrated that the public outcry over the issue had resonated with the Tea Party movement, and indicated a possible split within its leadership.
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.”
Some political leaders interviewed on Sunday talk shows also said the Tea Party movement itself wasn’t racist, but needed to distance itself from any elements that bring prejudice and bigotry to its events.
“There are some members who have used the Tea Party — whether it’s the Tea Party itself, there are some individuals who have tried to exacerbate racial tensions in this country,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I have seen some virulent fliers that have been directed at our members, clearly referencing race, the president’s race and race generally.”
On the same show, however, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, steered clear of the issue, saying: “I am not interested in getting into that debate.”
“Dear Mr. Lincoln,” began the fictional letter posted by Williams. “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!”
Williams went on to write that the Tea Party movement couldn’t be racist because it opposed government bailouts for Wall Street banks and big corporations.
“Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all Coloreds to strive for?” the posting said. “What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds!”
Williams, a conservative talk radio host, said the post was intended as satire. He took it down as criticism mounted.
Tea Party Express leader gets the boot
