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The NAACP resolution calls upon "all people of goodwill to repudiate the racism of the tea parties, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau.
The resolution will not become official unless it is ratified by the group's board of directors in October. A spokesman for the NAACP in Washington said that until then, the group will not release the text of the document.
Mary Amonitti has attended several meetings and rallies organized by the Hilton Head TEA Party and has been a member of the NAACP for most of her adult life, founding a chapter in suburban Philadelphia in the 1990s, she said.
The tea party's values -- lower taxes, smaller government and personal responsibility -- cut across racial boundaries, she said. Those who accuse the tea party of racism are merely trying to discredit the movement without engaging the issues it represents.
The resolution is evidence the NAACP is no longer a nonpartisan organization, she said.
"During the time President Bush was in office, they made all sorts of statements about him that were untrue -- vicious statements, calling him names," Amonitti said. "I never saw where the NAACP resolved that their members were disrespectful of the office of the president."
The NAACP shares some of the same concerns of the tea party, said Elijudah Beni Yisrael, president of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton branch of the NAACP. But the manner in which some tea party supporters have gone about highlighting those problems is alarming, he said.
"They're trying to stir up distasteful feelings between blacks and whites," he said.
Daniel Denton, a supporter of the Beaufort Tea Party, said such views are not representative of the movement.
"I think if you look at any organization, you're going to find a few wackos," he said. "But to pass a resolution criticizing and condemning the entire movement and the issues they stand for was, I think, uncalled for."
Some local tea party organizations are reaching out to black groups who share similar views. Jane Kenny, organizer of the Bluffton Tea Party Patriots, says her group plans to attend a rally for the S.C. Black Conservative Movement in August, an indication of where her organization stands with respect to race, she said.
Formed in April, the Black Conservative Movement seeks to promote conservatism among blacks and encourage those who might be reluctant to come out as conservatives.
"People in the Black Conservative Movement are personal friends of ours," Kenny said. "What is the (NAACP) trying to force them to do? Are they going to have to take sides? Should they side with the NAACP because they're black? Do they have to discontinue their work in the conservative movement? It's ridiculous."
The NAACP no longer speaks for the black community, said the Black Conservative Movement's founder and president, Rowena Booker. "Their actions are dividing this nation even more," she said.
