Rep. Andre Carson: Tea Party Wants To See Blacks ‘Hanging On A Tree’

ABC News’ Amy Bingham reports:

While Republican presidential candidates arrange and re-arrange their schedules in an attempt to court Tea Partiers, one House Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus is blasting the conservative group for trying to take America back to the days of Jim Crow.

In a video circulated Tuesday by conservative commentator Glen Beck’s website The Blaze, Indiana Rep. Andre Carson said the Tea Party was preventing African Americans from making progress toward equality.

“This is the effort that we are seeing of Jim Crow. Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me… hanging on a tree,” Carson said at a Aug. 22 Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour even in Miami.

“Some of them right now in Congress right now are comfortable with where we were fifty or sixty years ago,” Carson added. “But it’s a new day with a black president and a Congressional Black Caucus.”

Carson’s office confirmed that he made the remarks, which were caught on video. His spokesman Jason Tomsci told the Washington Post that the Congressman’s remarks were in response to many of his constituents’ frustration over “Congress’ inability to bolster the economy.”

The tea party is protecting its millionaire and oil company friends while gutting critical services that they know protect the livelihood of African-Americans, as well as Latinos and other disadvantaged minorities,” Tomcsi said, according to the Post. “We are talking about child nutrition, job creation, job training, housing assistance, and Head Start, and that is just the beginning. A child without basic nutrition, secure housing, and quality education has no real chance at a meaningful and productive life.”

“So, yes, the congressman used strong language because the Tea Party agenda jeopardizes our most vulnerable and leaves them without the ability to improve their economic standing,” Tomcsi added.

Another Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also had harsh words for the Tea Party last week when she said members of the movement could “go straight to hell.”

“I’m not afraid of anybody. This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. As far as I’m concerned the Tea Party can go straight to hell,” Waters said at an Aug. 20 “Kitchen Table Summit” which she hosted with her fellow California Democrats Rep. Karen Bass and Rep. Laura Richardson.