African-American Tea Party activist invites Morgan Freeman

Posted by William A. Jacobson
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:29am

On Saturday night Morgan Freeman was the winner of the first ever Saturday Night Card Game Readers’ Choice Award, for his rant on the Piers Morgan show about Tea Party racism.

Now a Tea Party activist has written Freeman an open letter inviting Freeman to a Tea Party rally (emphasis in original):

My name is Ali Akbar. I’m a 26 year-old African-American small business owner and a tea party activist….

I’ve attended dozens of tea party events. I’ve helped organize them, and I’ve even spoken at a few. The tea party is not what is often depicted in the news. It is people of all colors who are terribly concerned about the direction that America is heading. We don’t trust big government to make decisions for us. And we fear that the present administration’s spending is going to lead our country down a path to insolvency, much like what Greece is currently facing.

Your comments about the tea party have caused me physical pain. You’ve rekindled the old painful paradigm of Uncle Tom – that any black man who votes Republican is some kind of sellout. It’s not true. I work hard, pay my taxes, love Jesus, and I’m good to my family and community. In effect, your comments have stereotyped an entire group of people. And I know in my soul that you must regret that on some level….

I’m hoping that you’ll come to a tea party in Tennessee — the place of your birth. Really anywhere in the country that works for you; I’ll set it up with the one of the thousands of activists I know around our great country. I’d be delighted to introduce you to good people who will welcome you with open arms, disagree with you, and then feed you some of the best barbeque you’ve ever tasted.

Racism is an ugly thing, but I assure you that it is part of our past, not our present.

It takes bravery to admit that you may have made a mistake. But, for Geel Piet, bravery is like breathing. It’s just something you do.

I hope you’ll take me up on my offer.

Let’s see if he takes up the offer.