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NAACP district chapter gives Rep. West the boot for Communist remarks

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This past Saturday, Florida Republican Rep. Allen West was supposed to be the keynote speaker for the Martin County chapter of the NAACP’s annual Freedom Fund Banquet.

West did not speak, the TCPalm reported.

The NAACP did not take lightly his comments at a town hall meeting earlier this month in which he equated dozens of Democratic congressmen to communists.

“I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party,” he said. “It’s called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.”

Four days before West was to speak, the chapter canceled the event — without an invitation for West to speak at a rescheduled event, TCPalm reported.

“There’s a certain statement he made about Communists,” Jerry Gore, president of the Martin County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told TCPalm.

“That statement alone … we do not represent that type of atmosphere,” he reportedly added.

Jonathan Blyth, West’s chief of staff, told The Daily Caller that West sees the NAACP’s decision as a missed opportunity.

“While the NAACP of Martin County is certainly entitled to its decision, Congressman West believes this was a missed opportunity for a serious exchange of ideas,” Blyth told TheDC in an email. “Given the economic and fiscal troubles facing our nation and the black community in particular, Congressman West believes there needs to be a serious discussion of the direction our nation is headed, and how badly current economic policies are failing Americans of all skin colors, genders, ages and incomes.”

The event has been rescheduled for Sept. 15.

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