U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., compared Tea Party members to segregationists during the civil rights movement, whom he called "white crackers."

In an interview with the Daily Beast, Rangel said Friday the Tea Party should be defeated the same way segregationists were defeated decades ago.


"It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police," he said. "They didn't care about how they looked. It was just fierce indifference to human life that caused America to say enough is enough."

As part of the interview, Rangel also blasted Republicans for their opposition to immigration reform, saying they're scared of increased diversity in the United States.

"Every white son of a gun from Europe has found a way to get here, and these barriers I think have a lot to do with color and the awkwardness or the uncomfortableness that a lot of whites feel about people of color," he said.