Race and the Tea Parties

Comments

[bubba]

But...but...but...but...why do they hate themselves?

[trollcat]

self-loathing uncle tom- n. term for any person of color who opposes being led from the wilderness to be pushed off a cliff by white liberals and toadies.

[DeSean Alston]

News & Record - Leonard Pitts Jr.: Race had role in rise of tea party

http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/04/20/article/leonard_pitts_jr_race_had_role_in_rise_of_tea_party

[Steve]

Gee, there's a shocker (Leonard Pitts' position, that is).

[Joe Guarino]

I don't, as a general rule, find Leonard Pitts to be terribly persuasive, DeSean. A temporal relationship and a statisticial correlation do not prove causation. To suggest that the Tea Parties are racist because their activities came after Obama's ascent to the presidency, and because there is a correlation with "racial resentment"-- and then to suggest these are proof of the Tea Parties' racism-- is problematic. Why?

Because one could turn around the same type of argument on Obama's supporters, and the supporters of the current zeitgeist he helped create. How many supported him because of a sense of racial solidarity; because of a desire to see an African-American ascend to the office; because of sympathies with the plight of African-Americans in general? If we were able to demonstrate correlations based on these variables, would we be able to say that his support is based largely on race?

[Roch101]

Your argument, Joe, presupposes a meaning of racism that is both dubious and reveals your lack of appreciation for the insidiousness of real racism. Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another, not the mere noticing of race.

That people would not object to the doubling of public debt and encroachment on civil liberties for eight years and now are suddenly in a panic over those issues only after a black man is elected legitimately invites the reasonable explanation that they view the president's race as undesirable.

On the other hand, a desire to see a black man ascend to the presidency as a step in the right direction the path of our nation's civil rights history or because he may have unprecedented sympathies with African-Americans in general does not involve or indicate a belief that one race is is superior (the opposite, in fact) and thus is, by definition, not racism.

Put another way, objecting to a man because you think his race makes him inferior is racism. Supporting a man because his election would have the effect of dispelling the notion that his race is inferior is not racism. You may not like that people consider race to support someone you despise, but the mere consideration of race is not racist. It is the consideration of race resulting in a judgment of inferiority or superiority that is racist.

[Doc Alexander]

"That people would not object to the doubling of public debt and encroachment on civil liberties for eight years and now are suddenly in a panic over those issues only after a black man is elected legitimately invites the reasonable explanation that they view the president's race as undesirable."

Encroachment on civil liberties, Roch? Can you give me three examples how your civil liberties were personally "encroached?" Hell, I'll be charitable, just give me one.

[Joe Guarino]

Roch, with all due respect, I don't think the issue is over Obama's inferiority or superiority as related to his race. While some may question his qualifications for the office, I think most agree he is a strong public speaker and a very intelligent man. I think the Tea Parties are a reaction to his ideas-- and the ideas of Pelosi, Reid and the Democratic supermajority in Congress.

While there was excessive spending during the administration of George W. Bush, this accelerated dramatically with the bailouts, the stimulus and the passage of Obamacare. And there may be more to come. Recall that the bailouts began during the presidential campaign-- and everyone was thrown off balance, and many opposed it.

But remember also that when Obama was swept into office, it was with the promise of fundamental change. Change was the repeated mantra. The Tea Parties are reacting to that change.

With respect to your other comments, I did not suggest it would be racism if people supported Obama in part because of his race. I merely suggested that support would have been based on his race.

[Roch101]

Doc, I did not realize that the standard for objecting to government behavior was that we had to be "personally" encroached upon. I will note that an anticipate seeing your gripes confined to that standard.

[Roch101]

"I don't think the issue is over Obama's inferiority or superiority as related to his race." -- Joe

That's fair enough, Joe. The anecdotal observations of overt racism do not impugn all participants and the rise of concern only after the election of a black man is not a conclusive indictment. My concern was not with whether or not the Tea Partiers are racists, but how you chose to define racism -- in a way that I think misunderstands its meaning, but I note your additional clarification.

[jaycee]

How nice of Roch to tell us just what we can and cannot think, and to define the "standard" to which the rest of us must adhere in his world.
How did we ever get by before Roch came along to set us "little people" straight with the salvation of socialism? Look, Ma, we don't have to think for ourselves anymore...

[cheripickr]

He knows what's in our minds and hearts. He's proved it to me several times now.

"He sees you when your sleeping. He knows when you're awake. he knows when you've been bad or good, so you'd...."

[Dr. Mary Johnson]

Cheri, you crack me up.

"Supporting a man because his election would have the effect of dispelling the notion that his race is inferior is not racism."

You have got to be FRICKING KIDDING me!?!

And, as someone whose civil/Constitutional rights were battered black & blue under the administrations of white men (Clinton/Hunt/Sleazely) I consider to be "inferior" because of both their behavior & pseudo-socialist ideas (I took it very personally), I'm so glad Roch's high-minded heart bleeds for everyone else (while suffering no such "encroachments" himself).

[Roch101]

"How nice of Roch to tell us just what we can and cannot think..." -- Jaycee

Are you on drugs? Where did I tell anybody what to think?

[Brandon Burgess]

Roch speaks as if he feels superior to someone who may have a drug problem. Real mature buddy.

[Brandon Burgess]

And it's not the first time.

[jaycee]

For the record I DO NOT have a drug problem!! Best laugh I've had all day...:)
Although I am in the land of the papaver somniferum...

[Brandon Burgess]

Of course not Jaycee but if you did Roch appears to believe that he would have 1 up on you kind of like how some folks feel superior because of their economic status or race or what have you.

[DeSean Alston]

As I stated in an earlier thread:

"And so I say that many minorities IMHO are confused if they aligned themselves with the Tea Party movement, or Republican Party, because their very purpose is to continue to divide the civil rights and social issues that leave our minorities last choice on the playing field."

Seems like the RNC Chairman, Michael Steele, agrees with the assessment that Republicans have alienated minorities and "that African-Americans don't have a reason to vote for Republican candidates."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/22/michael-steele-for-decade_n_547702.html

[jaycee]

So, Desean, you think the purpose of the Republican party is to divide civil rights and social issues? Your ignorance is truly astounding.
I seem to recall a former president....hmmm...what was his name....Bush, yeah, George W. Bush. And he was a Republican, see. And he appointed more blacks to his Cabinet and other posts than this other Democrat former president, hmmm...I think his name was Clinton. Yeah, that was it. And this Bush guy actually appointed more blacks to positions of power than any former Democrat president. And he reached out and showcased black leadership to the world through his Secretary of State Colin Powell (he's black, did you know that?) and Dr. Condoleeza Rice (she's a black lady, Desean, did you know that?) and proved that race is not a barrier to anything far better than that Clinton guy ever did.
Desean, your ignorance goes beyond astounding. It may be world-class.