Racism in the Tea Party Movement?
Allegations of racism at the heart of the Tea Party Movement have been in the news lately: On Thursday of this week, the Kansas City Star posted a front-page article titled: Tea party rejects racist label, but concerns remain”. On the following day an opinion piece appeared in the New York Times asking the questions: “Are Tea Parties Racist? Is Al Qaeda?” These are just two of over 2000 hits you can find on a search of Google News.
On the surface, the rationale behind this speculation of Tea Party racism seems to be the fact (and it IS a fact) that some overtly racist people keep attending Tea Party rallys and they carry signs and wear t-shirts that are blatantly racist. The fact of the matter is, you will find that in the midst (or at least at the fringes) of ANY lawful assembly of hundreds of people there will be racists as well as other radicals and almost any other classification of individuals you might think of. Does that mean that the overriding purpose of the gathering is tainted or less than worthy? Of course not! It just means that we are a free society, social dynamics are at work amd the strength and purpose of the movement is greater than any one issue.
It’s also been suggested by some numbskulls that, since the tea party movement is almost automatically opposed to everything President Obama says or does and since the president is black, the Tea Party must be opposing him BECAUSE he’s black. That is, of course, even more ridiculous. Any American president, regardless of his race, who is as overtly Socialist as President Obama would be in for the same ridicule from the Tea Party Movement.
President Obama is so Liberal, so far out of the American mainstream, he is easily opposed by patriotic Americans who believe in the Constitution and in the principal of a “government BY the people.” The Tea Party Movement represents those people who believe that unless something is done to take away his power, Barack Obama will have done irreparable damage to the United States by 2012. The fact that some of those people are admittedly racist does nothing to change that overriding motivation or that scenario.
10 users commented in " Racism in the Tea Party Movement? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackCould it be that those who carry signs and wear t-shirts that are blatantly racist to the Tea Party rallies are plants from Liberals groups ???!!!
It could be kelly. I would’nt be surprised if Mr KKKent was leader of the pack.
In almost all protest gatherings, there will be the core signs that show the ideas that the movement is about. And, there are usually people that protest the movement with signs that oppose the movement. I have never seen a movement where two groups (non-racists and racists) with the same cause peacefully get together without them agreeing to be together.
All that the teaparty organizers would have to do is to politely ask the racist people that are carrying racist signs be asked to take down the sign, or you all will be no better than that person.
If you all saw a pro-Obama sign, I bet that there would be a protest and a confrontation. Think about it. Is it worth it for you to carry ugly labels which do not describe what you are about?
Jennifer,
Of course you’re right but WHO is there may not be that important to the rally organizers. At every rally there are speakers delivering a message — that’s whats important; another aspect is numbers — if an extra 100 people show up, regardless of the t-shirts and signs, it’s a bigger crowd.
They are getting a lot of bad press however because they are not attempting to control the undesirable element but bad press has a positive aspect (as well as a negative aspect): it draws attention to the Tea Party Movement and, hopefully to their real message.
Maybe they figure that most people are smart enough to understand that racists in attendance at a rally that has no racist message are just troublemakers and perhaps, as Kelly suggested, Liberal plants!
Whymrhymer
That is all the more reason to not let these racists have such an impact on your ability to attract people to your cause. Many of us might be interested in joining you, but we are not racists, and would not be caught dead standing next to some of the hate messages that appear at your rallies. Do not underestimate the ability of these people to get you off message. In reading the main article, you all just brush this off. This makes me think that what you do not say and do says more about you than what you do say. Go ahead and go down with out silly liberal plant excuse, but you all had better clean house. JMO
Mark Williams is not some random person in a large gathering. He is a “founder” of the Tea Party Express.
Nice post I appreciate your point about people infiltrating the tea party to appear blatantly racist. It seems to me though that the NAACP just wants to seem relevant. What have they seriously done in the past while to advance their goals? It is ironic to me though that an institution built to protect a minority and now turned persecutor of a new minority…
Well, John, just tend to your own knitting and do not worry about the NAACP, you can not control that.
Good luck in achieving future focus for your cause. One more suggestion, then I will shut up.LOL Talk more about what you would do, be concrete and do not make you cause about bashing Obama or what you would not do. People will not tune in to that stuff. We want to know what your organization would do it you got in charge.
Now I know why people are so into blogs, this is great. I’m a real Socialist, a revolutionary in fact. And to be totally honest with you–a feminist, proudly pro abortion, the whole 9 yards. I think it is the funniest thing that people believe that Obama is a liberal, let alone a socialist. Here’s socialist 101 kids. First, #1, Numo Uno, ‘You take the wealth and power AWAY from the super rich and you give it back to the working people.’ WHAT YOU DO NOT DO (if you’re a socialist) is to take AWAY the working people’s money,their taxes,and use that money to bail the super rich/the banks out of the hole they themselves dug. The taxes should be used to creat union wage jobs, free education and of course free healthcare–for everybody’ and yes, I mean undocumented workers too! And how can we afford this you ask? Well, we seem to have just piles and piles of dough for the War(s). And let’s never forget all the juice for Wall Street. All the juice for Wall Street but not a drop for Main Street. And there never will be because Democrats, like Republicans, are pro-capitalism, think good cop bad cop.
Thank you for the primer in socialism. But socialism is much more than keeping the wealthy out of your system. Some people confuse racism — preference given or denied due to one’s race — with socialism — the political ideology of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” We had been discussing another aspect of the Tea Party – is it racist. Although, the topic of Tea Partiers calling President Obama a socialist is also a valid observation.
I love politics and it is particularly fun to watch in a democracy – always messy but I would be happy if either extreme would take over. If the far right and far left are angry, he must be doing something right down the middle.
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