only if they believe in the same things the TeaParty stands for... else, not
Posted on 07/15/2010 2:12:19 PM PDT by neverdem
Yes, the Tea Party movement is overwhelmingly white. But this writer says the black community should stop being emotional and consider the facts.
As a black woman in America, I have remained largely silent about the Tea Party movement and whether the movement itself is ''racist,'' as it is being charged by many in our community, including the leadership of the NAACP.
As a community, we should take a step back for a moment and learn how to stop making emotional judgments and consider the facts about the Tea Party movement.
I think we can all agree that the Tea Party movement, as it stands today, is overwhelmingly white, working to middle class, and overwhelmingly disdainful of President Obama and his policies. My concern with the movement has always been that it was too monolithic. Sadly, when this is the case, we often cannot see the substance and value of such groups because we can easily get distracted by the fact that it is all white, all black or ''all'' something that makes a majority of us feel excluded and unwelcome. In my opinion, the biggest challenge with the Tea Party movement, like the Republican Party, is that it is 99 percent white.
If, for example, you compare the Tea Party movement to the 1963 March on Washington, you will note that a respectable number of white Americans, Jewish people and others attended that historic event and participated in sit-ins, freedom rides and marches that eventually tore down racial segregation in America. It was a multicultural and gender-neutral movement, whereas the Tea Party movement seemingly is not.
But here is my concern: Black Americans for all intents and purposes are in an economic depression right now and have been since 2007, when the housing and economic crises first started to manifest. Yet we seem to be sitting passively by as the black middle class experiences the greatest loss of wealth ever. Folks, we need to be clear, with black male unemployment at 35 percent to 50 percent in some American cities (Great Depression levels) and sisters leading heads of household at alarming rates, we need to get aggressive about a black economic-empowerment agenda that should not be dependent solely on what the government can or cannot do for us.
We have debated many times on op-ed pages around the country and on TV as pundits whether it is appropriate for us as black people to criticize the nation's first black president. My position as a journalist and commentator has always been that we should support our nation's presidents when they are correct and question them vigorously when they are not -- regardless of their color or political party affiliation.
A 2009 New York Times op-ed titled ''The Recession's Racial Divide'' by Barbara Ehrenreich and Dedrick Muhammad began by asking the question, ''What do you get when you combine the worst economic downturn since the Depression with the first black president? A surge of white racial resentment, loosely disguised as a populist revolt.'' I think that in part their conclusion about the Tea Party may miss the larger issues of why the Tea Party exists in the first place. This is something black Americans need to consider carefully. To narrow it all down to race is a straw man that we should not buy into.
I recently watched the History Channel's series The Story of Us, a fabulous documentary about the formation of America through the American Revolution of the mid-1700s. The 12-part series takes you from the great frontier to the Obama presidency. It provides a very clear and majestic insight about what it means to be an ''American.''
What struck me about this documentary most of all was the American Revolution segment and how average, hard-working men and women rebelled against the great British Empire, in large part because of oppressive taxes. The founders, all men of means (many of who owned slaves), risked their very lives and fortunes as ''traitors'' once they declared their "independence" from Great Britain in 1776. What I think we all miss is that the colonies rebelled against economic tyranny and oppression of individual freedom and liberties. This is a key takeaway that often gets lost in the modern Tea Party debate.
In the final analysis, I think we would all be wise to consider what Thomas Jefferson warned: "Every generation needs a new revolution." Does anyone among us really believe that government knows what is best for our lives? Does anyone among us really believe that paying more taxes will solve what is wrong with the poorest and least among us? Perhaps the African-American community needs to consider what we can do to secure our own economic wealth and our own individual liberties. Make no mistake -- we are in perilous times, and to sit by passively and do nothing in the face of such deprivation is against all that we as Americans stand for.
There are more blacks in the Tea party movement than there are whites in the NAACP. So if you have a problem with monolithic groups it should be the NAACP you have issues with.
Please do give the Tea Party movement a good look...come join in, everyone who values America and respects the constitution is welcome.
--- I won't join a group because there aren't enough of "my kind" (whatever that might be) in it?
Somebody 'splain to me how that makes anything better.
>> The black culture is basically a society of liberal lemmings for the most part ,, only the whites could possibly save them from their own demise
I would argue that White Liberals and Leftists have created the environment that Blacks seem unwilling to leave. So, it’s incorrect to say “only the white could possibly save them” - I propose color blind Conservatism as the cure for the Marxist epidemic inflicted upon them. Of course, Conservatism can be self-administered, so I’m making no excuses for those in the know that prefer the misery of Socialism.
“Republican Party is 99% White” is a myth. I know Republicans of every racial background. It takes a strong person to go against what they may feel is expected of them. I’m an American of bi-racial (White and American Indian) background and a strong Conservative Republican. Folks like me are rare.
only if they believe in the same things the TeaParty stands for... else, not
The Dim party has room for basically two groups of people. Those who are on the dole, and those in gov’t which hand out the dole. This plus labor unions is the FDR model.
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Yes, and all three have made very clear their utter disdain for what happens to the rest of the nation so long as they may batten.
btt
I know that's a rather harsh assessment but that attitude leaks out too often to be an anomaly. If that's not the author's POV then my apologies to her. But it seems to be consistent with the views and attitudes of most black "civil rights" leaders.
I live in the high desert and attended a tea-party rally last year. I was welcomed as a fellow American. Period
Good luck.
It's unfortunate that they are very much in the minority of their race.
The real tragedy is that the majority have unwittingly become the mouthpieces for the "gimme-gimme" liberals in our country.
Exactly the tea party is not ALL white. There are many different shades of tea partiers.
I have been to four Tea Party rallies and at every one there was at least one black speaker who came to the podium. One of the best speeches came from a young black man who had dreadlocks in his hair and looked like anything but a conservative but he stood up for the constitution like few speakers ever do. One black former Marine spoke at three of the meetings, he is someone I have been acquainted with for years, he came to my house once, he is as solidly conservative as anyone you could know.
And all this happened in the,”Cradle of the Confederacy”.
“The goal of the Tea Party is not about rescuing black people from their overwhelming poor judgment...”
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That would be an incidental effect of Tea Party success.
>> So you will never convince me that they are ready to save their own bacon from socialism or communism .
Not trying to. All I’m saying is the appeal of Conservatism must be made on its merits, and not necessarily through the persuasive hand of the “White man”.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Allen West in the 2012 primaries. He seems to have a solid Conservative perspective despite the racial divisiveness used to discredit his contributions to our Liberties.
Well sure, I’ve been to several Tea Party meetings in which there were blacks in attendance, and one it which a black man even spoke, but that is not the point.
My comment was directed to this black woman’s OWN thesis of “Yes, the Tea Party movement is overwhelmingly white”.
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I do not believe the analysis goes to that depth. I don't think a direct connection is made between the small government goals of the Tea Party, and a threat to end the generations-long, payout largesse of socialist government programs.
For the majority of blacks, the decision is made on a more visceral level: white-Americans predominate so this just can't be good for black-Americans. Their world view, which necessitates the inclusion of hyphenation in the preceding sentence (and everywhere else), illustrates the problem.
>> a black man , the chairman of the GOP , lost by 94% to 3%
I attribute that to political affinity - not because Blacks refused to vote for a Black man.
I’d like to see at least 20% voting in favor of Conservatism. I’m not holding my breath.
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