Okay, we all know the Tea Party is racist. Right? Wait, some people are still denying that. Is it not enough proof that many people show up at Tea Party rallies with racist signs depicting Obama as a witch doctor or a jungle savage, congress as slave owners and taxpayers as slaves. Or the fact that black members of congress stated that people at a Tea Party rally hurled racial epithets at them.
If that is not enough proof for you, and clearly it is not for many conservatives pundits, there are real scientific studies. A survey by the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality found that members of the Tea Party are 25% more likely of being racially resentful that those who are not Tea Party supporters. In another poll conducted by the New York Times/CBS News survey found that white Tea Party supporters were more likely to believe that "the Obama administration favors blacks over whites" and that "too much has been made of the problems facing black people."
So with this information, why are we still debating the issue? The right wing media, i.e. Fox News, and the Tea Party themselves continue to laugh at the idea that there party is racist. The NAACP has joined with three progressive websites, Think Progress, Media Matters, and New Left Media to create a site TeaPartyTracker.org to monitor racism at Tea Party events. This has got the Right all upset. They claim that some whackadoos show up at their rallies with racist signs and they don’t have any control over that. That may be so. They could however, come out and repudiate racism. Instead of just denying that it exists in their party when it clearly does to some degree, they could say something, anything. But, they don’t.
The outspoken party is very strangely silent when it could have a chance to change some members’ minds. After many examples of racism, the Tea Party Federation did make a statement in April about racism but racism continues to show up. It took McCain a little too long but he eventually spoke up at one his rallies when he was running against Obama and strongly stated that he will not tolerate racism. The Tea Partiers could do the same thing. Not just a statement but the speakers at the rally need to call out the racists in the crowd when they see it. They chose not to, therefore their silence implies acceptance. Racism is not just about the overt signs or use of the “N” word. There is another form of racism in the Tea Party. The majority of Tea Party members hate Obama. Why though? Because he may be Muslim, he may not have been born in the United States. Would these rumors plague a white guy? I tend to think not. That is racism too. So, the birthers out there-I believe they are just a racist.
Before the whole Islamophobia took it out of the spotlight, race relations were hitting a new low in the United States. People thought electing a black president would improve our race relations but instead it just made some white people more scared. Fox News’ main stories over the past year have involved made up scary black people stories, such as Shirley Sherrod and the New Black Panthers. The whole right wing story has been now that we have a black president, watch out whiteys, black people are going to take over the country. It is sad and ridiculous. The Tea Party and other conservative groups have always operated on fear tactics. However, they are putting themselves in such a small box. They now fear Muslims, Black Americans, Mexicans, and other Latinos.
They are alienating themselves and will make their party obsolete. They are afraid of losing power so they are trying, desperately; to make it seem like everyone else is really bad and scary. But the thing is with this tactic, they will lose power. It is only a matter of time. Of course Tea Partiers are racist. But, I don’t think they even realize it. Many members only think of racism as the obvious. They don’t realize that their fear of Obama is probably based on the color of skin. But, I still hold out hope that someone from the party will suggest to its’ members that racism is not cool. You can make signs against Obama’s policies if you want. But, when you create signs based on his race, you are just proving everyone else right.
Please submit your thoughts below!
Pot meet kettle. What always gets me is how someone (or some organization) can single out a sign here or there and then scream RACIST to the top of their lungs all the while every single story on this site (or sites similar to this) is specifically about the black race. Hypocritical? If I were to make a web site that had the word “white” in nearly every story and was for the sole benefit of whites only, I would immediately be labeled racist. No?
Just because there are some fringe elements within the NAACP that are racist, does that mean we automatically discredit the organization? Double standard much?
Double A, you sort of miss the point. As the majority, “white” attitudes, opinions, etc. are virtually guaranteed to be reflected in institutions and popular media. It’s not necessarily to the exclusion of minority attitudes and opinions, but they clearly get short shrift. Since I am part of that majority, I’ve grown up taking that reflection of “white” attitudes (whatever that might be) for granted. But blacks and other minorities don’t have that luxury, so naturally they create media and instiutions to deal with their attitudes and opinions. There’s nothing racist about that, and I suspect if whites were the minority we would do the same thing and no one would think anything of it.
Vox, Point taken. However, do you agree that they do themselves and their organizations a huge disservice by continually screaming racism at every little thing? I equate it to yelling FIRE in a crowed theater each time you see someone light a match. I know, bad analogy because you cannot smoke in any theaters, but you get the point.
remember, you can’t be racist is you are a minority.
websters dictionary defines racism as:
the belief that the genetic factors which constitute race are a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
another one is that:
the belief that ane race is superior to the other.
i am white. i live in a bad part of town. yesterday a black gang member would not let me get on the bus to school because i was white. this is racism. and the racist is in the minority. what say you about that?
I would be careful in simply labeling the far right of the Republican Party as “racist.” I think they are racist, but it’s a lot more complicated than simply hating blacks and Latinos. I don’t know if it works on a conscious level like it did among people who opposed Civil Rights and school integration. I think that it works maybe on a more subconscious level where some white folks see government programs helping minorities out more often than whites, since minorities are in need of government programs more often than whites, and thus become opposed to those programs.
I think it works like that.
WEB
ok lets get an educated person on this page because the person who wrote this article definitly is not. first the witch doctor fiasco is a jab at Obama’s horrible and unconstitutional health care reform. the person at the rally with the tribal savage sign is a racist. but the tea party cannot control its members. anyone who oposses Obama is a safe haven for racists. There are racist members of the Democrat party, the Republican party and the Tea Party. And the “scientific” study is… HAHAHAHAHA!!! I just had to laugh at even the thought of that study being even close to science. Statistacology is not a feild of science and in most colleges is not taught because it is so flawed in design. A 1987 “study” proved that one is more likely to be abducted by aliens then win the lottery(aliens don’t even exist). So your 25% of the tea party is racist is a very big joke. All the tea party wants to do is get back to the constitution which states that “all men have the right to life liberty and property.” All men. even african american. If the Tea party was racist they wouldnt dare endorse the constitution. Here is a link to the tea party’s wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement
you wont find a thing racist in it.
give me feedback and please reply,
Cullen Jones
First off, the sign presaged the official bills creation so that only shows that they hated ideas because Obama made them, and by the way it’s racist using the image of and african tribesman. The prescribe of these rackets signs show that the 25% being racist is very believable. As for the constitution, some tea party signs endorse killing Obama to cleanse the tree of liberty with the blood of a tyrant, Obama, where is that in the constitution? I ll tell you nowhere because unlike the tea party I read the thing and I know what racism is, one of the forms in that spectrum being the purposeful oppression of one’s culture, ideas, or person just because of their color. Thank you for reminding me about the health care project, where the tea party who is mostly under government services opposed ideas they needed because Obama proposed them. That is defined as racism as well, thank you for reminding me.
You’ve got to be $%%&&#@ kidding me! i,ve attended several Tea Party rallies and i dont see any signs of racism! Whoever wrote this is an absolute ignorant idiot! when i go i notice some of the Tea Party members are Black, Asian, Hispanic, Asian, and Arabic. the Tea Party is much more diverse than you think. As a matter of fact the Rally i went up in Springfield MA. was being lead by a black man. He was asked if he supported Obama and he said yes. However he replied he organized the rally so he could make a difference and restore the constitution to its original state. members of all kinds of groups are allowed to join! However the Liberal media just covers it up and tarnishes the Tea Party. By the way im half Asian (Chinese) and 1/4 scottish, also im 1/8 slavic and the rest is Danish. Does that make me a racist because i attended a Tea Party?
I believe that alot of people are quick to call an organization racist without first probing the true problem with todays economy. However, this is the first time I have ever seen signs displayed in the public media, at Tea Party rallys, depicting a president with blatant racial over tones. Moreover the economy is terrible, and when the economy is terrible in this country, racism is the punching bag in the corner that every tries to strike. The truth of the matter is that there is not enough wealth to go around, and there will never be enough. The weathy 3% have the other 97% fighting over table scraps. The old slave class of people(white and minority) are educating themselves and begining to fight back with the same set of rules, which prohibited their advancement in the past.
However, the power structure in this country is setup to rob and skew the level playing field of ‘the persuit of happiness”. These people who circumvent the tax laws, the labor laws, and take civil liberties have bankrupted this country. This power structure has made money off the backs of others, then has the nerve to ask for hand outs, not given to the layman. This type of business has always been practiced in this country, from slavery and it is still the practiced today. Not until Governement stepped in and made the power structure stop.(EX: child labor laws) So why is the Tea Party agaisnt its biggest ally for leveling the playing field for the layman. Because minorities were never suppose to be included in the phrase ‘the persuit of happiness’. For the first time in history the MAJORITY, has loss its since of entitlement. It is the feeling that there are not enough jobs for you or that the Miniorities are moving into your schools and your neighborhoods. The Majority is now trying to say that since they are struggling lets go back to how it was. When going back to how it was is going to exclude you once again.
Understand this we can correct what is wrong in this country. So that the wealthy stop making money off the backs of the minorities. Making the powerstructure pay there fair share of what they owe, holding companies such as AIG to the same standard as Joe’s corner pic-an-save. Or we will revert back to the same cloud of racist discrimination, that will keep the wealthy power structure wealthy!
These tea party thought criminals must be stopped at any cost!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR3RzN4EQgE
I do believe there are people who are racists within the tea party, but there are racist people in every party as well. If you take a look back through history the Democratic Party is by no means a friend to minorities, in perticularly African-Americans. The Civil War was fought against the pro-slavery, pro-democratic southern states, most of the attempts to block civil rights legislation was done by the democratic party, the Klu Klux Klan was a terrorist group started by democratic party and many members of the party and judges were members of the Klan. Even Franklin Roosevelt who was the, so called, hero of the working class, did very little in the equal rights/civil rights area for minorities. The NAACP’s leaders at the time even made the comment that social security had whole just big enough in it to allow most African-American to fall right through it. Most of the pro-civil rights laws were pushed through by the Republican Party. Many of the all black colleges were started by white men, as a matter of fact the NAACP was started by white men as well.
I myself am a independent, so I am not endorsing or condemning any party. Just remember that every party tries to sling mud on the other party. They are always going to exploit any ugly element of the opposing party. If you do any research on the Conservative ideology which is what the Tea Party follows as well. The views should be part of every citizen. They involve concepts like individual liberty ( for all races), natural laws, which are given to all men and women of any race, by God and which were to be protected by the Constitution from other individuals and from government. The parties views on limited government were a part of their ideology because the Founders knew man was greedy and power hungry. In other words the Founders realized the biggest threat to individual liberty was to let man corrupt the government. If the government had stay small like it was before the great depression it wouldn’t be able to be manipulated and corrupted by corporations and those with wealth the way it is today. The three branches of government have repeatly stepped out of its Constitutional restraints all throughout history and still do today. Don’t forget that this nation was to be a federalist type of government for the most part. The Constitution was signed by the states with the idea that the majority of power stayed with the states and in the end with the people. This country is ment to be a peoples rule, not a rulers rule type system. We the people give the government and all its elements its power and are to control the government, not the government control us.
I personally have not seen the poster, but have heard comments about them on the radio. It sounds to me that the posters have more to do with Obamas political ideologies and the other parties dissagreement with them, than with Obamas skin color. However, any time someone doesn’t like what Obama says, its automaticly thought of as racism, which really isn’t fair. Like I said some might very well be racist but that could be true for all the parties. The same issues would be present had Hillary Clinton been elected as well, only they would be claimed as anti-women.
Someone allready hinted at this, which is the fact that most if not all of this fighting done between the races and the classes are done on purpose. If he are all fighting ourselves and blaming each other for our problems we will not have the time or energy to put up a fight for our nation and get our government working the way it should, which is for all of us.
Stop the finger pointing and let us all get united. It’s the whole political system that is broken and only us the people can fix it.
” Of course Tea Partiers are racist. But, I don’t think they even realize it. Many members only think of racism as the obvious. They don’t realize that their fear of Obama is probably based on the color of skin”
Don’t tell me why I don’t like Obama b/c his skin. I am judging him by the content of his character, not the color of his skin. Every sign of bush’s were so horrible, was that racist…..was there self hating white people who didn’t like him b.c hes white.
Obama’s Big government bailout of the banks, the auto industry, the mortgages, the spending, the Wall Street money, healthcare take over , this countries sense of entitlement, the government blatant disregard for the american public is the reason for the Tea Party.
The Tea party actually identified and elected many candidates that are not white…..OH NO….what will this racist bunch do next…
Just because some idiots raise racist signs at Tea party conventions, doesn’t mean the Tea party is racist. In fact the tea party has comment to these people that this is not what its all about. Plenty of racism has come from all parties, but we must look past it.
I’m not a member of a tea party, although, I do agree with many of their views with respect to the waste of our tax dollars. The only people I hear or see calling someone else a racist is from the liberal left. Most conservatives will not carry racist signs, call someone racist names or attach racist slogans to a campaign.
I know about one survey, by a liberal professor, that indicated that members of the tea party had a lower opinion of the black community than those not members of a tea party. I like to see a real survey, without political leanings done. But I have many friends of different ethnic persuasions who are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. They agree with the tea party, does that make them racist.
At least we don’t exclude people from our group because of political affiliation.
Excellent point. People who are members of the Tea Party are in denial that the organization is racist to the core. It is time to call them out for what they really are. Enough is enough!