Paint the Tea Party Black
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 11:00AM
Washington Post PostPartisan blogger Jonathan Capehart brought up a widely spread column by anti-racist writer/activist Tim Wise from April today, rehashing Wise's question of "What If the Tea Party Black?" in Wise's post "Imagine: Protest, Insurgency and the Workings of White Privilege." In the essay, Wise illustrates the nature of White Privilege when it comes to fringe movements. How one persons' anti-government, homemade sign party is another person's dangerous hoods and radicals.
From Tim Wise:
Imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?
To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.
And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
To back up Wise's argument a bit, Capehart points to the response to the 90s song "Cop Killer" by rapper Ice-T's rock group Body Count and how the song lead to a condemnation by the President and countless bipartisan organizations. I remember at the time thinking that was a gross over reaction to a song most people had never heard by a group few people knew. This also made me think of the reactions to past fringe or black organizations that were deemed radical, like the Black Panther Party of old, where most members ended up dead or in prison, the bombing of the MOVE group in Philadelphia and the current FOX News backed fervor over the so-called New Black Panther Party that even the previous Bush Administration had no interest in investigating because they were deemed so marginal.
Richard Prince, for his Journal-isms Blog with the Maynard Institute captures the difference in how many in the press versus how some conservatives view an isolated incident that happened Philadelphia two years ago.
From Richard Prince's Journal-isms:
It's not every day that commentators Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, Juan Williams of Fox News and NPR, Errol Louis of the New York Daily News, Roland Martin of CNN and TV One, and the editorial pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are in agreement.
And that such agreement stands in contrast to the views expressed by Fox News Channel and its commentators Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, and by Armstrong Williams, the Washington Times, the National Review and others in the conservative blogosphere.
Such is the case in the controversy over whether a fringe group called the New Black Panther Party is the beneficiary of racial solidarity from President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as the group allegedly sought to escape responsibility for supposedly intimidating black voters in Philadelphia nearly two years ago.
The first group of commentators says the allegation is absurd at best, and at the very least, blown out of proportion. The latter group says the charges are valid and demand more media attention.
The second group is winning.
Radical black groups don't last long in America. And by radical, I'm referring to ones the most similar to the Tea Party Movement, your anti-government, pro-gun, black separatist movements. There was a reason Martin Luther King and others embraced non-violence. Not only because it was morally sound, but because if you actually did try to fight for your freedom by advocating force, you essentially signed your death warrant. People will politely invoke the Bill of Rights for John Birchers or anti-abortion activists. But let a bunch of black men stand around with guns (Or no guns. Just look mad.) and it can inspire and galvanize the fears of the masses to the point of over reaction. The only black group I can think of that has survived although it was explicitly separatist and disinterested in engaging with government is the Nation of Islam. And it's not like the Nation had an easy go of it as it is still viewed by many as a hate group. Just ask ol' Stanely Crouch.
Which is why the whole NAACP versus the Tea Party is rather silly. I make fun of the NAACP, we all make fun of the NAACP. They're like your snooty old uncle at the party who hasn't been down to Mississippi to see Grandmama in ages. But the NAACP, historically, is an organization that fought for the rights of African Americans using peaceful protest, the legal system, marches, boycotts, education, activism, advocacy and organization. It's a little bit of a stretch to act like the NAACP, a group that gave wee teen actress Dakota Fanning a nomination for an Image Award, are a bunch of loony radicals. They're old and stodgy and kind of set in their ways, but they mostly mean well. They were just severely late to the whole "racist elements in the Tea Party" game. So I just can't with the people who are clutching their pearls and calling up death threats on Ben Jealous and the gang. It's not like the NAACP "imagined" racists at Tea Party rallies. Especially when you have the likes of Tea Party enthusiast Mark Williams running around free, yapping about the "coloreds." They just went about their condemnation in a weird, "look at me" sort of way that made them look weak and ineffectual.
But if anything "good" came out of the NAACP's stunt is that if you're a black Tea Party conservative you got yourself some face time on the ol' teevee! You're not a myth! You're all "real" and stuff. Heck, I even heard the Tea Party folks were gonna throw themselves a "Uni-Tea" bash and have black Tea Party conservatives rock the house.
See? Progress!
Now if they all show up with their guns and start talking how it's "Clobberin' time" I might watch.
Reader Comments (8)
You bring up some great points in this piece! I have always thought about the exact same points you and Tim Wise. White privilege so much of a unseen prospect for many Americans that its like seeing a unicorn for the, The ish just is just fantasy of minorities and Peaceniks
Of course the NAACP is "old and stodgy and kind of set in their ways." What do you expect from an organization that still has the phrase "colored people" in its title? Go easy on them though. They're an institution.
I have had these thoughts on white privilege whenever I hear "take back our country". From whom are you taking this country back from, really. I witness daily this privilege when as a black woman, I disagree with a comment\idea and give my reasons why said idea may not work and as I speak, I am over talked by someone and I raise my voice just a bit to be heard, I'm asked if I'm angry or ok? So I'm not allowed to express in a passionate way but others are.
I do my best to not engage in politics at work but lord help those few who have tried me. I think I'll just direct them here so I don't have to keep explaining myself since you clearly are in my head.
@ akilahsway, it's not that they want to "take our country back" FROM, they want to "take our country back" TO...back to 1947 when black folks knew their place and it damn sure wasn't in the White House.
um people need to stop trippin on the roots of the NAACP and the general disrespect and irrevence, i disssssssagree with the direction its going today, but yo, as far as I can remember i aint never been chased by no dog or hosed down by the POleeease, just cuz i wanted to go to the bathroom, and my high priced Degree from the ivy league school i got, yo, i didn't pay with strips on my back, someone else did. With that being said, don't forget where you come from. critism is fine, but young my folks people paid for my "privledges" with their lives, if you aint gon be a help, dont be a hinderance.
great article, true. People just know that before the Partners every caused damage, the govt 'shut um down' they never have power, the tea partiers are given free reign, its somehow okay to dog out blacks, we are 'seen' as less valuable(not in God's eyes tho) Rush limbaugh- all in the family, hummmm, I think i have more respect for Rush than Archie Bunker....this was on TV, far as I know we never had a TV sitcom about the racist blacks who live down the street. Can you say DOUBLE STANDARD.
Panthers not partners and Privileges..sorry i can't spell( I guess I need to USE my 'gree) :)
I am a card carrying stodgy NAACP member. Why complain about the Association, if you never went to a meeting? How can you? Among other things, the NAACP lobbies Congress and sponsors a young professional retreat to exchange ideas to address social justice. By the time the nationals come around, its like a class reunion. If you have a better social justice organization that's done more for minorities over the last 100 years, then invite me to their meetings.
Follow the arguments of Tim Wise at your own peril.
He has a "What If {fill in the blank } were Black" article for any White Conservative figure that one can imagine.
What Mr Wise and others never seem to be able to do, however, is to focus on the more critical question: "What if the ideological adversaries of the balance of Black people had the control over our KEY INSTITUTIONS today as do the Black Progressive Establishment? Would they be run off?"
You see, Tim Wise is not going to talk about how Black people need to focus upon managing the schools in our community, delivering upon the promises that were made as the powers that presently be had made during their ascension into power. In several interviews that I have done "adversary research" upon him - he has noted the Black Activists who have taught him how to spout grievances well.
Mr Wise is never going to promote those from within our community that are making this a "Blood Summer" as being an equal threat to the Black interests as he would tell us that "White Right Wing Militia Groups" are. Be diverted by Mr Wise at your own peril and pacification.
There is nothing that Mr Wise offers that builds up Black Community strength. Instead, as a liberal, Mr Wise knows the power of the INDICTMENT that Black people have to render instead. It is only when we close the door to our "community" house, and are forced to work toward fielding a system of human resource management strategies by which we leverage all of the people within to achieve this end.
Follow Mr Wise at your own peril.