Counterfactual Racial Switcheroo

Previously, I wrote a piece wondering about how the Tea Party would have emerged given the election of a Republican president in 2008. But Tim Wise just one-upped me on the counterfactual front by wondering how Americans would respond to the very same tea party antics if the participants were African American.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose. (Tim Wise)

Read the whole article for yourself. If the members of the tea party have a self-critical soul, than this is worthy of consideration.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama. (Tim Wise)

The Uncomfortable Truth

While most of the movement’s adherents would deny that there’s a racial component, it’s a hard angle to sell when you view the video coverage of their antics. Moreover, with a minimum of reading between-the-lines, it’s clear there is a great deal of generational angst helping to power the movement.

Demographics are impossible to avoid because they practically predict the future. This isn’t the first time the populace saw the makeup of their nation changing and it won’t be the last. Returning to one of the best articles I’ve ever read about this touchy subject by Frank Rich:

If Obama’s first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play. It’s not happenstance that Frank, Lewis and Cleaver — none of them major Democratic players in the health care push (emphasis mine) — received a major share of last weekend’s abuse. When you hear demonstrators chant the slogan “Take our country back!,” these are the people they want to take the country back from. (Frank Rich, TNR)

To be blunt: Aging, white, Christian Americans – many who feel they were on the losing end of the civil rights movement – are fearful of a future where white people aren’t dictating the terms of America’s future.

America Changes

Before there were whites, there were Scots, Iris, Italian, German, etc. Now we just call it “white” because, as surely as there are different ethnic groups in America, the whole concept of ethnic group changes. This is doubly so in a country that is so integrationally well equipped.

What we call American is something lain over the ethnicity of every resident. It’s quite pliable and serves as a useful cultural glue. We aren’t really a melting pot, but more of a stew. Somebody send that memo to the tea partiers, because they’re getting terribly upset. And I’m not buying that it’s all about smaller government.

Hat tip to Ted McLaughlin at Best of the Blogs.