"People of integrity expect to be believed, and they wait for time to prove them right." My friend Ray says this a lot, though he's not sure where it originated, and I think it's apt, considering the story of my experience with racism in the South has been met with skepticism by some Tea Party supporters in my hometown and the South in general, on the assumption I fabricated it to make trouble and create debate, because they believe racism is no longer a problem here. News accounts and corroborating witnesses prove my story, though only I know what was going on in my head while it was happening. Yes racism exists all over this country and not just in the South, but those who deny racism exists at all in the South, or deny racism is inherent within the Tea Party movement are lying to themselves or incapable of recognizing it when they see it.
It was alive and well just last Thursday night when I attended an event hosted by the Mobile Chapters of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform and the League of Women Voters, and a Tea Party activist disrupted the discussion panel to rant about immigration reform, because he wanted laws created to, and I quote, "keep foreigners from working in our country and taking our jobs!"
I'm not sure if he thought this event was about reforming the United States Constitution or if he simply wanted a soapbox and media attention, but his ignorance of immigration laws was alarming just the same. Therein lies the biggest problem with the Tea Party movement. Ignorance and fear begets bigotry, and bigotry begets violence that escalates the longer it festers, which is why we're only seeing this now that a black man has become President.
The idea perpetuated by the Tea Party movement to "Take back our country!" from [insert non-white male here] is no more than racism in drag. The Alabama Constitution was created by a group of wealthy white male landowners in 1901 for the sole purpose of disenfranchising minorities and women. The ironic thing about this is they inadvertently disenfranchised poor white males in the process. I like to call it God's little joke.
Eventually, Jim Crowe laws were overturned by the federal government Tea Party supporters distrust and dislike so much, and desegregation was dragged kicking and screaming into our public schools, though don't despair, we Southerners are a crafty bunch and found a way around this little nuisance. Segregation and underfunding of public education in Alabama is still ensured even today, legally of course, in the form of a plethora of private schools populated mostly by white children, while most black children attend public schools. That's racism, Southern Style.
Minorities and women are still paid less in the South than compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country, and I've worked for enough businesses owned and managed by old-Mobile white money families to see firsthand black people are only hired to fill quotas, if they are hired at all. It's just a little more wacky southern-style racism people here think doesn't exist. It's subtle and never talked about out loud, and the ones who get the most offended by the acknowledgement of its existence are the ones most likely to commit the moral crime, while claiming to have black friends. Yes, for the most part, lynchings and Klan rallies are a thing of the past. The jokes are more carefully delivered, the acts cloaked into something more acceptable, but it's here and it needs to be acknowledged and discussed. Only then can attitudes be changed and true equality reached.
America is a nation of immigrants. All of us are mutts, therefore it goes against the grain of our free society to create laws to deny prosperity to those who work for it on the basis of race, language, or nationality. The Tea Party mantra of "Take back our country!" is racism cloaked in patriotism by people who can't compete, can't adapt, and no longer have the protection and security of simply being white. This is even more prevalent in the South. Their fear the world is leaving without them, their fear the federal government won't favor them and the state government doesn't have the authority, their fear the ones they have for so long been able to oppress and keep in their place are no longer willing to stay there and are therefore gaining more power, and their lack of control over these changes around them is what is driving this movement. They can call it whatever they want, justify it in whatever way helps them sleep at night, but I see the truth and it disgusts me.
I'm also confident that no one here is troubled by the fact that, despite a $10,000 reward, not one person has come forward with any video or audio evidence of the repulsive conduct alleged by the three lawmakers, and that the "spitting" incident has been conclusively shown to be a lie. No, it's not possible that Democratic Representatives and Senators created a confrontation and then lied about what they heard. Only "those people" would do that.
I was so upset by what I experienced at the rally, I wrote an article to the local newspaper.
I am posting the link to the Camdenton Missouri newspaper article so that other bloggers can go to the link and comment on my reaction.
I would appreciate you feedback because I feel that the Tea Party I attended was a racist rally.
I am offended.
Thanks so much and I will be waiting to hear your responses.
Click on the Link below:
http://www.lakenewsonline.com/opinions/x932361659/Lake-View-What-tea-party
Bob Beckerle
over the road truck driver I had the misfortune
to be given a rare day off in Mobile. I wanted to
celebrate my free 24 hours with a cold beer but
was limited to within walking distance from my
rig. After wandering about in a square mile area
of depressed and downtrodden Mobile (truckers
don't get to park in the nice part of any town in
America) I found a bar but it had a "Members
only - Private club" sign on the door. Being thirsty
and a lover of cold beer I decided to take a chance
and see what it would take to become a member
of this fine establishment (damn near dirt floor
stinking rat hole of a joint) I boldly entered these
restricted premises and politely asked what it
would take to join these dozen or so "real murikan
patriots" and their one set of teeth. I was promptly
informed that I was "white enough so have a seat".
And yes, I'm still ashamed of myself for doing so but
hey - over the road drivers seldom get a chance for
a cold beer and I luvs me a cold beer. Sounds like
1950 but try 1990.
As previously disclosed, many are collecting unemployment
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28teaparty.html
Well Said: I think many of these tea baggers are scared of their own shadow. Their idea of exotic food is Taco Belle.
Here are some interesting links to show these people are on borrowed time
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/no_20091219_6555.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/us/07south.html?hpw
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12census.html?scp=3&sq=Non%20White%20births%20in%20the%20US&st=cse
It was said 2040, White Americans will be a minority. Given the changing birth demographics, it may come sooner. Thank God
http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_blackshirt.html
On the other hand, since most followers are middle-aged, this may all just pass within a decade as younger voters take control. If the teabaggers had a strong youth contingent and unlimited funds, then I'd be worried. But neither are true as of yet.
Furthermore, today's Tea Party, or rather the Libertarian movement has been taken over by extreme right militia groups, racist groups, anti-abortion groups, and right-wing demogogues and isn't even remotely the organization it was during Bush's tenure, so basically you're comparing apples to oranges.
In addition, the Libertarian Party wasn't big enough to affect the outcome of the Presidential or Congressional elections at the time they occured. It was Democrats and Independents, otherwise known as moderates, who elected President Obama and gave Democrats the majority in Congress. Independents chose Obama because they were worried about the extreme right agenda of the Republican Party.
These people do not vote for Democrats, and they want to take our country even further to the right than Bush did. Until they denounce and deny access to the extremists who have hijacked their movement, then they are in fact condoning their actions and are guilty by association.
As for protesting, well, I guess you missed the End The Fed rallies and the anti-Patriot Act rallies that took place mainly in D.C.
Please, you seem to be very intelligent but your whole comment is filled with ridiculous inaccuracies that appear to be driven by a need to insult the Tea Party movement. While I understand this, as a true Libertarian I take offense to someone throwing myself and others into the mix with these faux-Libertarian Beckborgs.
The basis of the Tea Party is about the obscene spending from Bush and Obama. If you have yet to figure out what the basis of the movement is, then you shouldn't be writing an article on it.
Don't tell me, "Where were they when Bush did it?" How do you think the Democrats won such huge victories?