Martin Luther King Would Have Loved the Teabaggers, Not Called Them Racists

A few weeks ago, I attended the teabagger protests in DC. The thing I noticed the most about the folks there was that, for the most part, they were friendly, nice, hardworking people. Sure, there were some crazies; sure, there were some racists. For the most part, though, they looked like the type of folks I grew up with in the labor movement, coming to DC to enjoy a protest and spend the rest of the weekend taking in some monuments and museums. These weren't rich suburbanites; the teabaggers I saw were mainly poor people, whose trip to DC were probably the only vacation they would be able to afford this year.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, I had known many poor white people, but they all seemed to vote for Democrats because they had manufacturing jobs and were union members. Gradually, though, the unions -- which were a means of educating people about politics -- evaporated under the anti-union policies of Democrats and Republicans alike. I saw more and more strong Democrats turn Republican as they began to distrust a Democratic Party that took away their jobs with policies like NAFTA and one after another massive corporate giveaway.

Even recently, my own grandmother, a lifelong Democrat, admitted to my mother that she was unsure about health care reform because of the "death panels."

Is my grandmother some sort of stupid, racist, teabagging reactionary? I think not. This is the woman who, after all, told me stories about how she was called a "Mediterranean n**ger" growing up and was sympathetic to the experience of African-Americans. But has my grandmother been lied to by Democrats and Republicans alike and seen her standard of living decline over the past 30 years? Sure. And has this led my grandmother to the point where she is so confused about what to believe that she simply doesn't trust government because, mostly, what government has done is hurt her over the last 30 years? Without a doubt.

As Sara Robinson argues in her must-read piece analyzing the rise of the teabagger movement among working-class Americans:

No democracy in history has ever survived with our current levels of inequality. There's no reason for the middle and working classes to trust anything about a system that's so clearly rigged to suck money straight out of their pockets into the tax-free offshore bank accounts of the wealthy - who, of course, turn right around and use that money to buy off our government, so they can suck up even more of our economy for themselves.

People are confused. They are angry, and they have little faith in government.

As the president pointed out in his speech, we are all guilty of a racial subconscious on one level, but few of us intentionally want to hate another person. People get very offended when you call them racists because most people don't intend or want to act in a racist matter.

I, myself, am guilty of have experiencing racist thoughts at time. But I have marched in civil rights marches, dated women of color and shared an apartment for a very long time with a person of color. However, I was outraged when the head of an organization told me that they would like to hire me, but they couldn't because they needed to hire a person of color.

Likewise, I cringed a few weeks ago when a well-off, South Asian colleague of mine at a strategy meeting stood up and said, "Forget about white working class males. We need to expose them for the racist scumbags that they are."

As a white male from a working-class background, I thought to myself, "Who the hell is this guy, to get up and say that the folks I grew up with -- my family members -- are 'racists scumbags.'" It made me feel defensive.

I thought to myself, "I bet you the only white working-class males this guy interacts with are the guys serving him hamburgers on the way to his vacations in the Hamptons." My immediate reaction was not to listen to him, but to figure out a way to attack back.

Likewise, the progressive movement -- in particular, progressive bloggers -- are making a big mistake in attacking the other side by calling them racist. It merely makes them feel defensive because nobody wants to listen to someone who is attacking them with such an emotional bomb.

Its makes the teabaggers resent the progressive movement and view them as rich, college-educated elitists that only want to tell them how wrong they are.

Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are giving white working-class males a huge hug. They are saying, "Come here; we understood you; we are one of you. We will fight on your behalf against elitist liberals who call you names." Working-class people, especially men, respond by listening to Glenn Beck even more and attacking progressives. It's an endless, destructive cycle in which no one wins.

As Martin Luther King explained in his sermon "The Strength To Love":

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.

During the whole dialog on teabaggers, I never heard the narrative of why these poor people were turning up at the town halls. They were turning up because they were scared of change, because the only change they have known is their standard of living dramatically decreasing over the last 30 years. I never heard anyone talk about how most of the teabaggers are the people that need health care reform the most.

In fact, we got off message entirely. We stopped talking about health care reform altogether. We failed to articulate a progressive vision these people might buy into. We took an eye for an eye, leaving everyone blind.

Very few of us made any attempt to really reach out and embrace these teabaggers on the issues that we share with them. Many of their concerns about the bailout, NAFTA-style trade deals and the general loss of trust in government are core progressive issues. We could lock arms with the teabaggers and form a powerful alliance, but, instead, we attack our potential allies because we do not take the time to engage them.

As Martin Luther King explains:

Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they cannot communicate.

If we don't communicate with the white working class, we are never going to achieve true progressive change. We are just going to attack each other in an endless cycle and fail to realize our shared values.

It's time that we raise up above immature name calling and start talking to the teabaggers. Together, we can win!

 

Follow Mike Elk on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MikeElk

Comments

[IUAlumna]

The problem is that most people are friendly and nice when they perceive you are part of their group. The author, a self-described white working class male, fit right in. In fact I bet most of the ordinary Germans who voted for Hitler were nice people too, most of the time.

[Validusername]

Exactly. I found them to be different when I was on the pro-side of "dueling healthcare rallies." They were not friendly, cordial, etc. In fact most of them were clearly trying to bait us into engaging with them. This was in August and there was a lot of anger out there, so we decided not to give them the confrontations they so seemed to want. If you are not one of them, and we clearly were not, they do not behave like the "salt of the earth people" the author met. Martin Luther King would have known this and acted accordingly. Now maybe he would have tried to engaged them in constructive conversation, but he would have been aware of who they were.

[cliffstep]

I agree with the writer on his general principle: love is stronger than hate.
But I believe he is drawing a false equivalency here. The folks who marched for civil rights in the 50s and 60s knew what and who they were marching for. There was no case to make that they were tools of some other individual or group who stood to benefit from their actions. The case is there in the case of the teabaggers. From the insurance companies to Fox News to the wealthy in general , they are aggrandized , kept in business , or can delay/end calls for higher taxes of multi-millionaires. They use/support ignorant and fearful people to carry their banners while they stay in the shadows.
Not unlike the Civil War , when thousands of poor white folk who never owned slaves fought and died for the business model of the wealthy slave owners.
And , while the term "racist" is overused , just look at the pictures. Are we wrong to point out that almost without exception all the faces are white - and well-fed?
Also , the writer stated that these people saw their standard of living decrease over thirty years. I would ask him to revisit 1992 - 2000.

[als 360]

NaW love isn't stronger than hate. love and hate are just polar oppisites. You can't go through life loving everybody nor hating everybody. Just doesn't make sense. Some people who hate you and you love can be changed but you try that with everybody and you doomed to failure they may even hate you more.

[Truth Wins]

Thank you for this article, Mike. While I still don't agree with every point it definitely made me think!

The main thing I took out of it is that we all get duped by the richest , the white collar criminals, while we are trying to finish each other off down there. With this we just play into their hands. As long as we are distracted, they can continue to steal.

So, yes: there is absolutely the need to find common ground. And I think I start to realize more what the president is up to. I know he meant it when he said his famous: We are not the red America or the blue America, we are the United States of America.

[themainpoint]

There is a trap that has been set for both Democrats and Republicans and many gullible people are walking right into that trap.

It is the divide-and­-conquer-t­he-america­n-people-t­rap.

Who set it? The very same powerfulcorporate interests who have been taking this country apart, piece by piece while Dem and Republican voters are distracted by throwing insults and each other. Who else set it? Their friends in the corporate media and some in government who represent only two extreme sides, and who work together (even though it might not appear that way) to fan the flames of division between the two sides.

One example of they get you all going?
They focus on a minority of crazies and a few racists signs and wash your brain until you think that the majority of the people of one group are like the minority.

Why would they do this?
To prevent change. Because Americans of both parties, the great majority of them, have the same interests. And if they put their religious differences aside and came together to demand that Congress actually do something besides fund wars and bailouts, the numbers would be too big for Congress to ignore.

Don't walk into the trap. These Americans you are being brainwashed to fear are much more like you than you think.

[Zonie]

You got it. I wish more would see it.

[noudidnt]

Dr. King isn't here thanks to a working-class whi te male.

[Nommo]

Well, whoever it was had high powered rifle expertise and everything in place to effect an escape.
Working class people tend not to have those kinds of connections.

[tehixe]

Are you SERIOUS? We should form an alliance with the teabaggers?

You seem to be missing an important point: all of the current problems existed during the Bush administration. What did we hear from the teabaggers? Not a peep.

These people are not a policy-based political movement. They talk about their fear because they have virtually nothing else to say. They do not have principled policy positions. All they have is "us good, them bad." Liberalism is their devil, it doesn't matter if liberalism would benefit them in the end. It's a matter of identity politics -- because liberals are the "other," they can never be accepted.

The teabaggers are not a genuine political movement. They are an erupting cyst of social animus. You're right that it's unproductive for us to hate them, but we cannot love them over to our side. They are stuck into their way of thinking, they're a lost generation that will be with us until they die out (which will be a much longer time if we pass healthcare reform). What we must do is fix the economic troubles faced by the poor and middle class, we must improve the lives of these people who hate us. Then their children, or perhaps their children's children, will forget what they're so mad about and realize that collective action through government is a good thing.

[themainpoint]

"The teabaggers are not a genuine political movement. They are an erupting cyst of social animus."

"These people are not a policy-based political movement. They talk about their fear because they have virtually nothing else to say. They do not have principled policy positions. All they have is "us good, them bad." Liberalism is their devil, it doesn't matter if liberalism would benefit them in the end. It's a matter of identity politics -- because liberals are the "other," they can never be accepted."

Just listen to yourself. You are doing what you accuse, "us good, them bad." Do you really mean to be so intolerant and promote division among Americans?

Take a look at countries (like Iraq, for example) with deep divisions that are never healed. Is this what you want for our country?

There are extremists on both sides, but put 100 of your average Dems and Republicans in a room together and they'll find people they can like and agree with on many issues.

[AtheistMaximus]

Why is it always the job of the progressives to embrace the other side? Liberals were ostracized every minute in the Bush Admin. where was your article then? If they do not choose to inform themselves, then they are doomed to wallow in their angst and malice. If they want to join the grown up table they will have to start acting like one.

[hippie chucker]

Martin Luther King spent his life rooting out the racism within the Democratic Party. I'd ask you to read a bit about the Klan, and its origins as a terroristic wing of the Democratic Party. Seeing as how Democrats supported slavery, and did all they could to support Jim Crow, its no wonder that MLK was Republican.

[MoeB]

You're making a false connection. Democrats of today are a TOTALLY different party than they were in the 40's and 50's...much like republicans are completely different than they were when they freed the slaves.

[BECKtionary]

sniff, sniff (~,_~,) WE SHALL OVERCOME, maybe in a parrallel universe.

[wildedge]

We SHALL overcome, that is the tragedy of this moment, it is such a waste of time - progress will not be halted by loons or even by the media or corrupt politicians. The day of the neanderthal is over.

[shryock]

you say your grandmother was unsure about health care reform because of the 'death panels.' you say she "is so confused about what to believe that she simply doesn't trust government because, mostly, what government has done is hurt her over the last 30 years."

well, since i do not know your grandmother, i can only tell you that what most people need to do is educate themselves. do not rely on one source of news and information, read at least two opposing newspapers, read at least two opposing news magazines, watch at least two news programs (not commentary programs). check the facts for yourself.

yes, the government has done some bone-headed things..... iraq, for one. but government also keeps the electric company from electrocuting you when you plug in your television, makes sure that food companies do not poison you, administers the social security system that keeps many seniors from poverty. try searching out the things government has done to help you for 30 years.

most people are scared of 'death panels' because some idiot told them they should be scared of that. they were ready to believe the idiot because they did not do their own research. sadly, the idiots count on that. they rely on the fact that they can scare their listeners because their listeners will not do their own investigations. scary commentators hurt more people than the government ever did or ever will and thurt them far worse.

[johnfoirdfw]

Alright, we don't call them racist. We identify them correctly as misinformed victims being manipulated to prevent an agenda of positive change.

[YunekFlava]

Really nice!

[Nettrice]

Good response...and I would add manipulated by race (Obama)...

[themainpoint]

The voice of reason. And I would add that informing and educating any misinformed should be top priority, which, of course, can't be done in an atmosphere of conflict and hate.

I would also add, that it would be pretty far out to suggest that one side has all the truth and the other has none. So maybe we can all learn from each other.

[whalerpilot]

The tea baggers of King's day were similar to today. They are led by misconceptions and false propaganda that served to perpetuate racism or class separation. I recall how the FBI under Hoover stalked King and considered him a communist and a threat to our national security. The majority of the contemporary tea baggers are uneducated and are led by fears that are nothing more than propaganda perpetuated by the ruling class to solidify their control over the working class. This is nothing new and has existed throughout the centuries of time. The common denominator is that oppression breeds fear, mistrust, and hatred. Only enlightenment and a understanding of this coercion will lead to commonality and advancement of the principles that MLK stood for.

[hippie chucker]

Well, seeing as how MLK was a republican, and the Klan being a Democratic institution during the civil rights movement, I'm not sure where you were going with your analogy.

[MoeB]

You are trying to make this into a republican/democrat thing when it's not...you've completely missed the point of Elk's piece. Good job.

[reinadelaz]

I think you might have a bit more credibility in this post if you would stop calling participants of the so-called 'tea party' demonstrations 'teabaggers.' Maybe they do not know that this is a filthy reference, but I doubt that you do not.

[Pyrum]

Personally, I think the country would be better off if we dropped all this "PC" stuff. Call me a "teabagger" if you like, even if you mean it in a derogatory way, I don't care.

[jhamm1]

My pleasure.

[dfranz]

It would be easier to have empathy for those tea baggers if they had not completely bought into the BS that the Republican party and the Insurance Industry has fed them.

The other problem is that they DO have a problem that the President, elected by the voters, is a black man. Many of these same people are the Birthers who fantasize about some kind of revolution that will sweep Obama from office and return the Republican party to its past days of glory.

It's hard to have anything in common with people who show hate so openly and don't use reason when having a conversation.

[Nettrice]

A black man with a white mother.

[Beck rocks]

You could start by dropping the term "teabagger" which you will see, with minimum research, is a vile, derogatory term.

[wildedge]

For vile derogatory-worthy people, it is sufficiently accurate.

[gurukalehuru]

They chose the term and stuck to it even after they were informed of its sexual meaning. Teabaggers they are.