The NAACP made a big splash today by saying that the Tea Party “tolerates racism in its ranks.” That’s just one click away from calling them a racist organization. Okay, maybe a half a click. Unfortunately, I think this kind of broad and unfounded accusation will do far more harm to the NAACP than the Tea Party.
Accusations like these don’t work for a few reasons:
1) There is nothing about their stated strategy or platform that’s even remotely related to race (with the possible exception of immigration)
2) It’s flat-out silly to accuse an entire group of a single-minded and unspoken agenda
3) There are so many ways to couch racist ideas and agendas that it’s impossible to prove
For all of these reasons, crying what will perceived as wolf will do nothing good for the NAACP or their cause.
But none of that addresses the real issue of truth. Is it true? Is the Tea Party founded on and fed by racism? Well, maybe.
Tea Partiers are overwhelmingly older, white, and conservative, which means they hate change, and they long for the way things used to be. So how did things used to be?
• Americans weren’t really aware of politics the way they are now, thanks to 24-7 news coverage
• There was no such thing as Fox News, an entire network devoted to promoting the conservative agenda, even at the cost of truth and even sensibility
• People now in the Tea Party rarely had to interact with anyone not like them, i.e., white and protestant, when they were younger
People--particularly conservatives--fear change. A lot. People are suspicious of change. A lot. And if you believe the rise of one group (non-whites, non-Christians) will mean the demise of another (WASPs), that could send you into a panic. Just imagine if you became a minority and were treated the way you treated them! That could be disasterous.
Now imagine that your neighborhood has begun to look very different, unfamiliar. Imagine that the media has whipped you into a frenzy about all the angry brown people who hate you and your country. Imagine that America—your country!—has elected a brown man as its president. And he has one of them foreign-sounding names.
Unfortunately, expressing those fears isn’t socially acceptable. And besides, you’re not a racist, you have plenty of black friends. “Work friends” count, right?
The really hard part about all this is that most of the people who have these feelings probably don’t even recognize them for what they are. It all really just mixes together into a slurry of discomfort. All you really know is that something’s wrong. Maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know things didn’t used to feel like this.
So what’s changed? Strike that. What’s changed and is all right to name and openly rail against? How about taxes? The deficit? Immigrants . . . who are illegal? I’ve got it, healthcare for people who don’t pay as much in taxes as you do! There are so many shells under which to hide the ball.
I’m not saying that the real motivation for all people who pine for yesteryear is racism, and I’m certainly not saying that all Tea Partiers are unclear about their motives. But I think the Tea Party has become a safe and convenient haven for people who are angry for a variety of reasons. Sometimes those reasons are what they appear to be, and often, I believe, they're not.
1 comment:
Oh man, Doug. There is so much to like here. If I got no more than the phrase "slurry of discomfort," I would be well satisfied. But there is a lot more here.
I really like your point that these people are upset about things they aren't allowed to say, even to themselves. Anxieties tend to be a little blurry anyway and if you aren't allowed to say them, they just pile up. That makes everything worse. About the only thing left to do is to huddle up with people who are upset, as you are, and who aren't allowed to say, either. Then you can make as much noise as you want and that awful suspicion that there's something wrong with you is just covered over.
And then, as you say, you can always displace the things that worry you onto things you are allowed to worry about. If you do that, only the over-the-top intensity seems odd; not the grievances themselves.
This is a beauty.
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