Saturday, May 1, 2010

imagine if the tea party was black

a very interesting perspective about the tea party protests in the US is given in this article by tim wise. i'll share some from the beginning, then you can read the rest if you like.

"Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

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.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington."

8 comments:

MikeS said...

I fisked this on another site. It's clever, but the rally he's talking about neither had guns nor talked of overthrowing Obama. The Tea Parties and the reaction to them are a perfect illustration of Jane's Law.

John said...

The Tea Baggers are hypocrites. Most of them are unemployed and getting unemployment checks or social security, but don't see a problem protesting "big government" programs.

The Evil Hick said...

The two things you never discuss in public. Religion and Politics .

Bring on the science !

Big Mark 243 said...

I agree with the Hick... Mike S. displayed an arrogance in his comment.

I was in NOVA at the time of the gun protest... and he is correct in their being no guns at the health care rallies that the Congressmen had to walk through to get back and forth. That is where they were assualted verbally and in other ways.


There was a time in American History where blacks took arms of a sort... it was in the 60's-70's and it was called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and you saw how well white America took to that movement.

I'D LIKE TO MAKE ANOTHER CONTRIBUTION!! STILL NO CREDIT CARD!!

Steve Huntwork said...

Amanda, that posting was disgusting on so many levels that you lost a major portion of my respect.

Only a RACIST views thing in racial terms, and since you chose to take that path...

For the first time in years, I am rather ashamed to have read your blog.

heroineworshipper said...

Would vote against the tea party if our government threw in free pepperoni with next month's stimulus package.

Unknown said...

yes, political posts always rouse reaction.

i posted this because i thought it was interesting to consider the situation from a different perspective - one that i had not previously considered.

Beano said...

Very good. There is a double standard. When Bill Clinton was President. Tea party types yelled at Hillary and held up signs that read: "Kill Hillary." If these were
not conservatives and did it to Bush, they would go to prison.