I find this disturbing. It was written by Tim Wise, an anti-racist writer. Here is his take on the Tea Party movement :
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.
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.
Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister — who also works for the organization — defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America’s Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.
Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—“living fossils” as he called them—“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.
Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.
Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.
Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.
Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”
Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.
In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?
To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.
And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
Game Over.
There is one huge flaw in this post. When accusing people of doing something, you must provide links to show that what you are expressing actually happened. I remember a few did, and some are despicable. But without providing links to buttress the case, this comes off as rhetoric instead of fact.
Now imagine that Tim Wise actually included context behind some of his scenarios. Lets go through the list of the events real quick and analyze them from a neutral POV.
On the gun protests. The protests themselves were second amendment rights protests. Oh, that is a detail that would have proved useful. And if a group of African Americans were to stage one of these, well, it would be a Rush / Hannity / Beck wet-dream (shudder) as it would be used to show that more minorities are coming around to their POV.
Second paragraph. Spitting on congressmen is stupid. Did the guy wind up and spit? Or did spit fly from his mouth when he was yelling? We have video and it looks like the former, not the latter. Are you willing to put this on the line and say that there have been no spitting incidence involving white congressmen? I’ll do some digging on that, but twenty to one says there will be one of those too. Also, if the guy did spit on the Congressman, which is very much disgusting, are you going to really tell me it’s not because the guy is disgusted by the congressman’s vote for the health care bill, but simply because he’s black… really? ( if you’re a hyper-partisan liberal, I already know the answer, so don’t bother answering the question)
Paragraph three:
“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.” Remember when I said that links are important in establishing and enhancing your case? Follow The Links. ’nuff said.
The Buchanan thing. Don’t know much about it. I do wonder what would happen if a black woman accused a bunch of white frat boys of rape, that even if the evidence was obvious that the woman was not being truthful, lying, and the rape could not have occurred, then many liberals who sided with the accuser continue to call the white privileged frat boys racists and rapists, based on race, not on fact? Oh, that did happen. Never mind. The same thing is happening here with the Tea Party smears.
Rush Limbaugh said this and that and….. Whaaaaaaaaaa! You sound like children. Jeez, get over it! I cannot believe, that after his twenty-whatever years of broadcasting nationally, you still haven’t figured out that much of the crap that comes out of his mouth is done with the explicit intent to antagonize you. And before you say “Oh, well you’re a white guy, so you just don’t understand”. OK, well, I’m also gay, and he’s said tons of derogatory crap about gays too. And you know what? I don’t care! Hell, he’s probably had more of a negative influence on my life than yours due to his opposition to gay marriage. But you know what? Even if he had said nothing about it, Prop 8 here in California still wouldn’t have passed, based on religious beliefs, AND President Obama is also opposed to gay marriage. Prop 8 passed in large part because of his lack of support in a state that is dominated by Democrats.
Pastor Stan Craig / Reverend Jeremiah Wright. They kind of cancel each other out.
Ann Coulter / Bill Mar. Again, cancel this one out too.
Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. You don’t have to, because that’s what many liberals, white AND black, did during almost the entire Bush Presidency.


And now for the death threats (as listed from the previous link):
– A man who in 2008 made verbal threats towards Bush at the White House fence where he left a suspicious package;
– A student who was quoted in a 2007 school publication as saying, “I would like to shoot George W. Bush, because in my opinion he is the worst president ever. After that was accomplished, I would be known as a national hero”;
– A mentally deranged man who threatened to blow up the White House in January of 2009;
– A graduate student who posted online threats against Bush in 2006;
– A guy who was turned in to the authorities by his own girlfriend after he threatened to kill Bush during a phone call;
…and so on.
By contrast, here are a couple of signs that the Huffington Post considers offensive:

OK, that’s not great. But what about this?

Oh No. A kid holding a sign. Gee, that NEVER happened at the anti-war rallies. Liberal kids are NEVER indoctrinated by liberal protesters. And then there’s this horrible sign:

Offensive??????????????????????????????????????
This game can be played with all sorts of incidences.
I, for one have not, and do not claim that the Tea Party thing is in any way on the same scale as the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s. Again that would be another Rush / Hannity / Beck wet dream (shudder). The Tea Party is important because it is the conservatives getting off the couch for the first time ever I think. The original intent, fiscal responsible government, is still the main driver in the movement, but it has, as all political movements do, been commandeered by outside parties to serve their own political purposes.
There have been stupid, and yes, even racist signs seen and invectives overheard at a few of the events. But, just as the crazies littered the original intent of the anti war protests during the Bush administration, so do crazies at the Tea Partys. The more people like Tim Wise accuses all opposition to liberal government policy as being racist, even when it not only can’t be proven to be so, but can easily be proven NOT to be so. Curious, why didn’t this TRULY racist event not get much write-up from the likes of Mr. Wise? Maybe because it wouldn’t suit his political means.
To paraphrase Tim:
And this, my friends, is what liberal privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as conservatives are, when they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
Game Over.
No Tim. The game is not over. But it is just a game, the way you play it. Isn’t it.