Playing the Race Card
That’s what it’s all sort of couched in—this secret agenda. And when they say, or Gingrich says, [Obama is] a Lao Tribesman, it’s all sort of code.
—Mad Men star, actor Jon Hamm
It’s actually quite clever for the left to make the discussion about the Tea Party about race. It distracts everyone from having to talk about the real toxic issues that Obama’s administration is bringing to the table. It revs up emotions, stifles legitimate debate about limited government and wasted spending, and it makes people uncomfortable.
I mean, always pointing out race, applying labels, discussing race in every conversation dealing with the Tea Party—isn’t that a little racist in and of itself? Claiming every anti-Obama sentiment or disagreement with his actions is racist? Isn’t that problematic? The left can’t have a conversation about policy with the Tea Party because they can’t argue away their mess. It’s simply not possible. So instead they have to throw stones as a distraction.
So according to one actor the Tea Party is speaking in code. Code? The Tea Party is speaking in racist code? No, but the left is desperate to keep the Tea Party from success, so they started a smear campaign and they used race to do it. They called the Tea Party movement “racist.” But that is just a big attempt to keep the movement down. This movement is rapidly gaining momentum and the left is scared. People involved are becoming educated, getting motivated, and forcing politicians to actually listen. Citizens are reading up on history and studying the Constitution to really understand how policies are made. The movement is changing the country. It’s making people realize they have a voice, they can be involved in the policy process, and they—as individuals and as part of a larger movement—can have an impact. The Tea Party has awoken the people from a slumber. People are fed up with career politicians and politics as usual. The Tea Party is challenging status quo politics in order to change the way Washington elites do their business.
The left is working hard to block this new movement’s progress, using aggressive tactics in an attempt to impede the force and significance of this social and political powerhouse. There was, frankly, a lot of doubt surrounding the movement early on. FreedomWorks, an organization that “recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes millions of volunteer activists to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom,” became an early believer in the Tea Party despite the concerns and is now a driving force behind the Tea Party nationwide.
It’s interesting: When my husband and I first got started with the Tea Party, there was some discussion about a conservative movement having rallies. The prevailing wisdom was that rallies were a thing of the left. So it was risky to take that tack, but Matt Kibbe, FreedomWorks’ president and CEO, took a chance with the 9/12 March on DC on September 12, 2009. There have been thousands of rallies nationwide. The Tea Party movement has changed the way politics operates by starting a conservative grassroots movement. Now look at us! To date, the movement is responsible for making a number of Democratic incumbents retire and making others run for their political lives.
I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise that once we gained any sort of momentum the race card would be the first card played as the Tea Party emerged. With the media obsessed with racism coupled with the first black president, race was sure to be an issue and the old progressive smear campaign would step right up.
True to form, early on in the Tea Party’s development, MSNBC and its hosts and guests were actively trying to label the Tea Party movement as racist. For example, actress Janeane Garofalo claimed that the movement was about racism against a black president and she used the term “rednecks” to describe Tea Party members. The former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel said during the health care debate that “bias” and “prejudice” against President Obama are the reasons why there’s so much opposition to the health care proposal. Rangel also said, “You don’t see any black folks in these groups. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.”
In January 2010, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews made the claim too that everyone at the Tea Party rallies, like the one held in September 2009 in Washington, is white. In a discussion with Mark McKinnon of the Daily Beast and Susan Page of USA Today, Matthews said: “And they’re monochromatic, right? . . . Meaning they’re all white. All of them—every single one of them—are white.”
Ummm—I’m not. I spoke at the 9/12 March on DC in 2009 and many other rallies and conferences nationwide.
You know, I’ve spoken on this often and I truly think there is only one way to address these racist allegations: hit them head-on. Swing for the fences and knock the ball out of the park. Here are the frankest words I have for the closed-minded folks who call me, a black woman, and my organization—racist.
To Janeane Garofalo: “My neck is not red!”
To Charlie Rangel: “The movement is about the policies, not race, and—oh, by the way, Charlie, pay your taxes!”
To Maxine Waters and Dianne Watson: “Socialism is evil.”
To John Conyers: “Read the bill!”
I find it disgraceful that Nancy Pelosi exploited blacks’ past fights for civil rights with the progressive goal of making health care a right. And really: to link arms with Representative John Lewis and members of the congressional leadership to march to the Capitol in protest, somehow mimicking the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in the wake of the “Bloody Sunday” attack on civil rights marchers earlier that month . . . well, that was insulting and patronizing to those who fought for civil rights that day.
Representative Steve Cohen crossed a big line with his comparison of Tea Partiers to members of the KKK, furthering his partisan goal to demonize and discredit ordinary citizens—people who attend rallies, town hall meetings, make phone calls, and visit their representatives with the simple, legitimate concern of wanting to preserve their liberty. The Tea Party movement is making a positive difference for the direction of our country in a manner that would make our Founding Fathers proud, and the derogatory comments targeting these freedom-loving citizens really only shames those hurling them. And it is especially odd that Representative Cohen was the one hurling the mud this time. In 2008, he suffered through an opponent publicly comparing him to a Klansman. Nikki Tinker, a primary opponent, ran television ads that placed a photo of Cohen next to one of a Klansman. Tinker based the implication against Cohen on the fact that, as a member of the Center City Commission, Cohen once voted against exhuming the body of the late Confederate general (and KKK founder) Nathan Bedford Forrest from Forrest Park in Memphis.
He certainly must not have enjoyed that. Is Cohen so tone-deaf that he is willing to immediately turn around and use the same vitriol against others?
While appearing on The Young Turks radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio on April 1, 2010, Cohen said Tea Party rally participants “are, kind of, without robes and hoods” and “against any type of diversity.” He suggested the motivation behind the Tea Parties are not necessarily issues but “to be against Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel and the different people.” Different people? That sounds racist itself, to me.
And let me take this opportunity to remind Representative Cohen that the late Democrat Senator Robert Byrd was a Klansman with “robes and hoods.”
Byrd additionally called the sight of people protesting on the U.S. Capitol grounds on the day of the Sunday ObamaCare vote in the House of Representatives “a very sad scene on America.” Interestingly, Cohen represents a majority-black congressional district in Memphis.
In the wake of the historic elections in 2010 that were propelled by the Tea Party movement, it seemed the false claims of racism had run their course. But in the summer of 2011, as Obama’s poll numbers were falling and the failure of his economic policies became more obvious, the racism rhetoric reared its ugly head again.
During a Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour, Representative André Carson (D-IN) made the outrageous claim that the Tea Party wanted to stop blacks from achieving social progress. “This is the effort that we are seeing of Jim Crow. Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me . . . hanging on a tree,” said Carson. “Some of them right now in Congress right now are comfortable with where we were fifty or sixty years ago.”1
Tragically, Carson was not the lone agent in the attack on the Tea Party movement. During the same Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) said, “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned, the ‘tea party’ can go straight to Hell.”2 As if the attack from the black political establishment was not enough, Hollywood got into the race card act. In response to a question from CNN’s Piers Morgan, Academy Award–winning actor Morgan Freeman said, “The tea parties who are controlling the Republican party . . . their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What underlines that? Screw the country. We’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here.”3
Freeman’s comment had special meaning to me and I will admit that Freeman is a great actor. Years ago, I had the opportunity to see him live in action. I was excited and proud of my role as an extra in the 1989 biographical movie Lean on Me, starring Freeman. He played the role of high school principal Joe Clark. The movie was about an inner-city high school plagued by numerous problems—particularly gang violence, drugs, and poor test scores. I had connected with him from that experience. Because of my personal experience on the set and from watching this film so many times over the years, I actually looked up to Freeman.
That is, until now.
Based on this recent history of race card politics I fear the upcoming election will set a low mark for unsubstantiated claims targeting the Tea Party movement from the black elite, and I pray these comments don’t further ignite racial tension.
It’s simply time to dispel this ridiculous myth that the Tea Party movement is about race. I am living, breathing proof that it’s not. It’s about issues, it’s about limited government, and it’s about the progressive elites seeking to control our lives by expanding the bureaucracy. Not race.
Every time I give a speech, appear on Fox News, or write a column, I get positive feedback, but lots of negative feedback too. Just like FreedomWorks and other members of Project 21, I’m targeted because I’m simply expressing my views about ObamaCare, climate change legislation, the Second Amendment, and pro-growth economics. But along with the nasty comments, they also drag race into the discussion. I’d be happy to have negative email discussing the issues.
Every time we protest something Obama’s done, we’re labeled “racist”—because he’s black. How can the left be okay with dropping race into every criticism of our commander in chief, on issues that have nothing to do with race whatsoever?
I still don’t get how I’m considered a racist!
Racism is not the only accusation being hurled at Tea Partiers. We’re called extremists too. FreedomWorks countered those claims with a website called “Stop the Haters” that highlights the critics’ smear campaign.
There have been some dirty tricks like when the former voice-over talent for Geico Insurance, Lance Baxter aka D. C. Douglas, left hostile telephone messages at FreedomWorks’ headquarters calling all of us “mentally retarded” and potential killers. Well, this guy was fired for his actions after we made the comments public.
It’s not surprising that only a few blacks are Tea Partiers.
About 95 percent of blacks voted for Obama during the presidential election and blacks have ethnic pride for having our nation’s first black president. In addition, blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic.
Now, with that as a background, why would you expect to find blacks at Tea Party rallies? After all, Tea Party rallies are critical of Obama’s policies, and by definition the Tea Party’s criticisms are messages that don’t appeal to the vast majority of blacks. Furthermore, blacks who share Tea Party views about limited government are likely to remain silent to avoid alienation from friends, family, and coworkers. I know this from the e-mails I get from young people and others who are grateful I’m willing to speak up.
Of course, this does not mean more blacks will not become part of the movement. It’s going to take some time for them to wake up and it can happen. If I woke up anyone can.
The rise in conservative blacks running for office is part of a growing blacklash against Obama’s policies. Over time this will help liberate those who are chained to progressive dogma.
Having more conservative blacks as political role models is crucial for getting a greater percentage of minorities to think for themselves and avoid the traditional black leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
Look, even black politicians take a beating for not siding with Obama. Jesse Jackson slammed Representative Artur Davis, a Democrat from Alabama, saying, “You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man.” Jackson’s statement was divisive.
Declining to respond in kind, Representative Davis said in a statement, “The best way to honor Reverend Jackson’s legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race.”
Jesse Jackson should be ashamed for using the race card in that way in an attempt to influence the views of another black politician. It’s embarrassing and goes against everything Americans stand for in this country—democracy, freedom of speech and expression, and the list goes on.
As per usual, Jackson was acting like a slave owner trying to keep blacks on his ideological plantation, where we are required to support government programs that increase public dependency on a bureaucracy. In Jackson’s world, it appears a black man cannot have independent thought. He must follow Jackson blindly or face lashes from his tongue.
Listen up, all of you who have said that not getting behind big spending means you’re a racist (and yes, that means you Jimmy Carter, Maureen Dowd, and many others):
You are crossing a very dangerous line with such accusations. The fact remains that the public is outraged about the president’s policies—the spending, the budget, and the deficit—not his skin color. Period. Put any other notion to rest now.
President Obama was not elected only with black votes. Are those who cry racism saying the American people suddenly woke up and said, “Oh, he’s black, so I don’t like him anymore”? That makes no sense. The criticism of Obama’s policies is about the policies—the stimulus, the growth of government, cap-and-trade, the health care bill, and the overspending.
But it’s easier for the left to play the race card than address the public’s legitimate concerns, but what the left and the media are doing is damaging and dangerous.
It’s damaging because when everything is racist, then nothing is. Those who cry racism without evidence will cause people to tune out from cases in which there is evidence.
It’s also dangerous to send a message that racism is behind everything. What does that tell young black men and women? It tells them they will never get a fair shake and that white people whom they have never met dislike them. With a message like that, it’s no surprise we’re seeing apparently racial incidents like the widely circulated September 2009 video of a young white student being beaten up on an Illinois school bus by black students while other black students cheer. What message have those black students internalized—that white people are their enemy?
If this continues the left will be responsible because it was too dishonest and too cowardly to have a fair debate with the American people on policy.