It’s been making the rounds, but hell, I might as well link to this post too…
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 protesters — 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.
Actually, I have imagined it, and have often mused about the political theater of say, putting together a group of largish, black men very publicly exercising their right to open carry, or perhaps filling the back of a pickup with rifle-toting Mexican-Americans to slowly drive by a teabagger rally.
But of course, that would be wrong. That would be provocative.
Harump! That would be completely different! They are scary while our group is patriotic red blooded Americans!
Cent Uygar at Young Turks interviews teabagger Wayne Allen Root who declares that black congessmen walking the the halls of Congress (their place of work, and presumably unarmed) is provocative and that they were were trying to get called bad names for effect. http://videocafe.crooksandliar.....an-wayne-a
I imagine armed brown-skinned ordinary citizens might indeed get a stronger reaction and the wingnuts would be as unified as Bolsheviks in their defense of the teabaggers excercising their all-portant 2nd (and only!) amendment rights in self-defense.
If Sherman had salted the ground he marched through their anger couldn’t be much greater.
We don’t really have to imagine it because it has happened. A little group called the Black Panthers comes to mind.
I have zero doubt that if the Teabaggers saw the same response by the police that civil rights protesters saw they would respond as or more violently.
The author is a race-hustler of the first order. He’s making money off the misery of others. Racism is still an issue in this country, because this guy, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al are keeping it going to line their own pockets.
Bastards.
You mean something like this?
Black Panthers Exercising Right to Bear Arms
Photo caption: “Mirroring the incident in Sacramento that had brought so much attention in 1967, on February 29, 1969, a group of Seattle Panthers gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Olympia to protest a bill that would make it a crime to exhibit firearms “in a manner manifesting an intent to intimidate others.” In contrast to the California demonstration, they did not enter the building and they were not arrested. (Photo: Washington State Archives)”
better head back to tennessee, jed.
one of the great minds in the world today Micheal Eric Dyson who once asked; what would the average white american do to help a pregnant teenage girl of color in today’s world??
this refering to Mary and Jesus….
we only need to look at the christianist leaders in the US to know how Mary and Jesus would be treated by today’s American society.
“Racism is still an issue in this country, because this guy, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton”
Good one, Delbert. I take it that you’re saying that it is because of blacks that racism is still an issue in this country. On the other hand, say, a white teabagger leader toting around a “NIGGAR” sign, eh, not so much, huh?
#’s 3&5 beat me to it!
girl of color
u mean a colored girl?
Obama nominates Jesus Christ to the SCOTUS. Rs vow to filibuster avowed soshulist bastard.
http://www.tikkun.org/article......8121713153
[via Effect Measure]
in a village somewhere, george w. bush just woke up.
remember when roger rab used to put “fair use” notices on his comments? that was cute.
“Actually, I have imagined it, and have often mused about the political theater of say, putting together a group of largish, black men very publicly exercising their right to open carry, or perhaps filling the back of a pickup with rifle-toting Mexican-Americans to slowly drive by a teabagger rally.”
Why don’t you do just that Goldy.
having actually been to a Tea-Party or two, rather than just reading some echo-chamber crap site that reinforced my existing prejudices, I have no doubt that you would NOT get the reaction you anticipate.
It *really* *isn’t* about race…No matter how much you want it to be.
@14
Don’t think it’s about race. I do think that a big part of the TBC (Tea Bagger Complaint) is about the people who used to be on top of the pile, having to share some of that space at the top and while the top of the pile was white, what’s replaced the old guard isn’t nearly as white. It’s not about race, but you can’t remove race from the equation either.
Liberals should arm and let these terrorists know if they start killing our elected leaders to impose a rightwing dictatorship on us, we’re going to kill them to “water the tree of liberty.”*
* Hey trolls, this is just a fucking joke, lighten up, can’t you laugh at a Coulter joke? All the other conservatives do! Either get a sense of humor, or get a new life on some other planet. Great Mother Rabbit Spirit knows I don’t want a civil war in our country; and I’m appalled by Tea Partiers who do.
# 15: Not to get into too many discussions of social/economic class warfare here, but the most vocal rascists typically aren’t those at the top. Those at the top are pretty well insulated from race conflict. They generally practice a quieter form of rascism, which in some respects includes even lower-class whites into their views, in that to them, it’s really about the “masters vs. servants” dichotomay, of which race is only a part.
Sure, those at the top worry about a rebellion in the nature of the French Revolution. That’s way modern-day oligarchs in the U.S. often make their homes in guarded gated communities, or suburbs where the police force knows how to keep out the “unterclass” through harrassment, etc.
But the most vocal racism actually comes from those on the lowest rungs of the social-economic ladder, the poor whites. Having barely scratched and clawed their way onto the bottom rung, they will fight hard at any percieved threat to that position. If the Tea party leaders tell them that the black folks want their jobs and Obama’s going to make sure they get them, they will react loudly and angrily at this perceived threat to their tenuous position.
@16
Good one RR. That’s really funny… In turn, here is one for you:
‘The Great Uniter’ in action…
“http://www.barackobama.com/2010/?source=democrats_headline”
“young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 [to] stand together once again.” Not sure how to set up links here. This is from today…
And you guys excoriate Republicans for playing racial politics?
Uh Huh… quote Drudge often?
http://theplumline.whorunsgov......race-card/
Of course you do, you fucking right wing tool.
@19
Hey dumb fuck, did you note the link, ya fucking moron. Right from his own mouth… Racist Idiot!
@17
I was using “the folks at the top” fairly broadly. Straight, Christian, whites were on top. We live in a much more open, merit based, society today then we used too and this frightens folks. You have to prove your place, you just can’t assume it.
Michael Moore had it right in Bowling for Columbine that the history of gun-carrying/-toting is about fear more than anything else:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hbzq25VAE
re 17: Regarding your concept about the ‘upper class’ and their insularity, there is a direct relationship between Samuel Gompers perception that nothing would change unless the factory owners feared for their lives and the entrance of organized crime into the American labor movement.
“We know how to deal with these people”, Gompers was reportedly told. Sometimes you have to get in bed with the devil to make things change.
re 21: How does George W. Bush fit into that paradigm?
I still think Rep Lewis is a flaming liar.
@24
The I’m entitled to it King! And the folks that thought they were entitled to rule along side him! And man did they ever fuck over our country.
@26
Like that’s anything new for the last 50 or so years…
Not sure when the shift occured, but at some point over the last century or so the focus of the wealthy, and the political class, shifted from “what’s good for the country” to “what’s good for me and mine”.
I wonder if it’s fixable at this point? It very well may not be. We are, afterall, at the upper end of life for aviable Democracy/Republic in historical terms…
zotz @ 11
Truly hilarious. Hell, the Rs are so obstructionist that they would object even if Obama picked one of their own for the Court.
Shouting fire at a crowded political theatre:
– via Fox, so it’s gotta be true.
Count on liberal goldies to whip up a riot of race when the grievance they’re trying to grind actually happened, but from the other side … a tea-party black man at a teabagger rally exercising his option to open carry.
Then there’s Kenneth Gladney, beaten down by SEIU goldy’s racist SEIU goons at a tea party in St. Louis. Here’s a whole pile of links (SEIU claims they were victims of a black conservative) so you can sort out goldy’s hypocrisy for yourselves.
@29
What Goldy was posting about already happened all right, they go by the names The Black Panthers and Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de AZTLAN. And how were those received by the right?
Read also Tim Wise’s book “White Like Me”