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View Full Version : Black Conservative Tea Party Backers Take Heat




stu2002
04-06-2010, 05:54 PM
Tuesday, 06 Apr 2010 06:49 PM

They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement — and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation's first black president.

"I've been told I hate myself. I've been called an Uncle Tom. I've been told I'm a spook at the door," said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government.

"Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks," he said.

Johnson and other black conservatives say they were drawn to the tea party movement because of what they consider its commonsense fiscal values of controlled spending, less taxes and smaller government. The fact that they're black — or that most tea partyers are white — should have nothing to do with it, they say.

"You have to be honest and true to yourself. What am I supposed to do, vote Democratic just to be popular? Just to fit in?" asked Clifton Bazar, a 45-year-old New Jersey freelance photographer and conservative blogger.

Opponents have branded the tea party as a group of racists hiding behind economic concerns — and reports that some tea partyers were lobbing racist slurs at black congressmen during last month's heated health care vote give them ammunition.

But these black conservatives don't consider racism representative of the movement as a whole — or race a reason to support it.

Angela McGlowan, a black congressional candidate from Mississippi, said her tea party involvement is "not about a black or white issue."

"It's not even about Republican or Democrat, from my standpoint," she told The Associated Press. "All of us are taxed too much."

Still, she's in the minority. As a nascent grassroots movement with no registration or formal structure, there are no racial demographics available for the tea party movement; it's believed to include only a small number of blacks and Hispanics.

Some black conservatives credit President Barack Obama's election — and their distaste for his policies — with inspiring them and motivating dozens of black Republicans to plan political runs in November.

For black candidates like McGlowan, tea party events are a way to reach out to voters of all races with her conservative message.

"I'm so proud to be a part of this movement! I want to tell you that a lot of people underestimate you guys," the former national political commentator for Fox News told the cheering crowd at a tea party rally in Nashville, Tenn., in February.

Tea party voters represent a new model for these black conservatives — away from the black, liberal Democratic base located primarily in cities, and toward a black and white conservative base that extends into the suburbs.

Black voters have overwhelmingly backed Democratic candidates, support that has only grown in recent years. In 2004, presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry won 88 percent of the black vote; four years later, 95 percent of black voters cast ballots for Obama.

Black conservatives don't want to have to apologize for their divergent views.

"I've gotten the statement, 'How can you not support the brother?'" said David Webb, an organizer of New York City's Tea Party 365, Inc. movement and a conservative radio personality.

Since Obama's election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.

"I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions," he said. "They don't agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community ... Why can't we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?"

Among the 37 black Republicans running for U.S. House and Senate seats in November is Charles Lollar of Maryland's 5th District.

A tea party supporter running against House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Lollar says he's finding support in unexpected places.

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Tea-Party-Blacks/2010/04/06/id/354938

Light
04-06-2010, 06:02 PM
I think its an unfair double-standard that minorities are encouraged to be tribalist, yet it is frowned upon if a white has the same attitudes and opinions about their own tribe that their minoritiy counterparts do. This is just one of many ways we are still a very racist society.

RM918
04-06-2010, 06:18 PM
I think its an unfair double-standard that minorities are encouraged to be tribalist, yet it is frowned upon if a white has the same attitudes and opinions about their own tribe that their minoritiy counterparts do. This is just one of many ways we are still a very racist society.

The suffocating obsession with race only furthers the hatred and the divides. If people want to mingle, fine. If they don't, fine. Just don't try to force them either way.

LibertyBrews
04-06-2010, 06:27 PM
Apparantly some black people don't tolerate individualism, according to them if you don't like Obama and are black you're a race traitor(even though he's half white). Unfortunatly they can get away with it, but imagine the commotion if white people would have called white people who voted for Obama race traitors.

Stary Hickory
04-06-2010, 06:31 PM
They can come after our friends and patriots in the liberty movement if they want to, because of the color of their skin. But I have their backs 100% Let them keep their racial hatred to themselves, freedom is a right of all men regardless of skin tone.

LibertyBrews
04-06-2010, 06:38 PM
If people want to be racists, let them be, but at least they should be named for what they are, regardless of their skin tone. Unfortunatly, some minorities can get away being racists just because they're minorities.

catdd
04-06-2010, 06:49 PM
Let them call all of us anything they want - we are growing!

Griffith
04-06-2010, 07:01 PM
I think it's great that some black people look through the race thing though and get to what matters which is the actual policies. It's a shame that race still plays such a huge factor in people's important decisions though.

silus
04-06-2010, 07:48 PM
Apparantly some black people don't tolerate individualism, according to them if you don't like Obama and are black you're a race traitor(even though he's half white). Unfortunatly they can get away with it, but imagine the commotion if white people would have called white people who voted for Obama race traitors.
The most overused, worthless argument in America. "But but, if this person did that I bet there would be a different reaction, uh huh, for sure!"

Quit your whining about the hypothetical.

Now I will specifically address your argument.

1. White people (a very small number) do call white people who voted for Obama race traitors. So there goes your point...

2. In making your point you assume that a significant number of white people could call other whites race traitors, and the simple fact is that this would not happen. Deal with it. So again, crying about that hypothetical is ridiculous. You use this argument as a crutch in the same way many fall back on accusations of racism.

3. You are playing off the false notion of equality that has permeated every facet of social life. All groups are not equal, all groups are not perceived the same simply because they are not.

I will use religion as an example, because talking about race seems to prevent rational thought. If this country was 99% Christian and 1% Mormon and had two candidates one Christian and one Mormon, you would have a higher percentage of Mormons voting for the Mormon than would Christians for the Christian, and that has nothing to do with all these emotional responses and accusations people typically have. In a shared environment the large group fragments, the smaller group maintains its integrity. Which is why stereotypes for minorities are more closer to the truth than stereotypes for the larger/majority group.

BlackTerrel
04-06-2010, 08:24 PM
Johnson and other black conservatives say they were drawn to the tea party movement because of what they consider its commonsense fiscal values of controlled spending, less taxes and smaller government.

You love the racial topics don't you Stu?

Conservative is a loaded word to a lot of people, blacks in particular. Which is why I never call myself a conservative and prefer libertarian.