Imagine if the Tea Party was black, by Tim Wise

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 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.

http://cosmicnavellint.blogspot.com/2010/04/imagine-if-tea-party-was-black-tim-wise.html

The conclusion is awesome.



A video of Tim Wise speaking on The Pathology of White Privilege
http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-if-teabaggers-were-all-black.html

I will admit that there was one thing:



ok, I'm a little guilty of making fun of the Bush twins, and those statements aren't too far from my thoughts. My bad. Otherwise this is spot on.

affect people's lives. Obviously, given how flippantly you toss that idiotic phrase around, it doesn't affect YOURS but it does affect people's lives and deserves a more thoughtful reply than "we need to play the race card relentlessly"

Secondly, what exactly in the piece do you find to be false?

Oh right it's not but it's easier to deflect than to actually face racism when it's pointed out to you. Never mind.

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