Man Without a Country

On Wednesday, WaPo's Krissah Thompson examined the division among black conservatives over reports of tea party activists using racial slurs against members of Congress. While some black conservatives have spoken out against racism in the tea party movement, others like economist, Thomas Sowell and anti-affirmative action activist, Ward Connerly have denied the allegations claiming that the charges are politically motivated and baseless.

At the National Review's Corner blog, Connerly claims that, "race is the engine that drives the political Left." This is poetic, but unprovable, meaningless, and consequently absurd. From this false premise he further argues that claims of tea party members spitting on a congressman and hurling racial epithets are part of a "strategic plan being implemented by the Left in its current campaign to remake America." Strategic Plan? What plan? Nobody told me about this plan! Governing? Is that the plan he's referring to?

Pops, you officially lunchin'.

Connerly's proof of such a plan is that there is (to him) no recorded evidence of this racial hatred despite the presence of cameras at the healthcare reform protest:

"In a video that has been played repeatedly showing CBC members as they walked past the tea partiers, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is seen using his telephone to tape the event. If he had any evidence to corroborate the racial claims, why hasn’t he come forward with his phone by now to settle this matter? I believe we all know the answer."

We do?

Whether there is evidence of this particular spat of tea party racism or not (and there is), what does that have to do with some broad scheme by the Left to remake America? Connerly leaps from a claim of lack of evidence to a claim of political conspiracy. This is, again, abusrd. If you want to make a claim about lack of evidence of a particular incident (like spitting or using racial slurs) that's relatively easy to prove or disprove with a recording. But, if you want to make a case about the Left using race to advance an agenda, make that case; show us real history and evidence supporting your allegation, otherwise, you just sound silly.

Economist and black conservative, Thomas Sowell has also expressed doubt that tea partiers spat on a black congressman and hurled racial epithets. Similar to Connerly, Sowell claims that injecting race into politics and "playing the race card" have "become an increasingly common response to growing public anger at the policies of the Obama administration and the way those policies have been imposed."

Sowell continues:

"When the triumphant Democrats made their widely televised walk up Capitol Hill after passing the health care bill, led by a smirking and strutting Nancy Pelosi, holding her oversized gavel, some of the crowd of citizens expressed their anger. According to some Democrats, these expressions of anger included racial slurs directed at black members of Congress.

This is a serious charge-- and one deserving of some serious evidence. But, despite all the media recording devices on the scene, not to mention recording devices among the crowd gathered there, nobody can come up with a single recorded sound to back up that incendiary charge. Worse yet, some people have claimed that even doubting the charge suggests that you are a racist."

I respect Sowell's scholarship deeply. And I followed his columns for quite some time, but at some point this cat jumped the shark. Why such a hard on for liberals, Sowell? Get over it. Liberals are not the Great Enemy. There are some liberals who do bad things, as there are within every group. But the vast majority of liberals are just people with a slightly different political perspective than conservatives. It's really not that deep.

Before we roll the tape, let's think about injecting race into politics or bringing up race at all in any instance. If a racist act occurs what exactly are we supposed to do or say about it? Is noting a racist act wrong? Is noting a racist act the same thing as injecting race into the discussion or playing the race card? No. Race, as a concept, is a fact. I explore race on my blog and in my life because it's interesting to me and it's a part of my personal history and my understanding of existence. But so is literature; so is philosophy; so is sex; so is food; so is humor; so is art. I talk about these things; we talk about these things; because they are parts of life that we find fascinating or disturbing or meaningful. I don't bring up race to gain some type of advantage over anyone. I bring up race because it is part of life.

Anyway, news documentation and recordings clearly show that Sowell and Connerly are wrong about tea partiers use of racial slurs:

McClathy Newspapers' William Douglas reported on March 20, 2010, Tea party protesters scream 'nigger' at black congressman.

Salon's Joan Walsh on tea party racism:

"Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis was taunted by tea partiers who chanted "nigger" at least 15 times, according to the Associated Press (we are not cleaning up language and using "the N-word" here because it's really important to understand what was said.) First reported on The Hill blog (no hotbed of left-wing fervor), the stories of Lewis being called "nigger" were confirmed by Lewis spokeswoman Brenda Jones and Democratic Rep. Andre Carson, who was walking with Lewis. "It was like going into the time machine with John Lewis," said Carson, a former police officer. "He said it reminded him of another time." Another Congressional Black Caucus leader, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, was spat upon by protesters. The culprit was arrested, but Cleaver declined to press charges."

Media Matters and CBS confirmed racial epithets and threats left in a recording for Rep. Bart Stupak.

And then there's this:



Sowell and Connerly are wrong. There is ample evidence of tea party racism and harrassment. It's not like this information was difficult to find, so what's really going on here?

Black conservatives strike me as tragic figures. Each seems to be a man without a country. They are perpetually critical of members of their own race which tends to alienate black people. But the white, conservative groups they seek comfort in are inhospitable as well, which leaves them no true home. I can sort of relate to that; the drive to define ourselves on our own terms and the consequences we pay for that stubborn individuality are, at times, difficult.  The issue to me in those instances, is integrity. Will you consistently hold the same values even if there's a price to pay? If Sowell and Connerly agree that racism is wrong, then integrity should compel them to point it out and condemn it, even when it comes from their friends in the tea party.

Side black conservative note: Whatever happened to that guy who wrote A Bound Man: Why We are Excited about Obama and Why He Can't Win? Does he still have a job?

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