Not A Black And White Issue

Dave Weigel discusses Krissah Thompson's piece on black conservatives in the Tea Party movement.

Thompson finds a mixture of black conservatives who are worried about [racism] and those who are angrier at the media for pretending there's any racism in the movement at all. The ones who are angry at the media have, up to now, gotten the most attention. Black tea party speakers such as Angela McGlowan and Lloyd Marcus spent a good amount of their time and energy defending tea parties from charges of racism, painting progressives and Democrats as the real racists for maintaining the welfare state.

I'm always surprised when I hear tea partyers argue that the presence of black speakers onstage -- welcomed by thunderous applause -- proves that the movement is diverse. Obviously, it's overwhelmingly white. But for a very long time, conservatives tried to appeal to black voters on social issues, wedge issues like school choice, and patronizing framing of economic issues that accused Democrats of putting blacks on a "plantation." The straight-up libertarian rhetoric of the tea parties is generally giving black conservatives more to work with, more of a level playing field. But that rhetoric has always been tied in a backlash against federal spending on non-whites and federal intervention to integrate schools and industries. Some of the people that it attracts will be anathemas to black conservatives. And it's a little silly to pretend, as CNN pretended, there's no tension here.

On one hand, as I've been talking about over the last couple of days, there are many black conservatives who feel that government assistance enslaves African-Americans and all Americans for that matter who come to depend on it.  The counter-argument is that government has the duty to help the least fortunate among us and act as a safety net, and that net is needed even more in tough economic times like these.

The reality is that you will see those people who do not have the best interests of minorities in mind attracted to the notion of having the government rid itself of social programs that mostly benefit minorities.  Pretending otherwise is disingenuous at best.

There is a principled opposition to social programs, but it's not one I personally support.  I'm of the mind that government can and should help people who need it.  We provide Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security for people, as well as a host of other services, paid for by tax dollars.  Saying that taxes are unfair and that these services should end will not magically solve the social issues we have as a country, it's simply neglecting them and making a bad problem worse.  It's irresponsibility bordering on outright villainy.

It doesn't, however, mean all conservatives are racists any more than all liberals are for championing these services.  It does mean that there are racists in the movement.  Identifying them and getting rid of them, conservatives, is the answer if you want your principled argument to be heard over the noise.  In fact, if there's anyone that should be the most keen on getting rid of the racists that are in the movement, it would be black conservatives.

Pretending that racism doesn't exist in America in 2010 is pointless.