Filed under: News, The Economy
Having attended (once intentionally, once not) a couple of Tea Parties here in D.C. myself, I believe Tea Partiers fall squarely in the third category. I generally find these folks to be mostly harmless, and comically misinformed. They protest higher taxes when Obama's lowered theirs. They complain about socialized healthcare, but want their Medicare and Medicaid. They decry staggering deficits, but don't want to raise taxes on the rich. They're largely mindless followers of conservative talk show hosts, and their critiques of what the government is doing or has done to harm them is usually rooted in fallacy, not reality.
The weirdest thing about the Tea Parties is their insistence on less government. This is strange because in case nobody noticed, there's a huge movement in Europe right now where folks are rioting about their government not doing enough.
The so called "anti-austerity" protests are often violent, definitely going beyond the marching with silly signs you see at Tea Parties. In countries all across the European Union, people are taking to the streets fighting for the continuance of entitlements, against government spending cuts, and against higher taxes. It's almost like a mirror image of what's going on here, but with a lot more torched police cars.
There are many things these opposing groups of protesters have in common, however. The economic crises in both the U.S. and the E.U. are the result of a financial meltdown, and we're also both experiencing staggering unemployment in our communities. Still, except for a few thousand misguided souls who show up on the Mall with lawn chairs to watch the pudgy Glenn Beck, our level of civil discourse pales by comparison.
Okay, so I know what you're thinking: Where are you going with this, Jay?
It's long been bemoaned that black folks have the highest rates of unemployment, even when the economy is humming. With black levels of joblessness nearing the 20% mark, I'm starting to wonder why exactly black America isn't taking a few cues from those despised Tea Partiers and raising a stink of our own. While I certainly support President Obama, the facts are what they are. The economy isn't recovering as quickly as anyone hoped (although many of his initiatives helped avoid a complete nosedive), and the proverbial "America has a cold, black folks have the flu" cliche is in full effect.
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In short, are we giving President Obama a pass on the lukewarm economy because he's one of us? Would black folks be talking armed rebellion, or at the very least, something other than a milquetoast NAACP/Urban League march if we were looking at President McCain and VP Palin (yikes!) right now? I can say for certain that we would. Any president having a sky-high 90% approval rating of an electorate that's only about 80% employed is rather silly when you think about it.
The last time we marched en mass was under the leadership of Dr. King. The last time we rioted was when he was unjustly killed. As African Americans are facing circumstances today showing that we are on an economic decline, our leaders are not coming to our aid. I'm not saying what the folks are doing over in Europe right now is right -- but at least they are being heard. Maybe black America needs to steal a page from their playbook.
If the Tea Partiers can march on Washington -- sullying the legacy of Dr. King -- and Europeans can wage street war against austerity policies, the black community can and should make a much more public protest for the economic changes we need now.