By Barry Secrest

Rebuttal To Leonard Pitts Article on Tea Party Racism

Excerpt:

White + Republican + Male = Racist!!

 Barry Secrest

For instance, in a 4/16/10  AP/GfK Poll the number of persons who generally agree with the premise of the Tea Party Movement amounts to 33% of all voters.  While in a  March Rasmussen Poll, the question, phrased a bit differentially, indicates that a significant number of Americans--52%--believe that the average Tea Party member has a better understanding of the issues facing the average American than the average member of Congress, which would imply an overall acceptance, if not support, of the Tea Party when one looks at the 17% Congressional approval numbers according to another CBS/New York Times poll.

The point here would be that we actually have no true idea of how many people "support" the Tea Party Movement in all the various degrees that the word "support" encompasses.  The percentages start at 18% and run to a possible 52%, if not more.  Pitts goes on to state that, according to the poll, Tea Party supporters tend to be White, Republican males over the age of 45 and wealthier "than the rest of us."  Here Pitts is rather impishly setting up an "Us against Them" scenario by implying that ALL Tea Party members are wealthy, middle-aged  Republicans (who are favorable towards  George W. Bush-- as if that is an oddity) and lastly are apart from Mr. Pitts himself.

The ironic part of of this statement is that, aside from Mr. Pitts being a non-White Liberal who constantly sees race, he would seem to fit right in with the Tea Party Demographic.  Pitts then goes on to say that most Tea Partiers are ANGRY--a base emotion that Leonard  has shown a singular adeptness at employing to considerable profit over the years, we might add.

I Got Rabies at the Tea Party!

Pitts then leaps off to yet another "poll" to hammer home a point that he never tires of making in support of his argument.  According to the  University of Washington Institute for the (profitable) Study of Ethnicity, Race and Sexuality, strong evidence is offered that President Obama's race plays a big role in the Tea Party's outrage and that researchers found a significant correlation between racial resentment and Tea Party "zeal."  Pitts further indicates a particular statement within the poll (which is so leading it could be ascribed to any race or gender at any time and would most likely get the same results).

The leading "loaded"  statement given to respondents goes as follows:  It's really a matter of  some people not trying hard enough; "if Blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as Whites."  Now, for the numbers associated with the  above statement, only 33% of those agreed who were "skeptical" of the Tea Party.  Among Whites in general, 56% agreed.  But among those who were most "rabid" of the Tea party supporters, a whopping 73% agreed. Now, if I may point out, I am still trying to find the percentage of Tea Party members who have been designated as "most rabid."

Read More:

The Politics of Crying Racism: Rebuttal to Leonard Pitts "Teasing out the Roots of the Tea Party Ire"