Responding to Tim Wise’s “Imagine if the TEA Party was Black”

Ok, I can't take it anymore. The Tim Wise "Imagine if the Tea Party was Black" blog is spreading like wild fire, and I am floored that it is receiving such accolades, especially in the academic community (oh wait – that IS where much of the perceptions housed in the piece are perpetuated for some reason…). Perhaps it is my immersion in identity rhetoric that is prompting my discontent (because I see the function of identity rhetoric being played out so prominently in the piece), and true to Burkean ideology, the people who respond favorably to it do not see the rhetoric playing upon them.

It is an amazing piece of rhetoric not only because it caters to a specific, self-based audience (Burke's the "I" addressing its "Me"), but also it works to immediately oust those that disagree with its "imaginings." The game already has a winner - those that agree with it. But the problem is this should not be the winner. The answer is: there is NO winner.

From the outset, the "game" Mr. Wise describes is the very game that he perpetuates in the non-game sense. His article plays on the realistic common assumption that Blacks are perceived by non-Blacks as militant assholes. [Insert I addressing me comment].

Personally, I don't care what ethnicity you are, if you are in a group wielding a gun for any unjustified purpose, you are a threat.

Further, I've never seen any TEA party members holding gun-infested protests. (This is not to say that TEA party members, or any other American for that matter, should not hold a gun or that they do not hold a gun – but that is another issue.) Moreover, my understanding of TEA parties is that they represent a group of people (whatever ethnicity) coming together to protest TAXES because people truly are TAXED ENOUGH (watch the documentary From Freedom to Fascism and then tell me you are not over-taxed!). This larger and more important goal about over-taxation is now being overshadowed and further complicated with the focus on RACE. It almost works to distract from the taxation issue – the issue at the core of the TEA parties.

The imagination is a powerful resource. John Lennon once wrote a song called "Imagine." And his message is one that really calls for equality. Yet, the imagination is also a resource one can tap into and abuse, which Mr. Wise does. The imagination is supposed to serve as a transcendent medium. Yet, this article transcends nothing. Rather, it perpetuates the same ideology that keeps repeating, regardless of the changes that have occurred (and are still occurring). You do see that things have changed, right? But are they changing in the direction they should? Is the intended direction to have Whites silenced or to allow them to speak only if they hate themselves for being White? Because that's what my perception is of the current-day situation. Equality truly is something that has not been achieved, and with articles, such as Mr. Wise's, I don't see it happening.

So, Mr. Wise is an anti-racist writer because why? He writes about, and perpetuates the egregious MYTH that Whites are *always* privileged just because they are White? This is what it takes to make someone an anti-racist writer? How so? He is still focusing on RACE and his focus surrounds the following idea - oh, if I loathe myself and my ethnicity, I'll be accepted by those people that say Whites are oppressive and privileged. I'll be cool with them. Clearly, Tim Wise lacks the non-privileged White experience (yes, it DOES exist. ALL humans are susceptible to abusive evils.). The non-privileged White experience includes having to fight against BOTH a system that gives help to people who are not White (while these non-privileged Whites are denied such needed help) AND the continues to reinforce the mythical assertions about eternal White privilege.

I attended a keynote address during which the movie The Graduate was discussed. Here we have a spoiled White kid living it up, yet who clearly feels distant and vapid. The question asked during the keynote was "What is his problem? He has the world and he does not even realize it." I did not get the chance to answer the question while in the audience, but his problem is this: He
has a "perceived" lack of crisis. An invalidated crisis is of the worst type because the crisis, though felt, is not visible or allowed visibility.

Just because I do not walk down the street thinking "I'm White… I'm White… I'm White… and they hate me… they hate me… they hate me…" does not mean I live in a world where I am free from being hated for being White or in a world where I am not reminded that I am White. Why, articles like this are a damn good reminder: I'm fucking White. Thank you, Mr. Wise.

And, actually, the times I most think about my ethnicity seems to be in the classroom, where I have to hear over and over that everyone BUT a White person has a battle to fight. It is times like that when I cannot help BUT think about my ethnicity and the negative associations tied to it. And I cannot help but think: will Whites ever be free from such associations? What will it take? Must I do what Tim Wise does? Cater to the perceptions that Blacks are perceived as militant assholes while Whites are proud Americans? NO. I refuse to contribute to the ongoing perceptions that paint people as Tim Wise has painted them because it is thought that that is the common perception.

With this thinking, the only conclusion one can come to is that the ONLY non-oppressive, non-privileged White is a dead White. Then to that claim I say: Let the ethnicity die. To be labeled as an oppressor and to be treated as such for eternity robs one from being able to live a free life – the only life worth living. (And this goes for all people because to have an oppressor means there must be the oppressed. Neither live freely.)

If this world can't be shared, and if I have to deny who I am so that it can be perceived as "shared," then I don't want it. And I would never bring any children into such a world. At least that is the one thing I can control. I can't control my skin color or the skin color of my neighbor or how we all feel about our skin color, but by God, I can help stop the proliferation of this diseased, crisis-prone, soul-sucking humanity.

Never forget - in death all are equal.

Tim Wise Blog follows:

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - 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 protester — 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.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: "He's a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun." Because that's what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama.

Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister — who also works for the organization — defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and "going through a tough time in his life" would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that's what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America's Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by "hating black people," or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn't want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—"living fossils" as he called them—"so we will never forget what these people stood for." After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama's administration, Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.

Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president's policies, that he was ready to "suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do." This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.

Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been "destroying" the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to "hang 'em high." And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for "speaking common sense" and likened his hate talk to "American values?" After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.

Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.

Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her "typical redneck trash," or a "whore" whose mother entertains her by "making monkey sounds." After all that's comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as "ghetto trash."

Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that's what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?

To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark "other" does so, however, it isn't viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and "American-ness" of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.

And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Game Over.

Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S. Wise has spoken in 48 states, on over 400 college campuses, and to community groups around the nation. Wise has provided anti-racism training to teachers nationwide, and has trained physicians and medical industry professionals on how to combat racial inequities in health care. His latest book is called Between Barack and a Hard Place.