# Yes, of course the Tea Party is a racist organization **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 6, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047 "2012-05-06T04:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/61 "2012-05-14T12:28:34Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Really? I thought it was Hillary’s campaign that started it. It doesn’t matter whether they started it, just that it was one of the first things they came out supporting. I didn’t even know it was a tax thing for a while. And if Hillary did it, I would call her action racist, too. The determination of whether she personally is racist would be to see if she’d participated in enough anti-racist stuff that I could conclude that that racism was a fluke. (Personally, I assume she has, but since she’s not running for office anymore, I can’t be bothered to check. I do know the Obama administration isn’t racist, and that’s enough for me.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/62 "2012-05-14T15:48:13Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Establish a base line for racism, according to your perspective. Mine is growing up in 1950’s Texas, where my grandfather drove a segregated bus. That sort of institutional, commonly accepted racism is gone. Racism is not socially acceptable, many of us find it hard to believe that it ever was. > > Case in point: an elderly close male relative, observing a black man making a dumb traffic move. Bitches about the way “those people” drive. (Says the same thing about women drivers, but that’s a whole different kettle of piranha.) I prod, once again, and get the similar response: he’s not racist, he just doesn’t like how those people drive. > > Conservative? Yes, rather, just to the left of Calvin Coolidge. Racist? By my lights, yes, suspicious and distrustful of persons of color, as a general thing. But support the suppression of black voting rights, or support unequal treatment in hiring, etc.? Nope. Not a chance. > > Racism of the kind that forms my perspective is done for, no longer socially acceptable. We’ve come to an odd place of transition, where no one will admit to being racist, but not all of us are willing to confront the racism in ourselves. When we do finally succeed in getting the legal structures in place to ensure equality, that battle will still remain. > > Conservatives resist change, they can’t help it, its what they are. Racial and sexual equality is change. If black people _always had_ legal equality, they would not seek to change that, they are not racists. They are not racists, they are conservatives. Not one of them in a hundred would apply the term to themselves, but would slap that label upon, say, affirmative action in a heartbeat, because “racist” is a _pejorative_, even for them. > > So, anyway, from my perspective, is the Tea Party racist? No, not really, not like I think of racism. And that’s not an onion on my belt, its a fanny pack, so shut up, puppy! > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 But, that “elderly close male relative” you speak of, who **is** racist by your lights, he’s the Tea Party. I repeat. And, here he is again: > [@lawoot](#): > > Not to speak for the group as a whole, but the Tea Partier whose car I was behind a week or so ago, with the pro Tea Party bumper stickers, and the “Don’t Re-Nig” sticker, I’d say was pretty definitely a racist. When I call the Tea Party a “racist organization,” I do not mean it has a White-Nationalist agenda or anything – insofar as its agenda can be discerned at all (that is a rather confusing matter). I mean it is (1) an organization mainly **of** racists (see the OP) that (2) would not exist but for that. And I’m right. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/63 "2012-05-14T16:32:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > When I call the Tea Party a “racist organization,” I do not mean it has a White-Nationalist agenda or anything – insofar as its agenda can be discerned at all (that is a rather confusing matter). I mean it is (1) an organization mainly **of** racists (see the OP) that (2) would not exist but for that. And I’m right. I know. Your post is your cite. We have already demonstrated that the origins of the Tea Party actually began when GWB was president. You have failed to demonstrate that race is a primary motivation for even a large percentage of Tea Party members, far less for an overwhelming majority. You are wrong. (See how easy that is?) If you go back to the OP’s quoted text, you will find that only one poll number demonstrates a majority position, 74% saying that the government should not be involved in guarateeing equality of opportunity, (although they did also claim that the opportunity should be present). That is a libertarian position, not a racial one. We also have a vague reference to a _‘Tea Party movement supporters within those states were “more likely to be racially resentful” than the population as a whole,’_ but without any numbers to indicate that that “more likely” represented 15%, 50%, or 75% of the actual numbers. If the numbers for the general population are 30% and those for the Tea Party are 33%, then Tea Party members are “more likely” than the general population, while two-thirds of the Tea Party members still disagree. And that is not even getting into the whole matter of which seven states provided the basis for the poll. I’d be willing to bet that Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire were not included. I have seen no one arguing that the Tea Party is free of racism, (it certainly is not), but your claims are overblown and unsupported. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/64 "2012-05-14T16:39:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > When I call the Tea Party a “racist organization,” I do not mean it has a White-Nationalist agenda or anything – insofar as its agenda can be discerned at all (that is a rather confusing matter). I mean it is (1) an organization mainly **of** racists (see the OP) that (2) would not exist but for that. And I’m right. Well, you may be right, but you would need to present some evidence before I can believe you. For instance, your OP presented the idea that opposition to government-sponsored affirmative action is inherently proof of racism. But that isn’t obvious - it is perfectly possible to believe that blacks and other minorities are inherently equal to other groups, and therefore are capable of achieving as much on their own as (for example) Jews or Chinese or the Irish. Another issue with your OP is this - > [@](#): > > Of white poll respondents who strongly approve of the Tea Party, only 35% believe that blacks are hard-working, compared to 55% of those strongly opposed to the Tea Party, and 40% of all respondents. It appears to me that the ones holding a stereotype are the ones strongly opposed to the Tea Party, not the Tea Party sympathizers. Say I am looking for somebody to mow my lawn. I have had a black guy, a white guy, and an Asian guy apply. I decide to hire the black guy because I believe blacks are “hard-working”. This sounds OK to you? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/65 "2012-05-19T11:57:09Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Well, you may be right, but you would need to present some evidence before I can believe you. > > For instance, your OP presented the idea that opposition to government-sponsored affirmative action is inherently proof of racism. But that isn’t obvious - it is perfectly possible to believe that blacks and other minorities are inherently equal to other groups, and therefore are capable of achieving as much on their own as (for example) Jews or Chinese or the Irish. > > Another issue with your OP is this -It appears to me that the ones holding a stereotype are the ones strongly opposed to the Tea Party, not the Tea Party sympathizers. > > Say I am looking for somebody to mow my lawn. I have had a black guy, a white guy, and an Asian guy apply. I decide to hire the black guy because I believe blacks are “hard-working”. This sounds OK to you? > > Regards, > Shodan “Hard working” is dif than “more hard working” … other than that your reply is spot on and seems to have quieted those on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Randvek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@Randvek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randvek)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/66 "2012-05-20T06:33:21Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > You have failed to demonstrate that race is a primary motivation for even a large percentage of Tea Party members, far less for an overwhelming majority. > You are wrong. (See how easy that is?) I’m not sure why anybody thinks this is relevant. “My primary motivation is not X, therefore X cannot be a major factor in my motivation?” Very faulty. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/67 "2012-05-20T10:46:32Z")
> [@Randvek](#): > > I’m not sure why anybody thinks this is relevant. “My primary motivation is not X, therefore X cannot be a major factor in my motivation?” Very faulty. Also faulty is surgically removing a single sentence from a post and acting as if that was the entire point being made by the poster. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/68 "2012-05-20T11:06:08Z")
> [@Randvek](#): > > I’m not sure why anybody thinks this is relevant. “My primary motivation is not X, therefore X cannot be a major factor in my motivation?” Very faulty. And attacking a position that has not been asserted is known as creating a straw man argument. Extremely faulty. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/69 "2012-05-20T15:56:02Z")
Whatever you do, don’t talk about the war. Basil Fawlty. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047/70 "2012-05-20T20:27:53Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Whatever you do, don’t talk about the war. Basil Fawlty. Talk about your racist elderly male relative, then. Is he a Tea Partier or sympathizer? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-of-course-the-tea-party-is-a-racist-organization/621047.md?page=3)