WHEN A TEA PARTIER CAN MAKE A VALID COMMENT ABOUT RACISM

by R J Shulman

GRAYSON, New Mexico - (PTSD News) - The old addage goes something like this, you won't know what it's like to be somebody else, to experience what they have gone through, unless you walk a mile in their shoes. We've heard a great deal about racism this past week, most of it stemming from a failed attempt by conservative blogger Andrew Brietbart to paint a previously unknown civil servant named Shirley Sherrod as a racist.

Breitbart couldn't have picked a worse candidate for his scorn. Mr. Sherrod, an African American who witnessed prejudice (that means pre-judging someone for some trait other than character or deed for those of you who may be unsure of the meaning of the term) in South Georgia, including her father being killed by a white man, wanted nothing more than to pass along the message of tolerance, of helping those in need - maybe something Jesus would have done. Instead, she got a barrage of hatred, scorn and a pink slip from her boss. Fortunately, justice was awake and Sherrod was quickly vindicated, even receiving the Presidental seal of Apology for the unfortunate hasty decision to throw Sherrod under the bus, the pre-Rosa Parks bus.

I didn't hear much of an apology from Mr. Brietbart, Sean Hannity (who was briefly in heaven over beating the hell out of the out of context video), and the Fear and Loathing Brigade who thinks Fox News and facts have anything in common, those who still want believe something like a desperate Fox Mulder of the X-Files wanted to beleive in the supernatural, that Sherrod, like most everyone else who looks like her are the real racists in America.

Even though I have never WUB (woken up black) myself, I will humbly try and present a case for those tea partiers and tea party apologists who think they know all about racism. So here goes, if you want to talk about this topic with some authority, you can do it only after you:

1) have been stopped for the tenth time by the police for driving a car that must be too expensive for you to really own

2) you have been constantly followed by retail personnel after you have told them for the fifth time you do not need any assistance

3) been told, "funny, you didn't sound white on the phone," when you show up for the job interview

4) have been asked ad nauseum, "why do you white people think everything is about race?"

5) finally see the first white man become president of the country and when he tries to repair an obvously broken health care system watch people of a different race plaster his face over Nazi and Communsit uniforms, have his face made up like the Batman Joker, or have it attached to the body of a man dressed in tribal costume

6) hear the phrase "you people" or "white welfare mothers" (there are more of them, by the way) with a certain fear and disdain by the speaker

7) you have been told many times that the only reason you got your job was because affirmative action required so many whites to be employed

8) you have heard your name and the word "uppity" or "audacious" in the same sentence

9) you hear many governors and people in authority call for secession from the union because there is finally a white man in the White House

10) your ancestors were dragged to a foreign continent, enslaved, beaten, raped, ridiculed, and systematically excluded from a a normal life in a country that for centuries boasted to God and the world that "all men are created equal."

If you have experienced all or even a few of the above, then perhaps your comments about racism might have some weight.

And by the way, even if Sherrod was proven to be a racist, finding a black person here or there who has a bad taste in their mouth about white people still wouldn't excuse your long standing, deep-rooted, often acted out fear and loathing of black people. And for those of you Tea Partiers who keep insisting your lively protests against Obama and the federal government are not fueled by your need to hang on to your belief that your birth right includes feeling superior to all black people, but by your concern for deficits and an executive branch out of control, trampling on your rights, where the f*ck were you for the eight years of the reign of the white Mr. Bush and the white dark-hearted Mr. Cheney?

So if the shoe fits...

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