Tea Party Groups Seek to Rewrite African American History

"If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature,  it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves."  English abolitionist Thomas Day

Tennessee tea party groups seek to romanticize American history by deleting or glossing over this nation's ugly legacy of kidnapping, selling, enslaving, beating, raping, castrating, and lynching black people.  As stated on Think Progress, the Commercial Appeal reports that:

About two dozen tea party activists held a news conference, then met with lawmakers individually to present their list of priorities and “demands” for the 2011 legislative session that opened Tuesday.

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

...The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

"Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."

“The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds, whose website identifies him as a Vietnam War veteran of the Air Force and FedEx retiree who became a lawyer in 1995."

The Declaration of Independence states that: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

The Founding Fathers obviously did not consider us to be "men".  Many the framers of the U.S. Constitution, including Bassett, Blair, Blount, Butler, Carroll, Jenifer, Jefferson, Mason, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Rutledge, Spaight, and Washington, Madison and Franklin, owned slaves. While hypocritically preaching democracy and equality, the framers practiced the most grotesque form of oppression and exploitation. 

In their eyes, we were viewed as property, not people. In Notes of the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson describes Africans as physically and mentally inferior to whites:

"Add to these, flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form, their own judgment in favour of the whites, declared by their preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference of the Oran-ootan for the black women over those of his own species....They secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. They are at least as brave, and more adventuresome. But this may perhaps proceed from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be present. Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to me, that in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous."

To ignore that history is to ignore reality.  The Tennessee Tea Party's mis-education campaign is just another racist effort to negate the history, humanity, pain and suffering of black people.  This nation was built as a result of our enslavement, blood, sweat and tears.  We will not allow this country to forget it!

Obama's Dilemma

After giving his famous speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama emerged on the national political scene. During the speech, he said:

We are all connected. There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a Latino America and an Asian America. There is the United States of America.

Many people embraced Obama as a symbol of the new post-racial era. That image made Obama appealing to a large segment of the white community. He was not another threatening, angry black man like Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton or Min. Louis Farrakhan. People have described him as the Tiger Woods of politics.

During the Presidential Election, the Obama campaign avoided discussing issues of race. They constantly reminded the American people that Obama was not running to be the President of Black America. He was running to be President of the United States of America. When then Senator Joseph Biden referred to Obama as the first clean, bright and articulate African American Presidential candidate, Obama avoided directly addressing the issue. Later, Obama stated that he did not take the comments personally and that Biden’s statements were inaccurate. Eventually, Obama was forced to address the issue of race because of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy.

Obama’s strategy of avoidance helped him win the Presidency. Therefore, it is not be surprising that Obama rejected former President Jimmy Carter’s statement about racism.

It is obvious that Barack Obama is under attack in part due to his race. This is apparent when one sees the teabaggers’ protest signs. Some of the signs depict Obama as an African witch doctor, a terrorist and Adolf Hitler. One protester's sign read, “We came unarmed (this time).” Some of these protesters actually came to town hall meetings armed. At one of the town hall meetings, one deranged protester carried a sign threatening the President and the First Family’s lives. One preacher actually prayed for the President’s death. With their racially divisive remarks, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are inflaming the situation. For example, Limbaugh said, “In Obama’s America, white kids get beat up with the black kids cheering right on, right on, right on.” Furthermore, the birthers claim that President Obama is not even an American citizen.

In the face of all this ugly racism and hatred, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs asserted that “the President does not believe that criticism comes based on the color of his skin.” On Meet the Press, President Obama said, “This debate that is taking place is not about race. It is about people being worried about how our government should operate.”

I understand the Administration’s reasoning. The President is attempting to pass health care reform. He does not need any unnecessary distractions. It would be illogical for him to jeopardize long term goals for the sake of posturing. Politics is like a game of chess. One may have to sacrifice lesser pieces or even important pieces in order to win. Although I understand, I wish the Obama administration had the courage to speak the truth about race. Since Obama is silent, the progressive bloggers, activists and organizations must continue to speak out.