In John Feehery's new commentary for CNN entitled "Tea Party isn't about Racism", we learn that the known republican, like so many others will go to any length to deny what most Americans already know. The Tea Party, along with the Rifle Toting, Communist and Socialist Name calling Republicans are a group of bigoted hate mongers who will go to just about any length to bring down the president. It should be no surprise that Feehery, a known Republican and former advocate for Newscorp writes a snow job of an article, attempting to shoot down the race argument. However, the elephant in the room isn't the symbol for the Republican Party - the elephant in the room is Racism.
JOHN FEEHERY DRINKS BIGOT FLAVORED TEA
September 16, 2009
by Suz Andreasen
Dear John - while I admire your efforts in your CNN article, "Tea Party isn't about Racism" to try and create a more civilized dialogue about the current state of affairs in your party, I am compelled to point out that you are seriously naive if you think the tea party is not about Racism. Your argument is not in the least salient because you write of discontent, but you fail to get to the real heart of it.
There is always a time, as our grandparents used to say, to point out the elephant in the room. That elephant in the era of Barack Obama is Racism.
Your party the Republican Party - and the folks who are protesting with signs, guns and threats can fall under no other category other than bigotry and hatred. Let me be totally clear here as well: When I use the words racism, prejudice and bigotry, I am referring to people of any race who have fear of "the other" for lack of a better way to put it, or fear of the unknown who then choose to throw their hate at an individual because of race. What I have learned not only from this last election, but also from years of working in multi-racial and cultural environments is that it doesn't matter what you are protesting about - if you have a certain mindset, you will simply frame your thinking in that line of reasoning. At the core of what your Tea Party/Socialist/Communist/Big Government/Gun Toting name calling is the fact that these people cannot handle an African American in the White house. It is that simple.
It is also true that many children born in 60's and beyond are fairly lucky in that teachings of the day took place to look at prejudice as a racial issue to be dealt with largely in part because of Martin Luther King and the passage of the Civil Rights Act. While this was controversial, many of us, not all of us, learned to talk about race. Race became a defined topic. Today, however, your tea party seems to want to revert back to the days before Jim Crow, Black Code laws, -- days before we knew about Malcom X, before black power, before cultural movements enabled not only black people to move forward but Latinos, Asians and Women. With the carrying of rifles, the signs that clearly exploit race by saying "Let's put Obama where we put Kennedy" your party and the Tea Party appears determined to revert to a more scary line of reasoning where racism lives and thrives.
In conclusion - in this free country, you and your tea party Republican cohorts are free to keep writing snow jobs, excusing your racial hatred, but be on notice, because those of us who are smart enough to know better are not only willing, but compassionately able to call you out. You may not be a racist, but you are supporting hatred and those who are and for that, you and CNN should be ashamed.