"Who Are You Better Than?"

Via Balloon Juice, this is an excellent essay about the history of race in America and where the Tea Partiers fit in. And it was written on a motorcycle adventure message board of all places. I love the internet!

I want to first say that there are many responsible, racially-evolved Tea Partiers out there. But I do think that they should be aware of who they are joining forces with, and this essay accurately diagnoses those forces. It starts out with this quote from the book "Mississippi Burning":

"You know when I was a little boy, there was an old negro farmer that lived down the road from us, named Monroe. He was ... (subtle laugh), I guess he was just a little more luckier than my daddy was. He bought himself a mule.

It was a big deal in round that town. Now my daddy hated that mule. Cause, his friends were always kidding him about, "They saw Monroe out plowing with his new mule and Monroe is going to rent another field now he had a mule."

One morning that mule showed up dead. They poisoned the water. After that, there wasn't any mention about that mule around my daddy. It just never came up. One time we were driving down that road and we passed Monroe's place and we saw it was empty. He just packed up and left, I guess, he must of went up north or something.

I looked over at my daddy's face, I knew he done it. He saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and said, "If you ain't better than a nigger son, who are you better than?"" - Agent Anderson, Mississippi Burning

And it ends with this diagnoses of the Tea Partiers:

They say it is about "freedoms"...but they can point to no freedoms that have been lost over the last 14 months.

They say the Constitution is being destroyed, but when you ask them what parts of The General Welfare Clause or Congresses' power to regulate Interstate Commerce are being violated...they stand mute with rage

They say it is about taxes...but they can find no drastic tax increases in the last 14 months.

Come to think of it, I don't really remember anyone getting speared with an assegai thirty years ago either. But that didn't stop people screaming about the danger.

And they say they want their Country Back.

Well, Bingo.

Now we have it. They want to return to a time and place where they at least knew who they were better than.

Read the whole thing.