Legal Commentary

A Caveat To The Response To The ?Tea Party Is Racist!? Trope

By now it is clear that there has been a concerted campaign ? no need to call it a conspiracy ? to brand the Tea Party movement as racist.

There has been an even more spirited, and entirely persuasive, response that rejects these evidence-less charges of Tea Party racism for the partisan hogwash they are. As Cornell law professor and blogger William Jacobson has written,

The attacks on the Tea Parties have nothing to do with stamping out white supremacy and everything to do with shaping the political dialogue to stamp out legitimate opposition to Obama administration policies.

I certainly agree that the accusations of Tea Party racism are spurious, or worse (deliberate slander), but I would like to add one caveat. When people on the left accuse political opponents of racism, they often don?t mean, you know, racism ? at least not as that term is usually and properly understood. Many of them honestly, sincerely believe that it is racist to oppose racial preferences and support colorblind equal treatment, i.e., treating everyone ?without regard? to race. Thus according to the lefties? deranged definition of racism, Tea Partiers are indeed racist.

Every time Tea Party adherents are accused of racism, or even hear that accusation hurled at others, they should reply, ?We believe in colorblind equal treatment. Do you??

Full post as published by Discriminations on April 23, 2010 (boomark / email).