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Maddow did a brilliant research job in finding actual questions from literacy tests that were used three years before I was born, tests that were used routinely to deny black folks their Constitutional right to vote.
Now, I will concede that there are people who are in the tea party movement who are legitimately concerned about all of the political issues that their various leaders say they are concerned about. Fine. Done with that part. But there are WAAAAY too many in that movement who are racist, homophobic, theocratic tricks, and there is not denying it. The tea party spokespeople try to sweep it under the rug. Many on the right have been using the "oh Obama can't be criticized because he is black" line to try to cover for their more obviously racist counterparts who bring nothing but embarrassment, and a realization that indeed for too many people, Obama is being criticize simply for being black.
Man, how things change yet remain the same. Only a fool would suggest that we have not made great strides in our race relations in my lifetime. But only a fool would suggest that racism is dead.
Former Rep. Tom Tancredo, in that call for a return to literacy tests, showed his true colors, and he should be throttled politically for doing that. I have relatives that I can call today who remember literacy tests, poll taxes, understanding clauses and all of the tricks that were used to deny black folks the right to vote. That Tancredo wants to bring that era back to score points against the people who voted for Obama (with that particular jab at those who speak Spanish) is fucking shameful. That the people in that room cheered like that is just as shameful, and that this happened during Black History Month is just friggin ironic.
Half of these complaints were applicable during the Bush administration, but it was only after Obama came forth, that marches on Washington were necessary. Deficit spending, secretive war spending, expanded entitlements, bank bailouts, economic collapse, terrorist attacks, all fell under the Bush administration. The anti-war protesters were "loony," "anti-American," and the like. These people are seen as "real Patriots," "real Americans."
These people, as professor Charles Ogletree suggested, are just pissed off loudmouths who lost the election in 2008. These are the people who lapped up the mean-spirited and divisive rhetoric that Sarah Palin spewed throughout the 2008 campaign. And clearly, many of those people gathered last weekend showed their true thoughts during that Tancredo speech. Pitiful.
3 comments:
Seriously, is it too much to ask that people wanting to vote answer a few basic questions?
For example, who couldn't answer this simple question-- "Who is the Solicitor General of the State Judicial Circuit in which you live and the Judge of such circuit? (If such Circuit has more than one Judge, name them all.)
Yeah, kudos to Rachel for finding those questions. I've read about the infamous "literacy tests" of the Jim Crow era, but never I'd never seen the actual questions.
There are only two possible explanations for Tom Tancredo's suggestion.
One, he is too damn stupid to know what "literacy test" has meant in American history, or,
Two--he's a racist.
I'll go with two.
Scott, honestly, I wonder if it is a little of both. I think that Tancredo's real target is the Hispanic community. And in his "clever" zinger on that lot of folks, he forgot the recent past and called for literacy tests. Then he really got full of himself and essentially implied that all of us who supported Obama were ill informed and ignorant.
I think the tea party people, unfortunately, have tapped into a general sense of discontent with the American electorate ... funny thing about democracy. It's rights AND responsibility. We all have the rights part down pat -- in fact, we are all too ready to sue for them. It's the responsibility part that give us trouble. Scott: I think most of us -- especially in the tea party movement -- would not be able to answer your question. That's a given. But I'd wager that they couldn't even name their U.S. senator or U.S. representative (we used to call missing those questions a "brain hit" in boot camp ... fortunately, I still remember my American Civics class).
Tancredo's rant was tinged with a bit 'o racism, but I can't help but think that there is a feeling out there among the people who would like to see Americans know just a little more about the republic we participate in every election cycle.
Personally, it would have been great to see the Tea Party convention have a session in Civics ... how a bill becomes a law ... hell, just play Schoolhouse Rock, for Pete's sake!
I'm just sayin ...
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