Okay full disclosure I had the challenge and the pleasure to work for Congressman Ron Klein (D-FL.) on his first Congressional campaign as his field crew chief. Now what was great about how we worked that campaign was that everybody worked which meant that I did not get to sit in an air condition office and have the field crew report back to me; no I walked turf everyday in the heat and rain of Florida’s all too well known rainy season. However what I enjoyed was the conversations we were having with voters as we took on a 25 year Republican incumbent Congressman E. Clay Shaw. Congressman Klein and the D.C.C. (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) wanted to know what issues were important to them; was it Medicare/Medicaid reform, environmental issues, the war’s, or something else that we as Democrat’s needed to be made aware of. Anyone that has ever worked a political campaign in any capacity knows campaign staffer’s and volunteer’s are motivated by the hope, promise, and redemption personified by the candidate and the Klein campaign like many democratic congressional campaign’s of 2006 was no different.
Now it is four years later and the Congressman’s opponent is an African-American/Tea Party Republican Alan West. Now as much as I respect Congressman Klein for not only did I work on his campaign, but I actually lived in and still live that congressional district; I was raised in a Black Nationalist Home and firmly believe that in order to insure equal representation specific populations must vote for their own qualified candidates. It is different when you have a seat at the table then when someone brings you take out or a doggie bag. The thought that there could be another African-American in Congress I would have been willing to explore, but this Negro fire’s me up.
Now let me be clear about why I refer to Alan West as a Negro. First of all I would not be surprised if that’s how he reefer’s to himself, secondly I am speaking to what seems to be a particular mind set of folk who place their personal importance, and allow their value system to be defined by that which is outside them and does not value them. I am speaking directly to the type of black folk that can love that which has oppressed them more than they love themselves. With the black republicans I run across it never ceases to amaze me that the latter cancels out the first. It seems to me that black republicans want to be anything but black, and may God help you if you try to remind them that they are black and the rest the conservatives know they are black even if they’re playing their own ethic “don’t ask, don’t tell” . I just wanna yell “Negro please the tea party don’t love us”, but it’s like trying to get someone who has been getting their ass kicked by their “partner” help and they say “They only hit me ‘cause love me”.
I sat a couple of days ago watching TV. and a commercial where presumably at a constrictive rally Alan West proclaims that he is proud to be “standing with my fellow right wing extremist” had me shouting “are you kidding me! negro please!”. It seemed to me to have all the markings of a modern minstrel show. The good happy Negro is on stage for the enjoyment of those in power, and equates the approval or disapproval of the establishment with their own self worth.
As black tea partier’s like West, and Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele stand in stark contrast to how Democrats went door to door asking voter’s “what’s important to you, what’s impacting you, what issue’s do you want worked on”; the agenda of the tea party seems to be “we’ll tell ya what’s important to you, we don’t care what’s impacting you, and we’ll decided what issue’s are the priority and get worked on”.
I hope that black folk, other people e of color, and America in general take note that end of the day the tea party is throwing a party most of us are not invited too. If you are a LGBT who wants to serve open, honestly, and with integrity in the Military-no invite for you. If you are a womyn who thinks you should be allowed to decide what’s best for your body and your life-no invite for you. If you are a parent struggling and raising your kid in poverty who want better and safer school’s-no invite for you. It astounds me that the party crashers are now the social bouncers.
Continue to walk in the light, redefine your faith, and remember it’s all about the rhythm.
