Black Tea-Partyer calls out Garofalo over ‘white power’ statement
By Patrik Jonsson | 10.07.09
Comedienne-activist and “Matchmaker” star Janeane Garofalo pounded Tea Party activists during Bill Maher’s “Real Time” a couple of days ago, equating this summer’s “Tea Party” protests with a darker chapter in US history: the white power movement.
Ms. Garofalo said: “Tea-baggers, the 9/12ers, these separatist groups that pretend that it’s about policy are clearly white identity movements. They are clearly white power movements.”
That broad brushstroke proved to be offensive to at least one black man in America: David Webb. Mr. Webb is a New York City talk show host (”The Grinder” on AM 970), a Republican, and founder of a Tea Party group in the Big Apple.
So what does Webb want? For starters, a debate with Garofalo, one of the harshest liberal critics of the Tea Party movement. Her views, though not shared by all Democrats, have been hinted at by prominent party figures such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former president Jimmy Carter.
Despite his modicum of radio celebrity, Webb is not holding his breath while waiting to hear back from Mr. Maher’s producers. But if he ever gets the opportunity to speak to Garofalo face to face, what would he say?
“I’d like to ask her what is the factual basis for her statements,” Webb said in a phone interview Wednesday. “If you can tell me that even arguably, let’s just say 60 to 70 percent out there at all those Tea Parties and town hall meetings, if you could show me they’re racist, then I’d say most of the movement was racist. But since [Garofalo] can’t, that shows [her statement] to be exactly what it is: a search for relevance and hate speech in its own right, which is what it is when you use hate to get a reaction.”
Webb agrees that, as a black conservative, he does stand out in Tea Party crowds, which tend to be white and middle class. But that visual lack of diversity in the movement – which even Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has noted – doesn’t bother Webb, a former Census worker and founder of the Black Republican Forum, an annual conference on hot-button cultural and political issues in the US.
“What’s wrong if [the Tea Parties] do represent so-called middle America?” he says. “There’s no minimum daily requirement to make something legitimate.”
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2. Frustrated Independent | 10.08.09
To Mr. Webb: How could you design a study to “prove” someone is racist? The idea that Ms. Garofalo should have to do so is preposterous.
To Vince: the fact of the matter is that the loudest voices calling fellow Americans “unpatriotic” have been Republicans referring to liberal protesters of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, causes which the vast majority of America now supports. As someone who was told to “get out of the country” for questioning both engagements and their baseless credibility, it seems to me that anyone who supported the wars but now doesn’t owes an apology to myself and everyone who tried our best to stop this disaster before it started. Perhaps if you had all stopped calling us unpatriotic, treasonous, irresponsible hippies and actually listened to what we were saying, we wouldn’t be trillions of dollars in debt and would have the surplus to deal with this current economic downturn. Then we’d all have jobs and healthcare and the world wouldn’t despise us.
Oh and by the way, as Americans we do not say “no” to socialism. Medicare, unemployment benefits, emergency hospital care, the graduated income tax, minimum wage and much more are all socialist ideas. Oh, and if you enjoy your weekend and forty (instead of 80-100) hour work week, then raise a glass to the socialist unions of the past!
3. FiscalConservative | 10.08.09
To Frustrated Independent: Your examples of socialism we Americans already have, are actually examples of things conservatives would like to rid the country of. So what exactly is your point? Since some politicians already forced socialism on us, it’s ok for more?? I’m tired of the liberal viewpoint that since we have some socialism in our government, we all must like it. Please read the Constitution and tell me where the government is authorized to do many of these things, ie. Healthcare.
4. Brian N | 10.08.09
I love the people who pretend that because a few services SHOULD be banded together, that it makes some kind of argument in favor of full socialism. The armed forces are a good example of “banding together.” Unfortunately, the armed forces are a successful government enterprise because they have an unlimited budget. That is the only way our untalented politicians can survive. They have applied that same philosophy to every endeavor in which they are involved, and the country cannot afford it.
Only morons would cry for “more!”
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Vince | 10.07.09
let us judge each other not by the color of ones skin, but by the content of ones charachter: MLK. Jeneane”s racist comment tells us more about her then the ones she is commenting about. Her and her ilk, can no longer stifle opposition to our Presidents and Congresses policys when concerns are legit. If one can not counter intellectualy , than one demeans the oppostion by name calling, racists, unpatrotic, Nazis,etc. Your childish rantings and schoolyard bullying antics no longer deter us. we say no to socialism, no matter who may be promoting it, and as Americans proudly so.