As you know if you pay any attention to the news, Tea Partiers are a bunch of racists who scream racist things at black people (whoops, that didn’t happen) and spew their racist spit all over black people (oopsie-daisy, that did not occur either) and generally say and do racist things to black people. Which is why it’s so weird that a black person who works for CNN is now saying something a bit different.
A CNN producer named Shannon Travis has been following Tea Party rallies for the past week. After repeating the usual canards about the racial taunts and the spitting, Travis adds:
But here’s what you don’t often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper…
It is important to show the colorful anger Americans might have against elected leaders and Washington. But people should also see the orange-vested Tea Party hospitality handlers who welcome you with colorful smiles.
There were a few signs that could be seen as offensive to African-Americans. But by and large, no one I spoke with or I heard from on stage said anything that was approaching racist.
Almost everyone I met was welcoming to this African-American television news producer.
Could it be that our leaders are being judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?