Mainstream media has time and again given the Tea Party and teabaggers a free pass and the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their use of racism to recruit and engage followers.
If they use bigoted, discriminatory language, it's really purely as a matter of argument. If they spew spiteful rhetoric at their rallies, it's really only one portion of the group - not everyone. If Tom Tancredo advocates for a literacy test to be eligible to vote, it's really just a way of saying that we must all come together under one nation. If they call us - Mexicans - filthy stinking animals, well they were only referring to the illegal ones anyhow.
Enough. Racism is racism, there is no excuse for it and has no place in America's public discourse. Their attempt to use racism as a legitimate tool to further a political, economic and anti-immigration agenda is tantamount to the propagandizing of fear as a tool to incite to action. It is using violent words for violent action.
Tea Party members argue that to brand the use of racism in Tea Baggers' rhetoric is to miss the point of their overall argument. Going to the extent of pushing to the frontlines minority members who allegedly admit that as minorities they were part of a "cradle-to-grave government dependency." In the meantime in the backlines they push to isolate minorities as the cause for all the national ills.
What is becoming quite evident is that Tea Party/Tea Baggers are not even aware of their harmful rhetoric. They seemingly cannot disassociate the economic argument from a racial perspective. There is a link, they argue - and that link is valid to present. Their reluctance to admit that this is the essence of their argument is a sign that they are oblivious to the harm their words are having on communities, like the Latino community, as a whole.
One explanation could be in how the Tea Party came to be. In their quest to grow what they call a "movement", to recruit followers and to stay relevant they have to resort to incendiary language because that represents their expanded base and their growth. This is how protests get their hundreds of followers and how their rallies become animated. Without it, there is no spectacle, no media attention:
Yet, when it comes to putting a national, political face and when it comes to their relationship with the GOP they move quickly to "disassociate" themselves from that "small fraction" of the group; in an attempt to encourage politicians to take on their mantra.
Again, enough is enough. In the process the community that has gotten hurt the most has been the Latino community and it is time we stood up to the attacks.
- If Teabaggers use racism as a recruiting tool, Latinos must expose this racism.
Finally if Teabaggers use Latinos to scare folks into recruitment - then Latinos:
It is time to show what a real political movement is. Let's strengthen our movement today.