The Tea Party - Cultural Observation (Massive Culuture Shock)

I attended the Tea Party rally in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with the intention of stepping outside my comfort zone and succeeded in doing so. The rally was set to start that afternoon. I wanted to show up after the rally began so I could be unnoticed. I found myself becoming very paranoid my attendance for several reasons. I have followed the tea party rallies very closely in the media and they have been heavily criticized for their racially charged language, views, and actions. I would definitely consider myself a very outspoken liberal black male , so this put me in an uncomfortable position. Another reason I felt uncomfortable was I attended with my white ex-girlfriend who did not want me to attend alone and wanted to observe the tea partiers as well. The tea party rally was going strong when we arrived with a small gathering of members. As we approached the park where it was being help we saw the familiar "Dont Tread On Me" flags that the tea partiers have claimed blowing in the wind. I looked around and saw I was surrounded by conservative politicians advertisements and confederate flags as well. I immediately became very angry and wanted to yell at people I saw wearing and flying confederate flags. I understood that I was experiencing culture shock. My reaction was anger because I did not understand why these people were flying a flag that I recognize as a symbol of racism. This flag has been the backdrop for nearly every white southern supremacist movement and several scenes of racial hatred for my people in history. I found myself very uncomfortable and unable to look on without passing judgment on the people around me. I gazed around to also see that three-fourths of the tea partiers were sitting in lawn chairs. I am an avid protester myself and had never seen a protest where people were all sitting down in a "I've had enough" atmosphere.



I found myself being stared at often and people mumbling things when I was walking past. One woman who was covered in confederate flag clothing handed over a flyer that spoke about how slavery "was not the issue" of the civil war. This was rhetoric I was all too familiar with growing up in the South. I felt like everything was a game to the people around me and they were caught up in dogmatic ignorance rather than culture. These people were displaying their core values though. A lot of racially and politically charged undertones set the stage for the speakers I heard. I often heard "We need to take our country back". It made me begin to wonder as I often do who "our" is? One speaker who was a veteran got up and claimed he enlisted in the army during Vietnam to "kill communist for Christ" and was "ready to do what was necessary". I often listened in shock as speakers stated they were a culturally diverse movement that represented many races and ethnic groups . I constantly heard speakers mention "we are not racist". I looked around, took pictures , and shot video and I am one-hundred percent certain I was the only African American and racial minority in attendance.



Several people cheered "here, here!" as a gentleman ranted on his problems with illegal immigrants who "were not patriots". People were discussing there family history's and puritan genealogy's as I walked around and talking about the "socialist" administration currently in power. I must admit that I felt as if people were saying the same xenophobic and racial statements that have been used for years with new politically correct terminology. This is where my ex girlfriend came in as an informant to verify some of my questions about the conservative majority tea partiers as well as some counter protesters I encountered(who all blended much better than I). There was frequent rantings of God, The Bible, and "Our Forefathers". Another question was raised in my mind, "Do these people realize this countries forefathers owned my fore-mothers and forefathers?" I wanted to approach someone and ask them this. I felt strange hearing so many people talk about returning to the original constitutional values this country was founded on. I only found myself in my observance thinking about how the original constitution stated that I would be considered 3/5 human being thanks to the 3/5 compromise. Overall , I felt these people were not being culturally competent of others around them and were insensitive to the history of others who inhabit America. I found myself feeling very ethnocentric towards them for feeling so very ethnocentric towards others. I am glad I attended though, I felt as if I did something many black males wouldn't do and it helped me understand some things. I looked around and I saw poor people, I saw regular people,and I saw people who struggle just like me. I have yet to figure out what it is that separates me from what is essentially my reflection.

The Anatomy of Hate

The Anatomy of Hate is a documentary film by Mike Ramsdell about the culture, politics, and complexity of the emotion known as hate. The movie documents several hate groups and interviews intellectuals, hate group members, and others. Ramsdell focuses thoroughly throughout the movie on how the groups seem to think their hatred is normal. He interviews neo-nazis, Westboro Baptist Church members , Palestinians, Israelis, and American soldiers just to name a few. The entire time I was watching the movie I was not shocked by the words and thoughts people had as much as their ignorance. The people interviewed in the film seemed to truly believe that they were not doing or saying anything wrong. I was amazed to hear people say such hateful , terrible , and insensitive things and not even bat an eyelash. Mike explains in the film though that people's hate is taught via enculturation into small children early on. The film explains that children from the age of 1-7 are most absorbent of information. It's during these moments that humans learn their defining views. He puts emphasis on the children of the perpetrators featured throughout. The Anatomy of Hate does a great job exploring a giant problem. What causes hate? The film answers "fear." Fear is a dynamic that plays into several groups hating others. The fear is based on things that vary from power,to land, and even religion. It seems that the hate groups in the film were all basing their fear on the forced change of their comfort or culture. The cultures that they were indoctrinated in were being "defended" by these hate groups. I thought myself that most of the hate groups seemed to be on the offensive against nothing. The targets often seemed to be over exaggerated threats and apparitions of danger. The groups such as the US Army, Israeli citizens, and Palestinian citizens that were highlighted were portrayed unbiased by Ramsdell. These groups were represented in a way that exposed their internal struggles with hate of their opposition more so. I thought this film was a wonderful detail of something that should be explored more for a solution.