Despite accusations to the contrary, there are black members of the Tea Party who claim there is no racism in the movement.
When the Tea Party first sprang into existence in early 2009, there were many accusations of racism directed at it, with pictures of rally signs that painted President Obama in a negative light flooding the Internet. But Jerome Hudson, a Tea Party member from Tallahassee, FL, downplays this, proclaiming that the Tea Party is mainly motivated by reducing waste and limiting the size of government.
Hudson, a research analyst with a nonprofit, has spoken at Tea Party events across the country. One thing he has noticed is that most Tea Partiers are older white people. But he says he has never felt uncomfortable in their presence. The only time he has felt uncomfortable is when they offered him money to defray his expenses.
"I didn’t see any signs that were racist," Hudson said. "On the whole these people are concerned about the growing culture of dependency. They have seen a growing underclass."
He says the racism charge is a way of blunting the Tea Party's message, and that the accusation of racism "…has been used to shut down the conversation about issues the country faces today." Hudson claims that 99% of the Tea Party members are not racist. "The overwhelming concern is for their grandchildren and the financial direction of the country. People don't mind that the government is taking out of their income, but it’s where it’s going. Half of the country is subsidizing the other half of the country."
Is the Tea Party truly frustrated with both parties? Hudson believes so. "Senate Republicans and Democrats both voted for TARP. We believe that both parties are corrupt, and the only thing they disagree on is who is going to control the $3 trillion."
In response to this, the Tea Party has sent several representatives to both the Senate and House of Representatives with a directive of stopping government growth.
Hudson did admit that most Tea Party members are conservative so they tend to lean Republican, and that "the overwhelming majority of Tea Party [members] has conservative ideals." Most conservatives tend to believe that more government leads to more corruption. "Conservatives believe that when you put imperfect people with large sums of money, waste, fraud and abuse is inevitable," Hudson said.
Hudson points out that Democrats tend to do this with government programs that are supposed to alleviate social ills, but Republicans also expand the government through the military industrial complex.
The Tea Party is currently gearing up for the next mid-term elections and the 2016 presidential election.
In 2016, Hudson is hoping that the Tea Party supports someone who is more to the right – because he sees Mitt Romney as a progressive Republican – such as former Rep. Allen West and Dr. Benjamin Carson.
Does the Tea Party have a significant racist component?