I have a comment about Becks rally

[Ramulux]

I normally dont like to make racial comments about stuff because I think a lot of people do it in an irrational way and it sort of becomes counter-productive.

However, I want to ask a real serious question.

What is the deal with the fact that almost everyone who showed up at Becks rally is white?

I get that we live in a predominately white society and that we are in the majority, so obviously if you just randomly select a group of people, most of them will be white. But, this is ridiculous. We also live in a multi-racial country. Whites are in the majority but that is quickly changing and if you just take a look around your town it is likely you will see multiple minorities of some kind.

What boggles my mind is the sheer ratio of whites to non-whites at this event. It doesn't make sense. I literally cant think of anywhere in this country where you could find this kind of lopsided demographic without say throwing a party and then putting up a sign saying no minorities allowed. Its insane.

Now, my real question is what does this mean? What does it say about an organization or political party or a club or group of any kind when they have no diversity at all. My point is that in today's modern world it seems to me like you would have to actively work to discourage participation by minorities in order to have that little diversity. Like, if you set up any type of non-political event in a town with a decent Hispanic population, lets say a fair or something, it is a given that after a certain amount of people show up a certain amount of Hispanic people will be there, that is just how percentages work. In order to distort that ratio and reduce Hispanic participation in this event you would have to do something to discourage Hispanics from attending.

What I also dont understand is why no one acknowledges this, why the media doesn't go, at a rally with tens of thousand of people there were like 5 minorities. That seems like a story to me. To use the fair analogy again, if you go to a fair in a town with a significant Hispanic population and almost every single person there is white, you are going to notice that, you are going to be like WTF? I jut dont get why this isn't noticed and commented on by people in the media, it makes no sense.

Just to make a quick comparison, can you imagine if tens of thousands of African Americans attended a rally like this about taking back their country and restoring honor and there were literally 5 white people. I guarantee 100% the media would take notice and make that into a story.

[geckosfeet]

1. It's so obvious that mentioning it is like saying "oh look, the sky is blue".

But your point is taken.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. African-Americans comprise about 14% of the population of the U.S.

Assuming there really were 300,000 people at Beck's Nuremberg - er, D.C. rally, and assuming African-Americans accept Teabaggism in the same proportion as the entire population, there should have been about 42,000 African-American spectators.

I think there weren't quite that many.

And I think I know why.

[PerpetuallyDazed]

8. Because blacks and the other normals were at the legit MLK event w/ Sharpton?

It was hard for me not to see Beck's Rally as a cleverly disguised Klan meeting -- "Restoring Honor" (i.e. "Restore America") as a tribute to the troops my ass. I wondering if this is the atmosphere my parents went through in the 50s and 60s? Although perhaps less subtle?

[tavalon]

12. Not nearly as cleverly disguised, really

Yeah, they skipped the sheets but really, in 90 degree heat, who wants to wear a sheet?

[OHdem10]

3. The GOP has become the "Older White People's Party' ". they

seem to like just that way. Appear to do everything in
their power to alienate any who are not older and white.

There is sad commentary, however, It is the older white
people who have all the power or at least willing to exercise
it.

Yes, if the crowd were made up of Asians, Blacks, Latinos,
Middle Easteners with a few whites polka dotting the crowd,
and this group had made similar signs and yelled comments
similar to Tea Party, whew eeee, there would be negative
reports galore.

There is a double standard.

[Ramulux]

6. I know

I just dont get why pointing that out isn't ever done in the media. I know they suck and fail to cover most stories, but the disparity among the attendees is so painfully obvious that it seems like they should be forced to acknowledge it. Call me crazy but I think the fact that a national political party is obviously catering to a small limited demographic is HUGE news. They should be covering non-stop until the RNC admits and is forced to apologize. They are purposefully going after one race and one age group and its insane no one says anything about it.

[Raschel]

10. I've said the same thing several times. It's the elephant in the room.

[MadMaddie]

4. Shhhhhhh I was attacked in another thread for stating the obvious

see if we call them racists then we embolden them.

Everyone sees the rally for what it was.

You are right the media would notice this story and that rally would have more police presence then you could believe.

[Quantess]

5. But it was sheer coincidence that it happened to be the time and place of MLK's famous speech.

"Divine providence". Even Glenn Beck denies that racial tension was an inspiration for his rally. That's about the worst lie I've ever heard.

[Raster]

7. Do you know how you can tell Glenn Beck is lying?

His lips are moving.

[toddwv]

9. I would be surprised and a great deal disappointed if the minority attendance was significant.

For the last two years, the right-wing media has been conducting a relentless campaign designed to stoke the fires of their white aging base. Attacks on organizations such as ACORN and NAACP that serve predominantly minorities rocked the media with the right's constant stream of vitriol and misinformation. The GOP and its media outlets turned Civil Rights into Civil Whites and proliferated the already tired narrative of the poor down-trodden white majority. The sometimes thinly veiled most of the time outright blatant slander against President Obama. The escalation of the illegal immigration issue. These are all just wedge issues being used to keep the social conservatives frothing at the mouth over the idea that they are under constant siege. The sad thing is that this is just the very small tip of a very large iceberg. The white majority is shrinking every year and will be non-existent somewhere around mid-twenty first century. Add to this that the younger crowd (anyone younger than mid 40s) seems to be much more accepting of diversity than the Boomers and you have a social catastrophe in the minds of those who suck on the teat of the status quo. The far-whites of the far-right are only going to get more anxious, more vocal and more vitriolic in their desperation to save the white legacy of the US.

Watch as the victim meme that the right used to despise not too long ago becomes a major rallying cry. After all, the rich white Christians are, if you listen to the right-wing media, the most oppressed group in America today.

[onethatcares]

11. get the idea that teabaggers are a grassroots movement out of your head

and realize that those lily white guys that fund it do not want those dark skinned, semi dark skinned or not really white folks to attain anything but an

air of servitude around them. yeah, they'll deal with the mid eastern rich guys, because that kind of money has no color, but to be concerned with the

inner city blacks, or even the inner city whites, is something they'd rather not think about except how they can use them to make more money.

Jeez, it's only been a little over 40 years since the voting rights act was passed, it'll probably be another 40 years before they or their heirs

recognize it.

[riderinthestorm]

13. K and R. And I don't like it. Not one bit. nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Tea Klux Klan...it's so obvious.

My new bumper sticker = TEA KLUX KLAN with the Republican elephant right next to those words. They aren't fooling anyone. Everyone knows who they are and what they're doing. They're a bunch of racists, bigots, xenophobes, and homophobes. They need to be shamed for what they're doing and I plan on doing it with my car bumper.

I must say, I just read an article on Yahoo.com and one of the first sentences is "predominantly white crowd on the National Mall."

WASHINGTON – Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King's message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King's legacy held their own rally and march.<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_dc_rally