opinion
The Monkey on the Tea Party’s Back
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A
nother day. Another outra-
geous example of how
deeply the election of a
Black American of mixed parent-
age has unhinged some conserva-
tive White Americans.
And further evidence, thanks to
Marilyn Davenport, a Tea Party
member who sits on the
Republican Party central commit-
tee of Orange County, Ca., that the
Tea Party continues to be the orga-
nizational refuge for some signifi-
cant number of them.
Recently a local newspaper
reported that Davenport, a long-
time party committee member, had
sent to some fellow committee
members and others an e-mail
depicting President Obama as
belonging to a family of chim-
panzees: his face was superim-
posed on a chimpanzee that was
clearly meant to be the offspring
of a male and female chimpanzee -
- also in the photo.
Underneath the doctored photo,
Davenport, who is 74, had typed
the words: “Now you know why –
no birth certificate!”
Scott Baugh, the chairman of the
committee, was one who received
it. He e-mailed Davenport that it
was “dripping with racism and is
in very poor taste.” He and some
other GOP officials in the county
later said Davenport should resign
or be ousted from her committee
seat.
The ensuing scenario followed
the script that’s become a thor-
oughly familiar one since
President Obama took office.
Davenport at first declared in an
e-mail response to the committee
that she had done nothing wrong
d eFenderS o nline
Lee A. Daniels and
Stacey Patton
and that it was all “much to do
about nothing.
“I’m sorry if my e-mail offend-
ed anyone,” she began, her tone of
defiance obvious. “I simply found
it amusing regarding the character
of Obama and all the questions
surrounding his origin of birth.”
The character of Obama? His
origin of birth?
Davenport pressed on: “In no
way did I consider the fact that’s
he’s half black when I sent out the
who took offense, followed by the
I-have-Black- friends-so-I’m-not-
a-racist declaration.
But, it was clear the controversy
was not going be dismissed so eas-
ily. Davenport’s words summoned
echoes of the racist assertions of
late 19th and early 20th-century
eugenicists
like
Charles
Davenport (no relation) about the
character, traits, and evolutionary
origins of Black people. Charles
Davenport was one who in the
early 1900s warned that American
society was in decline because of
the presence of too many Blacks,
people with disabilities and other
people of color.
Former chairman of the
It’s important to note the similarity of the
three incidents: they are all outlandish,
and draw on a web of bigoted notions
about Blacks and Mexicans
email. In fact, the thought never
entered my mind until one or two
other people tried to make this
about race. We all know a double
standard applies regarding this
president. I received plenty of
emails about George Bush that I
didn’t particularly like, yet there
was no ‘cry’ in the media about
them.”
She added for good measure that
she has friends who are Black.
That marked the end of the first
act of the drama: the dismissal of
the wrong by combining the asser-
tion that it was all a joke with a
back-of-the-hand apology to those
California Republican Party
Michael Schroeder weighed in
quickly that the e-mail was
Davenport’s third strike, citing
two previous incidents in which
she had defended the racist actions
of fellow Orange County conser-
vatives.
The first was during President
Obama’s inauguration, when Los
Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose for-
warded an email depicting a
watermelon patch on the White
House lawn.
According
to
Schroeder,
Davenport also defended Newport
Councilman Richard Nichols
when he opposed installing grassy
areas at a beach. His reason,
according to the L.A. Times: “with
grass we usually get Mexicans
coming in there early in the morn-
ing and they claim it as theirs, and
it becomes their personal, private
grounds all day.”
It’s important to note the similar-
ity of the three incidents: they are
all outlandish, and draw on a web
of bigoted notions about Blacks
and Mexicans that are the more
effective because they don’t have
to be spelled out.
The weight of criticism — added
to undoubtedly via back-channel
routes by Republican Party offi-
cialdom trying to avoid another
racial controversy welling up from
its ranks – soon forced Marilyn
Davenport to publicly recant. She
said, “I wasn’t wise in sending the
email out. I shouldn’t have done
it. I really wasn’t thinking when I
did it. I had poor judgment.” She
further said, “I am not a racist, but
I do think I need to apologize
again with different words.”
But, of course, though one may
accept the sincerity of Davenport’s
apology, it’s too late for a “retrac-
tion” of an incident and its imme-
diate aftermath, which offer, not a
window, but a glass house-look
into the Tea Party’s soul as the
place where such expressions of
bigotry are acceptable. The “mon-
key” Tea Partiers are apparently
obsessed with asserting is
President Obama is actually the
outward manifestation of their
own racial anxieties. The monkey
they see is actually the one on their
own backs.
Social Trends: Marriage is so 20th Century!
I
know I’m a lucky girl because
I love my job (not everyone
does you know). It gives me
the privilege of keeping my finger
on the pulse of consumer trends
and purchasing behavior as my
company, The Nielsen Company,
measures what you watch and
what you buy globally. I then have
the pleasure of sharing that infor-
mation with you because I so
believe that knowledge is power.
Recently, Nielsen released a com-
prehensive report, The New
Digital American Family, which
highlights that the new family unit
is more ethnically diverse than at
any point in history. And, while I
will certainly be sharing with you
all of the eye-opening findings of
the study in future columns, today
I am focused on the one finding
that sent a chill down my spine:
“marriage is on the wane.”
Two trends impact the outlook
for marriage: age at first marriage
and opting out of marriage alto-
gether. The proposed factors
delaying marriage are many: an
extended period of adolescence,
an economy with few available
jobs and the highly publicized sin-
gle lifestyle modeled by celebri-
ties. But. it is co-habitation before
marriage that appears to be the
dominant, driving force of the
decline in marriage.
Now if you’re a woman, you’ve
more than likely been warned by
your mama, grandma or auntie
that “there’s no point in buying the
Page 4 The Portland Skanner april 27, 2011
P uBlic a FFairS
Cheryl Pearson-McNeil
cow when you can get the milk for
free.” And, while most of us
decried being compared to a cow,
we certainly understood the mes-
sage behind the old adage: they
didn’t want us shacking up,
(mmm-hmm. You know that’s
what your mama and grandmam-
ma called it.) or living together
percent – of all couples prefer to
share a household without a mar-
riage license. Wow. So much for
taking mama and ‘dem’s advice.
Am I the only one who was raised
on pure guilt?! And, for those who
do get married, the median age at
first marriage for men rose by six
years since the middle of the Baby
Boomer years.
The second trend is to never
marry. Almost three-fourths, or 72
percent, of Americans over age 18
were married in 1960, but only 52
Two trends impact the outlook for
marriage: age at first marriage and
opting out of marriage altogether
before marriage. I tried living
with my then boyfriend before we
got married, and I was so trauma-
tized by the thought of my moth-
er’s disapproval that the live-in sit-
uation only lasted for three months
( in retrospect the subsequent mar-
riage didn’t last that much longer,
but that’s another column) and that
was in the 90’s. In 1980, only 16
percent of adults lived together
before marriage. By 2000, those
couples choosing to shack-up
jumped to 41 percent. Now, new
census numbers expect to show
that more than half – more than 50
percent are today.
Young
Americans are delaying marriage
and the rates are plummeting
among all ethnic groups. To fur-
ther confound the situation, sociol-
ogists are proposing a new way of
thinking about marriage, summa-
rized by the phrase “alone togeth-
er.” This reflects more independ-
ent spouses who live separate lives
with fewer shared activities than
their married predecessors. (Can’t
you just hear your grandmother’s
uncensored response when you
and your “boo” announce your
“alone together” status: “Now
what kind of nonsense mumble
jumble is that?!” But. truth be told
maybe my marriage would have
lasted longer had we had such a
non-traditional
arrangement).
Statistically, both non-marriage
and delayed marriage are equal
opportunity realities encompass-
ing all ethnic groups. And, statis-
tics show that college educated
adults have the highest marriage
rates; while those with a high
school education or less have the
lowest rates.
So whether you thought mar-
riage was in your plans or not, at
least you know how you or even
your adult children fare compared
to the rest of America. I contend
there really is something to be said
about that “cow for free” adage;
sometimes mama ain’t always
wrong, no matter what the unmar-
ried numbers say. Perhaps if more
parents guilted their kids into not
living together outside of marriage
we could impact these climbing
numbers. You can rest assured
that I absolutely plan to use the
“guilt-method-of-parenting” on
my son for as long as it works for
me. Anyone out there willing to
join me?
Cheryl Pearson-Mcneil is the
senior vice president of Public
affairs and government relations
for the nielsen Company. For
more information and studies go
to www.nielsenwire.com