It’s going to be a lot harder for Tea Baggers to claim they’re not racists now that a photo has emerged of Dale Robertson, who calls himself the “president and founder of the Tea Party,” holding a sign that reads,”Congress = Slave Owner; Taxpayer = Niggar.”
The photo was taken in Houston on Feb. 27, 2009.
Robertson is the operator of the Tea Party website (teaparty.org). Here’s what he wrote about himself on the website’s “About Us” page:
A Word From The Founder;
Dale Robertson is a man of courage and conviction, a rare commodity in today’s topsy-turvy world. Dale, is the Founder of the modern day Tea Party and also President of TeaParty.org
Dale Robertson, a public speaker, a family man with a wife and 5 children, has lead [sic] Tea Party rallies across America from its inception.
A little later, Robertson talks about this educational background:
Dale Roberson’s academic background includes extended training in theology, as well as excelling in the field of Engineering at Southwest College, San Diego, California. He went on to earn a second degree in Political Science at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
So what we know so far is that he is a racist and a poor speller.
Look up “Teabagger” in the dictionary, and there’s a picture of this guy with his sign.
This guy is a tool, but “excelling” is properly spelled.
Aside from “Niggar”, his spelling is fine. Both “excelling” and “lead” are correct.
Does that sign make any sense to anyone? I’m struggling to even understand it.
Joe Blow:
Actually “lead” is wrong, it should be “led.”
Maybe there’s a lot of lead at the tea parties making his use of l-e-a-d proper.
is a flag. everyone’s should be too.
is a flag. everyone else’s should be too.
No, the past tense of “lead” is spelled “led”.
It says Congress = Slave owner…Taxpayer (that would be us) = Niggar (slave)…very clever Mr. Tee Bagger. This is ignorance.
On a side note…5 kids! Jesus doesn’t anyone believe in population control?
Teabaggah puleeze!!!
He wasn’t being racist. You big government supporters are brainwashed by all the anti-free-market fearmongering to hate any one on the right.
Sure he is, Mike. He played his hand. He wanted to use the word somehow, and he thought he was being clever this way. He probably didn’t plan on looking like a jackass while he was doing it though.
He wanted to use the word somehow, and he thought he was being clever this way.
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@someguy
Exactly. The right thinks that any kind of behavior or protest can be called “satire” and therefore be excused.
So anyone that uses the word “nigger” in any context is a racist? That is interesting and probably deserving of discussion at another time.
However, just as you intend to offend with the obscene term “Teabagger” I believe that he also meant the word “nigger” to be offensive. It only takes average intelligence to understand the he was equating the term “nigger” with “slave”. Being a under the control (or slave) to a tyrannical federal government is very offensive to we who love freedom and the protections from the federal government that the framers of the constitution tried to give us in the form of the first 10 amendments. The 10th amendment which reserved most of right to govern to the states is especially ignored by the congress.
Unfortunately, most of the readers to this post have never read the constitution and most certainly were not taught it in the government (union controlled) schools.
Right now as 60% of the American people oppose the healthcare legislation (which is unconstitutional on so many levels) our congress is going to pass it anyway. This defines taxation without representation which is where the “Tea Party” movement comes from.
Do you guys know what an analogy is? He is comparing early African American slaves to current taxpayers. Slaves were forced to do things at the point of a gun, just as we are.
You can choose to agree or disagree with the analogy, but any way you take it, it isn’t racist.
Maybe he purposely misspelled “Niggar” to receive the attention he obviously is. It worked, didn’t it?
I don’t see him as being particularly racist. He probably is but I think he was trying to make a comparison between the four subjects and trying his back-watered darnedest to be clever, as someone above said.
I’m more pissed that he has my state flag strapped around that beef-filled belly of his.
Wait….
The Republicans are trying to defend this moron?
Take Texas, please, take it. Let the Chinese invade, please.
Dont reform Healthcare, allow the big insurers to run rampant, fine.
Unconstitutional? Is it not within our rights to modify a program that is intended to make profits over the health of the nation it resides?
You people are as ignorant as the dick with the sign.
And no, this sign did not work. It does anything but work positively, it fails.
This person, and the people who support him are what is truly wrong with America.
Brian where do you come down on the subject of corporations controlling government via their lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions to PAC’s and National Parties?
Can you or I ever expect politicians to enact laws to protect our freedoms and respect the rights of breathing individuals when they are corrupted by corporate influence?
First of all I’m an enemy of both political parties. The submission was from a Republican operative who stole over $500K from the Tea Party Movement. The RNC knows who they are and chooses to enjoy the spoils of what I started. I’m not racist, but you would have to take the time to know me to know that.
It is easy to take the mob mentality and make accusations. This comment was taken from Webster Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Nigger, from Ron Dellums a Liberal/Socialist Democrat. It means politically unrepresented. However, we are so interested in hating that we can’t see this is not referring to a person, but Americans in general. In particularly, myself.
I adhere to Dr. Martin Luther King quote, “Do not judge a man by the depth of his skin, but by the depth of his character.” I abhor racism. However, the political elite will use any method to divide to gain power. Go ahead call me racist, but that is a lie. I expect that my daughter who dates black men, will marry one. I do not look at his color, but his character.
The misspelling was intentional for the Educational Elite, who are vexed and gladly jump into the face of the less fortunate to proclaim we are idiots. Need I say more. We can continue to be manipulated by hate and lose our moral compass or rise above it and begin to listen to one another. We must stop hating and start listening to provide real solutions to our problems.
Brian do you realize that a MAJORITY of the laws passed by Congress are enacted to regulate commerce and protect business interests? Do you know that a MAJORITY of the cases processed in our legal system each year are to protect business and property and NOT to determine criminal guilt or innocence?
Few American’s do because corporations are adept at controlling “the message” and do not want “regular” Americans coming to the realization that the founding fathers’ core democratic principle “of the people by the people” has been replaced by “of the corporation and by the corporation”.
The results of the corporate take over of our political system is no where more evident that their SHARE of income taxes PAID. In the early 70’s corporate income taxes accounted for over 20% of federal tax receipts. Thanks to favorable legislation, often sold under the guise of job creation, that rate has declined to 8% when has shifted nearly ALL of the cost of running this country on to your and my backs.
The TEA Party has more in common with the liberal and progressive movements than either realize. We both want more jobs that pay a wage that can sustain a family without having to work two jobs or 60+ hours a week. We both want our local governments to deliver quality services without demanding we give them the balance of our paychecks to keep the roads smooth.
However, until voters restore their control over HOW we elect OUR representatives neither side will be able to get what they want! The answer is publicly financed elections for federal office. Until you and I can walk in to our Congress person’s office and get the same respect as a lobbyists we are both screwed!
Although all black peoples were called ‘nigger’ many moons ago (yes, I know, and still now but I’m trying to make a point here) not black people were slaves. So he’s not really making a very effective point from that perspective.
The sign would’ve read (past tense of read lol) much easier if it said “Congress = Slave Owner, Tax Payer = Slave” which leads me to suspect he simply wanted to get that word in there, although whether for effect or attention I can’t say.
I’m so shocked that a teabagger is racist! I don’t know what to do! Wow! A group that is rabidly anti-Obama is racist. Oh the horror!
stumptown hero – First, I do not accept your premise that corporations are the enemy. I believe that a greater problem is career politicians and an intrusive federal government. Your average congressman is more concerned with his//her own power than the free will of the people they are supposed to be representing. If our congressmen were true citizen legislators who went to serve for a term or two before returning to their real careers they could not be so easily influenced by lobbyists. I do not agree that politicians are corrupted by corporate influence. I believe that they are corrupted by their own lusts for power and money. Lobbyists from the left, right, corporations and organizations merely take advantage of those lusts.
We the people must take control back through the ballet box. No one should be allowed to remain in office that cannot show that they could support themselves in the private market place without an undeserved government pension.
You say “that a MAJORITY of the cases processed in our legal system each year are to protect business and property”. I say that is one of the few constitutional purposes of the federal government. Without property rights (businesses are property) there is NO FREEDOM. I know this will be controversial but fact I would go so far as to say that when a man can lose his property for not paying taxes assessed against that property that he never really owned it and doesn’t have true freedom. Criminal cases should be more a matter for state and local governments. It is only because of out of control law making by the federal government that there are so many federal crimes. I stand on the 10th amendment.
You also expressed a great deal of concern about the percentage of taxes paid by corporations. I would think a better measure is the total revenue collected, not who pays it. One of the facts that is almost always ignored in the debate over taxation is that it is always true that when you cut taxes you increase revenues. This was understood and proved by the Kennedy administration (Democrat) in the early 1960’s and the Reagan administration (Republican) in the 1980’s. Both cut taxes and saw the revenues to the federal government skyrocket. Tax cuts is only thing that has been shown time and again to “stimulate” the economy and yes create jobs, yet it is the one thing that the Obama administration will not even discuss. And your 8% number is a bit misleading. Here are some numbers from the Tax Foundation from March of 2008. I doubt taxes changed downward since then with the Democrat controlled congress.
When compared to other OECD countries:
– 24 U.S. states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than top-ranked Japan.
– 32 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than third-ranked Germany.
– 46 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fourth-ranked Canada.
– All 50 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fifth-ranked France.
The fact is that corporate taxes are making harder for our businesses who give people jobs to compete in the global market place. It is this lack of corporate profits due to excessive taxation that is reducing the percentage of taxes paid by corporations.
So, if you want corporations to pay more taxes, make it easier for them to make profits to pay taxes from. If you want more people to pay more taxes make it easier for them to make more money to pay taxes on. You do this by lowering rates and incentivizing higher incomes and profits. 10% of %300,000 ($30,000) is more than 20% of 100,000% ($20,000).
Call it however/whatever you want, but I’m calling it exactly what it is: a form of racism. Why? Because as a 57 y/o African American female who experienced life in America during segregation, the civil rights movement, and the voting rights movement, I have a unique perspective on decoding the meanings of these so-called “subtle” messages.
Why is the word niggers/niggars offensive to me? Because it is a derogatory term historically meant to mean something ugly, worthless, shiftless, not entirely human, and bad among other things, all negative. Plus, the term has always been used to refer to African Americans. Make of my post whatever you will, but unless and until you have had to live in a country where many consider you a lesser child of God simply because of the amount of melanin in your skin, you’d never acknowledge/understand the negative meanings underlying the use of certain words and why someone would find them hurtful and offensive. Nigger/niggar is one of these words.
If one doesn’t want to be identified as being a member of a certain group, racists in this instance, one should restrain one’s self from embracing the terminology associated with the group/practice. Embracing the terminology/practice clearly places one soundly in the camp of the racists.
I am tired of Americans dancing around the issue of race and pretending that racism in America is dead. I was born and raised in this country, and I can say without a doubt that racism is alive, well, and thriving in America, maybe attracting even more adherents recently.
This man is an operative for sure. Reasons: He has two degrees and yet he can’t spell a degrading slang word correctly. Also look at the other protesters, they are not even close to him and it looks like they are actually trying to separate themselves from him. You cannot label the “Tea Party” movement racist when only one man out of hundreds of thousands has a degrading sign. It is an illogical conclusion. Very foolish.
Thanks Majii. That was well written.
He knew exactly what he was saying. He could have said the word “slave” but he decided to equate “slave” with the word “niggar”. The nitwit didn’t even know how to spell it. I hope this gets all over the press and those racist teabaggers get exposed. Not saying all teabaggers are racists, but many of them are.
Rayvyn