“Over the past year, I have seen that the Republican Party taken over by a wave of fearful, hateful and strident bigots. I now consider myself an Independent for Barack Obama. But what I have seen in recent political rallies for McCain and especially those for Governor Sarah Palin, frightens me for Senator Obama’s life and for our country in very dangerous times. I hear the voices of fear–fear of a black man to serve as our national leader; and I see the faces of hate that such irrational fear generates. They are the voices and faces of hate that we read about and saw in photos in the 1960s, with white men and women screaming hate-filled, racist epithets at courageous black children being escorted by soldiers into their first day of a public school.”
These are the same kinds of people that will bring their pent up resentments to the party, and we should expect that they would ultimately set Indian treaty rights and tribal sovereign immunities and jurisdiction in their sights for destruction. We need to keep our eyes on them.
The Arizona branch of the Tea Party movement is already targeting Mexicans who are predominantly Indian. And of course Americans of Hispanic descent who dare to speak Spanish or apply for government aid. It's no stretch to think they'll target American Indians next. Just wait till they learn how much the Cobell settlement will cost them.
You can be sure there's a huge overlap between paper-checkers, birthers, teabaggers and people like Jim Marino who want to curtail tribal sovereignty. I'd venture to say they're the same people but with varying degrees of craziness. It's all about their fear of cooties--i.e., of contamination by undesirables who will dilute their white power.
For more on the Tea Party movement, see Poll Proves Teabaggers Are Racists and Any Excuse to Hate Obama. For more on Trimble's views, see Gun Nuts vs. Indians and Trimble Apologizes for "Victimhood" Insults.
