White conservatives say it's their turn for empowerment

latimes.com
Are Obama's policies fueling the angry protests, or is race part of the equation?
By Robin Abcarian and Kate Linthicum and Richard Fausset
September 17, 2009
Reporting from Los Angeles and Atlanta

Last weekend, Cindy Wilkerson, a 44-year-old former social worker, helped organize three busloads of protesters who rode from Mississippi to Washington for the big protest targeting President Obama and his policies. The passengers, all white, wore T-shirts identifying themselves without irony as "Freedom Riders."Decades ago, that phrase evoked something quite different. It was bestowed on the predominantly black and white activists who traveled to the Deep South to challenge segregation -- and were sometimes met with hostility and violence."We were riding for freedom," said Wilkerson. "For the freedom of Mississippians and all Americans. . . . The consensus is that this is not a left-wing government, but that this is more of a Marxist [government], you know?"The Age of Obama has brought many things to the American scene -- none more important than the proof that skin color is no barrier to success. But for some white Americans, it has also helped crystallize a sense of dislocation, anger and powerlessness.Some, like Wilkerson's group, have even adopted the language and techniques used by blacks, women, Latinos and gays in their civil rights struggles. But some analysts ask: Is this white victimhood? Strident TV host Glenn Beck of Fox News Channel tapped into the feeling this summer when he accused Obama of having "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."For some, it was reinforced by the sight of a New Haven, Conn., firefighter telling senators that the Latina judge Obama had nominated to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, had discriminated against him in an appellate case because he is white. Or Obama condemning the arrest of a black Harvard professor by a white police officer."White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to," wrote commentator Patrick J. Buchanan in response to Obama's speech on race during the 2008 campaign. "This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard." Among the grievances: affirmative action provisions that "advance black applicants over white applicants."Wilkerson complained that Saturday's protest did not win sufficient media coverage. "It's like we are the forgotten people," she said. She says she believes the movement is not about race -- a black man, she said, helped design the Freedom Riders T-shirt -- nor victimization, but about legitimate disagreements with Obama's policies.Ron Walters, an emeritus professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland who was a campaign manager for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1980s presidential bids, has written that today's anti-tax "tea party" protests and heated town hall rhetoric are reminiscent of the conservative resurgence of the 1970s. That movement was driven in part by racial hostility and the ability of its leaders to convince white followers that they were victims. (The years after the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act saw court-ordered integration of schools and the adoption of affirmative action programs.)"Now that's precisely what we have today," Walters said Wednesday. "In terms of many people who lost the election feeling disempowered and disenfranchised. The movement of conservatism is dethroned. People are feeling, therefore, resentful about that and determined to demonstrate that resentment in ways that intimidate people, quite frankly."

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