While many conservatives have reacted with outrage against Morgan Freeman’s wild charges of racism against the tea party, Ali Akbar, a 26-year-old African American small businessman and tea party member, has taken a different approach.
In an open letter to the famous actor, Akbar describes the pain Freeman caused with the accusation, since as an African American he finds sometimes that he is accused of being an “Uncle Tom” for being a conservative and an opponent of President Obama.
However, Akbar also offers understanding to Freeman. Freeman, a man in his 70s, grew up in a different America, effused with racism, which doubtless had colored his views. Akbar, two generations younger, admits to having been called a racist name two or three times in his life and believes that America has largely overcome its past.
Akbar also explains how he came to be a conservative. He believes that well-intentioned government policies have kept many African Americans in a state of dependency. He cites a number of familiar statistics about blacks being more likely to go to prison, be hooked on drugs, and be born out of wedlock than whites. He blames this on the social welfare state that has been built up over the past several decades.
Akbar also decries the almost lockstep tendency of 90 percent of African Americans to vote for Democrats election after election. It is a situation that has caused one party to write them off and the other to take them for granted.
Akbar ends his open letter to Freeman with an invitation to attend a tea party event, in the actor’s native Tennessee if he would like, but in any place that would be convenient for him. Akbar promises good company that will disagree with him while feeding him the best barbeque he has ever tasted.
One cannot imagine how anyone would refuse or ignore an invitation such as this. Freeman, like many Hollywood people, lives in a kind of closed society isolated from America as a whole. If he were to venture forth and accept Akbar’s invitation, he might just learn something and would have a good time doing so.
Source: Morgan Freeman Plays the Race Card Against the Tea Party, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, Sept 24, 2011
A Tea Party Invitation to Morgan Freeman, Ali Akbar, Tea Party Brew, Sept 27, 2011