An exploration of African American support for a political movement that has a mainstream reputation for reactionary and even racist beliefs.
In its four years of organizing, the Tea Party movement has displayed remarkable growth and surprising influence, capitalizing on the frustration and desperation borne of the economic recession to mobilize a not-insignificant population to vote a new brand of Conservative politician into office. The development of the movement as a reaction to Barack Obama’s election and policies, its connection at times to fringe groups like the birthers, and damning statements and actions by key figures have led to the widespread public perception that the Tea Party is motivated by racism. At the same time, the Tea Party has still managed to attract African American supporters. Recognizing the dissonance between the movement’s mainstream portrayal and its aspects that have proven desirable to certain African Americans, director Kevin J Dotson and producer Katy Jordan seek a fuller understanding. Their film presents an opportunity for Tea Party affiliated African Americans to speak for themselves and present a more nuanced picture of the movement as a whole.
Dotson is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for post-production support. He’s raised a quarter of his $50,000 goal, but there are eighteen days left in the campaign for those interested in supporting the doc.
The apparent dichotomy at the heart of Dotson and Jordan’s project is immediately intriguing – whenever one is presented with two theoretically mutual exclusive qualities within the same figure, it provokes a reaction, whether it’s Log Cabin Republicans or African American Tea Partiers. Like sexuality, race is a complex entity, as is political affiliation, and personal identity cannot typically be easily reduced to reflect only one singular attribute. Nevertheless, given the rhetoric and extremism that has been evident in the Tea Party movement, much of it around issues of race, how do African Americans Tea Party members reconcile their politics with these elements in the party? Dotson and Jordan note a desire to present a corrective to the polarizing discussions of race within the movement, and I’m very curious to hear directly from their subjects within the Tea Party. While I’m slightly wary of the propagandistic possibilities of the film, I’m hopeful from their description that the project is aiming for a candid address of the complexity of race and political activism, and provides real insight into African American conservatism.
Note: If you have a feature documentary currently in production or post-production and would like to be considered for an In the Works profile, tell me about it here.
what (not) to doc 