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DC Tax Day Tea Party Part 1: The Good

by Tommy Christopher | 5:12 pm, April 16th, 2010

» 3 comments

According to estimates by volunteers, between 10 and 20 thousand people gathered for yesterday’s Freedomworks Tax Day Tea Party event, and from what I saw, it was a rousing success (relatively speaking). The crowd was enthusiastic but well-behaved, and the organizers were vigilant in keeping out racially offensive signs.

There were still some offensive signs, and it’s a sign of a low bar that prevalent accusations of “socialism” are barely worth mentioning anymore, but for a movement whose image has been tarnished by highly-publicized ugliness, this was a very good day.

There were also counter-protesters, who also displayed varying degrees of productiveness. I’ll get to them later. First, though, check out my interview with Andre Harris, a black Tea Partier who summed up what a lot of the folks I talked to were saying.

The Tea Party movement has been dogged by accusations of a lack of diversity, particularly among black people, and both sides have grossly oversimplified this issue. Keith Olbermann has simply taken to calling Tea Parties “Klan meetings,” while one Tea Party Express organizer told CNN that black people would show up as soon as they read the Constitution.

I chose Andre’s interview because he echoed most of what the others told me, plus he was able to add some perspective to the race question.

By any measure, black people are grossly underrepresented at Tea Parties, a phenomenon which likely has something to do with the publicity surrounding racially charged incidents. Most Tea Partiers chalk up to bad apples, but maybe it’s also time for this movement, and it’s critics, to examine why their message just isn’t resonating with black Americans.

Andre Harris, FreedomWorks, keith olbermann, Tax Day Tea Party, Tea Party, Tommy Christopher

roxsteady

I’ll take this one. We don’t attend their rallys because we see right through their bullshit. It has nothing to do with the Constitution and everything to do with sour grapes. These people didn’t vote for Obama. They also didn’t show up with signs through Bush’s entire 8 years for reign which is responsible for the bulk of the current deficits. Every concern that they voice is either an inchoherent talking point or out and out lies. They claimed in that CBS poll to be wealthy and educated while admitting that they liked the government run, socialists programs known as Social Security and Medicare. As for educated, if they were then why do they believe all of the garbage their hear on fox news? These people are full of shit and so is the GOP. That’s why we don’t attend what Keith actually calls “white power rallys”. I couldn’t agree more. Through process of elimination, there’ s really no other explanation for their stupidity. By the way, why am I hearing that there were about 3,500 people at that rally?
roxsteady

By the way, it’s probably better to get the crowd estimates from the DC Police Department. Volunteers aren’t exactly a reliable source. It’s in their interest to inflate the numbers.
Tommy Christopher

Roxsteady,

the police don’t do crowd estimates anymore. I’m not an expert on crowd estimates, but it was a pretty big crowd. I think arguing over crowd size, unless it’s a huge, obvious disparity, is a distraction, anyway.

I think you’re right, the Tea Party’s problem with black people is really an extension of the fact that their message really doesn’t resonate with anyone who doesn’t already have it pretty good, and doesn’t want to pay their fair share.