Tea Party Preaches Intolerance and Hatred
Chris November 9th, 2009
Tea Party Preaches Intolerance and Hatred
Today, November 9, 2009, the Tea Party Express rolled into Birmingham, Alabama. I and my son felt that as Americans – and having it been said that Americans have become lazy and spend their time sitting on our couches rather than standing up for what we believe I – we traveled to Kelly Ingram Park (the site of many civil rights rallies) to voice our opinion on the health care issue.
As my son and I arrived, my son with his sign that read HEALTH CARE NOW! and I with my sign that read YES, WE MUST HAVE A PUBLIC OPTION, we were immediately met with the Tea Party’s insults and out-and-out lies. I and my son were told that we were “Fat”… that we were “Nigger Lover’s”… that we do not have jobs or work… that we were unwilling to pay for health care… that we did not support our troops, etc. One very obnoxious woman even turned to me and said [and I quote] “I hope you die!” We were not shouting over the crowd, we were not attempting to debate the presenters; we merely stood there holding signs to show that the Tea Party was not representative of everyone in Birmingham.
Clearly, the Tea Party is out to incite others to their views and to preach intolerance and hatred. This was a crowd whose leaders stood on the stage this day and spoke of intolerance for gays and African Americans and who called President Obama a [quote] “Wuss and a sissy because he has not immediately sent more troops into Afghanistan or murdered Hasan (the man who shot our soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas) – even suggesting that Obama had “allowed it to happen.”
What was absent from the Tea Parties rally was any REAL conversation regarding health care. ALL they spoke of was getting a black man out of the White House. In fact, their battle cry was TAKE BACK AMERICA! In all of my years on this earth, I have never heard so much racism preached; or heard so much hatred for others who do not live what they consider to be a “Conservative Christian Lifestyle.” Well, this is not my idea of being a Christian. I doubt that Jesus would preach against blacks… condemn gays… or carry a banner promoting guns. No, this is NOT my idea of being a good Christian. The God I know wants us to have tolerance for each other and to love one another – period!
As I stood in this crowd of Tea Partiers, I heard nothing about an actual answer to the health care issue. And no, I am not an African American; but I was appalled at the racism that was presented on this day, as I stood in Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama. People like this make me ashamed to be a white woman in this country. At one point, a woman actually turned to us and stated “You better leave here, before we sic the dogs on you.” How much more a racist statement could anyone make?
I thought that I lived in a country where the election of our first African American President, Obama, meant that we were finally making some headway on becoming one people – one American people – clearly I was mistaken. Granted, I voted for President Obama because I do believe that he is the first man (black or not) who has tried to make a real difference in America. Obama IS listening to we Americans and doing his best to give all Americans affordable health care… not rushing into war, without a clear exit plan… not preaching hatred for others with a different skin color or a different view from his own. I stand with our President and with affordable health care for every American!
The tea party crowd will tell you that these were the actions of a select few, and not representative of their movement. I believe otherwise, as the hatred was too wide spread; and the leaders on stage were urging them to raise their “cleaver” banners calling Obama everything from Hitler to Stalin – and of course, not an American citizen.
I urge all reasonable Americans to not trust their words, or mine. Go to one of these events and see it for yourself. Listen to them sing songs comparing our beloved country to the U.S.S.R. See them cheer at posters calling for someone to “Pull the plug” on Nancy Pelosi to save Grandma from the death panels. I support free speach and always will: but this kind of ignorance should not go unanswered
They are not debating the issues; they are not proposing solutions to our problems. They are enraging the so-called “base” through hatred and lie-based fear.
For once I agree with Glen Beck… If this is the future of our country: I fear for it too!
Thank you for being there and enduring the abuse.
As a person of Cuban heritage, I felt quite welcomed by the crowd of peaceful protesters. They were not Racists and engaged me in some very interesting debate. I agree with the Tea Party and am glad our wonderful USA is still free! Socialism does not work!
I was at the Birmingham Tea Party rally on November 9th ,and I witnessed NO disrespect or racism from the crowd. As a matter of fact the only insulting behavior was exhibited by Obamas supporters. They stood in the back of the crowd booing and screaming, “Go Home”. As though the citizens that pay taxes for the parks maintenance have no right to be there. The long sob story posted by Chris is a lie, pure and simple.
Editor’s Response: The folks at the back of the crowd were the Birmingham Foot Solidiers, who felt disrespected by the hatred and bigotry taking place in a park that memorializes their fight against those very kind of attitudes.
I was also at the tea party – and do not believe any of this happened. The “foot soldiers” called the organizers racist, accused them of having hoods in their back pockets. This is a propaganda piece pure and simple.
Wow – I’m blown away.
I’m on the board of the Rainy Day Patriots, the hosts of this event and the organizers of the April 15th and July 4th tea parties. I can guarantee you that as an immigrant to this country I would find it very difficult for me to get racists to follow my lead in protesting against the government. Having said that, we don’t control who shows up, we make the invitation to all citizens, regardless of political party, to attend. We would hope that attendees would be respectful of others viewpoints.
As a minority, let me assure you that we don’t preach intolerance and hate towards minorities nor will we allow anybody that does so in our organization. If you could identify those that do and provide proof – they will no longer be affiliated with us.
As a veteran of both the Air Force and the Army, I can assure you that our main motivation is government’s adherence to the Constitution as written. It is my personal belief that the country is getting polarized by government ignoring the constitution. Within the framework of the Constitution, we as Americans can have honest debate of the issues, but we must have this framework first.
President Bush’s TARP and President Obama’s stimulus package are both unconstitutional and some members of our movement have been active for quite a long time. This is not about political partisanship – we have Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Independents, Republicans, Democrats and many other ideologies within our ranks.
I’d like to invite you to a dialogue and to attend our next organizational meeting on November 19th as our guest. To contact me, visit http://www.rainydaypatriots.org
Marcelo D. Muñoz
Rainy Day Patriots
What Tea Party did you attend?
Did you hear the African American Speakers or Performers?
Masterful revisionist history you perform
By the way why was your son not in school at that hour “or was he”
A good rule of thumb: When a black speaker has to tell you he’s not an “Uncle Tom” he probably is.
It amazes me that after all these years the Bama’s are trying to take their country ( State) back.
However, most Tea Partyer’s was only baby’s when JFK sent federal troops on Gorge Wallace. The Negro liberals where protesting then and they are now. At that time they just wanted to eat with whitey, ( Now WHITEY feeds them and Whitey can’t do a damn thing about it.)
After JFK whipped the BAMA barbarians, Johnson signed the most hateful legalization law against Bama, the (JEW. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT) in 1965. Bama been occupied 45 years and just now starting to fight back
AMAZING!