Hate Groups and Nativist Extremists Crashing 'Tea Parties'
All across the nation on April 15, protesters of various stripes will stage 鈥渢ea parties鈥� that are supposed to conjure up images of the American colonists鈥� iconic 1773 protest of British tax policy. Similarities between the events are few, however. While the colonists were objecting to an increase in the tax they had to pay on tea from England that they said amounted to taxation without representation, the modern-day protesters are taking issue with everything from the federal stimulus package to undocumented workers, as well as a federal income system they believe needs to be overhauled or eliminated.
Demonstrators won鈥檛 be doing anything so dramatic as dumping loads of tea in a harbor in Boston Harbor. In Livingston, Tex., for example, marchers are asked to bring a teabag to be dropped in a tub of water. Atlanta organizers are asking for canned food to be donated to a food bank.
There already were national tea party events in more than 40 cities on Feb. 27, and additional protests earlier this month. But April 15, the deadline for filing federal income tax returns, is the main event. One of the tea party organizers says that protests are scheduled in more than 2,000 cities. And April 15 may not be the end of them. A 鈥渃owboy tea party,鈥� for example, is scheduled for July 4 in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Well-known conservatives are among those supporting the April 15 protests, including a number of Republican congressmen who are scheduled to speak at various venues. Newt Gingrich and his American Solutions are backing the tea parties, and the former House speaker is supposed to talk at a New York City rally. Rock-鈥榥-roller and hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent has announced he will join Fox News ideologue and Texas Gov. Rick Perry outside the Alamo, where Nugent says he will 鈥減erform a fire-breathing, passionate rendition of the American National Anthem on my American-made guitar.鈥澛� He adds, 鈥淚t is time to protest a federal government out of control. A corrupt, unaccountable, Constitution-defying gang of bureaucrats running amok, turning on their employers, we the people.鈥�
Not surprisingly, 鈥渇air and balanced鈥� Fox News is the tax parties. Beck and other hosts have encouraged viewers to join them at tea parties they are attending and covering. Beck went so far as to urge viewers to 鈥渃elebrate with Fox News鈥� by either attending a tax protest or watching his network鈥檚 coverage. Fox has repeatedly framed the protests as responses to President Obama鈥檚 fiscal policies, even though organizers portray them as non-partisan.
Some people and organizations with more than a tax reform agenda are hoping to exploit the tax protesters鈥� anger and win them over to their causes. At the white supremacist website, , for example, people have posted comments urging their fellow racists to attend tea parties and try to recruit new members to their cause.
鈥淒on鈥檛 go there [Tea Parties] with flags and uniforms, and don鈥檛 try to preach the truth,鈥� advised one Stormfront writer. 鈥淕o in civil, meet people with whom we might do things later, and try to get into the organising [sic] circles.鈥� Another writer said in response that white supremacists shouldn鈥檛 鈥渇ail to push to envelope鈥� but cautioned them to 鈥渄ress inconspicuously.鈥�
Meanwhile, the (CCC) is urging its members to attend tea parties. The CCC is the successor to the White Citizens Councils that opposed desegregation in the South in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a white supremacist group that opposes non-white immigration and affirmative action, while supporting the display of the Confederate battle flag.
The nativist movement also has a presence at the tea parties. , the founder of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, or ALIPAC, E-mailed 鈥渁llied leaders鈥� urging them to join a coalition of his and other anti-immigration groups in attending tea parties. 鈥淭he vast majority of attendees to these events are with us on immigration enforcement,鈥� he wrote. Among the other groups that Gheen identified as being in the coalition are the , the hate group , and Voice of the People USA.
All this anti-tax fervor has, predictably, spawned merchandise such as 鈥淧arty Like It鈥檚 1773鈥� T-shirts and 鈥淲here鈥檚 My Bailout?鈥� coffee mugs. Yet one more way that it differs from the Boston Tea Party.
