The Uni-Tea Rally held in Philadelphia on Saturday, July 31st was a spectacular event. Tea Partiers from all over the northeast gathered in the birthplace of our nation's freedom to celebrate diversity within the ranks of our beautiful grassroots movement. Nine of the slated speakers were black or Hispanic, and some of the most well received orators were card carrying democrats, NAACP members, and self proclaimed social progressives. Contrary to uneducated assumptions, the rally had not been staged in response to the recent allegations of Tea Party racism by the NAACP and main stream media. The idea to promote a "Tea Party for all communities" had been conceived by Jeffrey Weingarten in February, but definitely served as a powerful rebuttal to the Party's accusers. There was not one hate filled remark, effigy of obama, or assinine sign. There had been unity. Unity over god, small government, liberty, and fiscal responsibility. There had been camaraderie and tolerance. There had been humanity.
The distinguished and diverse panel of speakers certainly touched upon issues of racial inequality, and undressed the affirmative action/welfare state solutions of the Left as nakedly oppressive and destructive to the black community. Project 21 Fellow and FOX News contributor, Deneen Borelli, rightly stated that the Left "expects us all to sit on the government plantation." Leette Eaton White characterized welfare as a "pacifier for the uppity negro".
However, the message of the day was a post-racial unity around reigning in our out-of-control-government. Inner city school counselor Vanessa Jean Louis had the crowd in stitches when she said, "I'm not some out of touch rich person. Heck, I'm broke! In fact, I tried to deficit spend the other day at the ATM, and you know what it said? insufficient funds." It was a very common sense analogy that exposed the ludicrous, intellectually underdeveloped fiscal policies of the left. David Webb, co-founder of New York's Tea Party 365, and emcee of the event, astutely observed that, "There's no such thing as government spending. There is only government borrowing!"
As a black participant of the event I can attest to the tolerance and open mindedness of the crowd at large. There were even two gay patriots at the rally who were embraced by all. Charles Payne of FOX Business made a magnificent point as the last speaker when he said, "America is not the greatest country on the face of the Earth because it is perfect. It is because it wants to be perfect!" I would never say that there isn't a flawed member of the Tea Party or that everyone who attends our rallies are supremely enlightened-- that would be an absurd statement. But what I can say is that, as I held the hands of my white counterparts in prayer, and we all raised our voice together in a rousing round of 'God Bless America", that we were all trying to understand one another and connect on a level that transcends melanin.Chew on that liberals. How dare you accuse these people of racism? Try coming to a rally with an intent other than sabotage and then honestly report what you actually observe.
Stand Tall Patriots,
SP
