Shay Goes to Tea

Shay Riley of the Conservative Brotherhood attends a Tea Party Rally in Chicago:

One of the rally speakers, John Arrington (who asked me earlier if I could sign his ballot petition, but I don’t live in suburban Cook County), is a black Republican running for suburban Cook County regional school superintendent. He was introduced as a “Harvard-educated community organizer from Chicago’s South Side”, with a joke about U.S. President Barack Obama. Mr. Arrington said (and I’m paraphrasing here): “You’ve been called hatemongers, and now I see why. You hate high taxes, loss of liberty, and government intrusion….You’ve been called bigots, and now I see why. You hate black lies, white lies, fat lies, all lies…” He was one of two speakers who kept my attention, because the others were insufficiently charismatic, good speakers, or whatever to maintain my attention.

I didn’t see any foulness from tea party activists (e.g., I saw no racist signs or witnessed racist behavior). Nor did I see the counter-protesters act foul. The only problem that I experienced was a white guy in his early 20s, in a red shirt, who kept staring me down for about five minutes. Possibly in a leering way, but I wasn’t sure. He struck me as “special”, given how his mother was interacting with him. However, he was making me feel uncomfortable, so I actually moved to another spot (with a better view).