Tea Party members held a rally in Gainesville on April 15 joining in with the national movement on Tax Day. It was my first experience with the movement in person. The Gainesville chapter has some leadership, while the national organization thrives on living without it. The members of the group who I spoke with were nice people, just angry over policies in the current government. Many did not want to talk with the media and I did have run-ins with two people who were not official members of the group. When two Sept. 11 truth protesters entered the plaza and began to cause a stir, I began to film them. As I was doing so, a man approached me from the crowd and accused me of wanting to skew the event coverage. I told him he didn’t know me and as he continued, I did the only thing you can do when someone is verbally accosting you. Just tell them to have a nice day politely and turn away. After having to repeat that several times, he finally gave up and moved on.
The protest was peaceful and there was only a slight shouting match between a Tea Party member and one of the Sept. 11 protesters. Tea party members called the police over and the situation returned to normal conversation. It was a bit amusing to watch an older woman with the Tea Party follow one of the protesters around the plaza with a sign reading “Infiltrator, he is not with us.” after they first arrived.
Eventually soundtrack of songs with the word America in them died down, the group of protesters along the street thinned out and the plaza was returned to the homeless who inhabit it.