Photos: New Orleans Tea Party
posted at 11:20 pm on April 15, 2009 by Laura
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I’ve never seen so many New Orleanians gather without the promise of music, beer, and crawfish! People seemed to be having a great time. Most people had never been to a protest. Many had come straight from work – there were a lot of people in office attire. A couple of local councilmen were scheduled to speak, and occasionally there would be a burst of applause or a roar from those close enough to hear them, but most people were more eager to speak than listen. They seemed relieved to find out, as one of the signs advised, that they were not alone.
The sound system was bad, so the speakers were inaudible at about twenty yards. People made the best of it – chatting, taking pictures of the protest, and lining up along the street. Passing traffic honked and waved to show support.
The atmosphere was festive, but also very charged. As soon as people started talking, their anger and frustration was plain. The primary complaint was out of control government spending, and worries about how this massive government debt could be repaid. When I asked several people if they would come to another protest on Independence Day, they were eager to attend.
They were also furious about the media, particularly the national media. Our local TV coverage was acceptable; biased, but lacking that special something CNN displayed earlier today. My husband caught the late news and said they aired about a minute on the local Tea Party protests – they were held in several parts of the metro area – and immediately cut to lengthy piece on an ACORN event at a local hospital, with children singing. I haven’t found a clip of that yet but I’m looking. Par for the course, but the more outrageous they get, the angrier we’re getting.
We may be on the edge of something big.
[If you don't like the slideshow, you can go straight to the Flickr page.]
ADDED: Police estimates of the crowd were 1200-1500.
Cross posted to PH.
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Great pics, thanks for posting them. It is interesting to see the crowds from all over the country. It looks like there was a great turnout there.
msmveritas on April 15, 2009 at 11:26 PM
We did get a good turnout – according to one cop, 1200; another said 1500. I’m looking forward to seeing what the media says. I’m betting they’ll just stick to “hundreds” and not get specific.
Laura on April 15, 2009 at 11:31 PM
Taxing Grandma to Subsidize Goldman Sachs
Financial wizards have managed to buy preferred treatment just as the sacrifices of American retirees help pay off Wall Street’s losses
This would also make for a very good poster sign for a teabag rally.
Don’t tax Grandma to Subsidize Goldman Sachs
MB4 on April 16, 2009 at 3:06 AM
old old old white white white
where are the “bipartisans”, the “mainstream” americans?
not attending.
strangelet on April 16, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Strangelet = raaacist!
/only partially sarcastic
Why do you care what color the people were at the rally? How is that in any way relevant? This rally was about IDEAS, not a particular political party and the only group it was on behalf of were the 40 percenters – the 40% who are actually net contributors to government and who carry the rest of the country. Everyone was free to attend, and the people who want liberty, smaller, less intrusive government, and who care about the upcoming massive tax hikes did. As to the rest – they’ll join us eventually, when they start to feel the effects of what they’ve been advocating.
Laura on April 16, 2009 at 9:28 AM
Awesome photos. Unfortunatley I couldn’t attend but I was one of those who passed by on Vets honking and waving in support. I’d say it was about 5:30 in the afternoon and looked like there was a good sized crowd.
Lay-Z on April 16, 2009 at 10:43 PM
Sorry you missed it, but catch us in July if we do it again.
Laura on April 16, 2009 at 11:55 PM
I’ll probably will, although most likley I will have moved back to the Northshore by then.
Lay-Z on April 17, 2009 at 2:17 PM