I have great hopes for the Brooklyn Tea Party. On April 15th, New York City had a very large Tea Party protest in Manhattan. I got there early to participate as a Marshall. The police had provided us two large block-long rectangular cages in which we were allowed to protest. And, the front cage was only about 1/3rd full when the Staten Island Tea Party showed up. Perhaps the rest of the story will be motivational to ya’ll.
Before teaching at Staten Island University I never realized how difficult transportation to Staten Island is. And so the Staten Island group had rented their own buses. And, they came, and they came, and they came in droves. Overcoming the great distance from Staten Island to Manhattan, they filled the rest of the cage I was stationed in and a third of the other. For the longest time my organizing plea fell short, “Are you from Brooklyn? Take a flier, help form the Brooklyn Tea Party.” “No.” they’d say proudly, ‘Staten Island!”
