December 17, 2007
D.C. Celebrates Tea Party
It was 234 years ago Sunday that American colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor as part of a symbolic protest against being taxed by the British while not having a representative in the Westminster Parliament. Yesterday District voting rights activists remembered the event by holding their own tea party, this one to protest the union's last standing example of taxation without representation.
Though the wind whipped across the Potomac River, about 80 activists and supporters gathered in Georgetown Waterfront Park to push for further action on D.C. voting rights. There was a performance by the Young Suffragists (video here); speeches by Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large); plenty of customized voting rights tea bags and a symbolic dumping of dried leaves into the Potomac.
So what's next? Well, if the Senate again fails to vote on legislation granting the District a voting seat in the House, we could stick to the historical playbook. While the Boston Tea Party provoked a number of responses from Britain, it also inspired imitators. On October 19, 1774, American colonists set fire to the HMS Peggy Stewart in Annapolis to protest continued British taxes on certain goods. Anyone game for a symbolic ship-torching for voting rights?
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As much as I support the cause, I hate it when parents have their kids shill for their political agenda.
They should be cited for littering.
Anyone game for a symbolic ship-torching for voting rights?
Symbolic?
They should be cited for littering.
Anyone game for a symbolic ship-torching for voting rights?
Because symbolic gestures work wonders for getting back your birthright. If I recall my civics class correctly, America never did get voting representation in Parliament. We had to throw out the limeys and hessians by bayonette point and start our own gummint. Good luck trying that today, since you can't own guns OR bayonettes in DC. But I can think of any number of Congresspeople I'd love to set fire to.
By the way, bayonettes don't kill people, sucking chest wounds kill people!
"As much as I support the cause, I hate it when parents have their kids shill for their political agenda."
I certainly agree that some kids are used (and abused) by some political parents (on all sides).. but most of those kids appear old enough to understand the concepts here, and one of the best ways to get people involved is to get them involved at a young age. Furthermore, this is a fairly benign issue.
Hey, we're allowed to possess bayonets as long as they're 3" or less.
But the bayonettes have to be disassembled and locked in three separate places in your home.
"the revolution is still brewing."
Nice job on the photos Martin. I remember seeing much of the same folks at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston where this same symbolic act was done in the proper body of water. My wish for 2008 is that DC Vote gives up on their 1/3 representation scheme and works for full representation in both houses of Congress.
BTW, in 2005 we had a Voting Rights Naval Regatta to lobby the OSCE on the Potomac. No torching of boats, but we helped pass an international declaration condemning the United States government for its international human rights violation created by the ongoing disenfranchisement of the residents of Washington, DC.
Norton needs to remove that silly alexandria toyota plate cover from her car so that you can read "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION". (see the last photo to understand what I'm talking about)
The Boston Tea Party seems to be a favorite piece of political theater for activists to perform (just Google it and you'll see what I mean). But the real thing was also connected to serious boycotts of British tea and other imports. I wonder if there's any way DC residents can send the federal government an economic message--one that they might really take seriously. Any ideas?
Also, it's kind of funny that the reenactors wore colonial clothes, since the real colonists dressed as Indians. Check out this historical image.
I think we should have a symbolic torching of the "Martha Stewart" in Annapolis Harbor (Marylanders are the ones who sold us down the river after all, aren't they?) ... (and the "Martha Stewart" part is just "two birds with one stone", some lucky serendiptity that ties in with the "Peggy Stewart" torched 200 years ago, and makes it a bit more contemporary) ;-)
Here's another one for the DC Vote children's chorus,
"All I want for Christams is a DC Vote,
a DC Vote,
a real DC Vote."
"If I only had a real DC Vote,
then I could wish you Merry Christmas."
;-)