When my husband and I arrived I was a little nervous - there were hecklers. Who would heckle an "Anti-Tax Hike" demonstration? That's kind of a weird. I really thought they must just be there to watch.
So off we went, marching down Lindell Street past the new fountain in the park. We had to sing! UGH. I had been to the teacher rallies in Nashville last year - there's a protection from such a big crowd that makes it perfectly fine for me to sing in public! A rural rally is a lot different, people were definitely going to hear me sing. But I did it anyway. And I was right, there they were - a group of about 5 big guys waiting for us. They ridiculed working men and women who don't want their taxes to go up. It made no sense. I really couldn't believe what I was watching. It was embarrassing. Five old white men booing and mocking and giving the thumbs down to a group of mostly middle aged women. The animosity was shocking and it felt genuine.
And then I realized it really didn't matter to them if we were there to announce the cure for Cancer. We were Democrats - so they didn't like us, politically or personally. It was clear that they viewed us as enemies. It didn't really matter that we are taxpaying citizens. We were told that we couldn't assemble as a group; we had to meet with them individually. We were told we couldn't take pictures in a public office. We were told the press wasn't free to record video or audio in a taxpayer funded public office. It was abundantly clear that we were not welcomed in a public space.
We are their neighbors. I see these people at the Iris Festival, the Farmer's Market, on campus and what did they do? Tennessee Republicans shouted "go get a job!" to a roomful of retirees, educators, a small farm owner, a marketing executive and a social worker. These weren't some nameless faceless online commenters ranting about a birth certificate; they are our neighbors and they told us that we didn't pay enough taxes. They are public servants and they treated us like we didn't have a right to be there.
And then - just to make things interesting, one guy who refused to provide his real name grumbled that he was "anti-demonstration" and said "I'm going to kick the dog-sh!t out of you" to the organizer. The weirdest part of the whole thing - they called the cops on themselves!!
People have been giving speeches at Congressional Offices for as long as there have been congressional offices - we should not have to defend that right.
Congressman Fincher's office has some serious explaining to do about how it treats citizens.
We were there to oppose a tax hike.
