Misinformed citizens promote fear and confusion.

During the Greenville County Council meeting Tuesday, April 20th, a speaker addressing the Council for an allotted 3 minutes commented that he saw one of the Council members at the Upcountry Tea Party the previous Saturday.

The comment prompted an emotional outburst from Council Woman Lottie Gibson later in the meeting.

Mrs. Gibson stated that she was offended that one of her colleagues would attend a tea party and said the tea parties reminded her of bad memories of past racism, etc.

Mrs. Gibson said she was basing her judgment on news reports of hatred, etc. Several individuals have said they would like to invite Mrs. Gibson to be their guest at the next tea party in the area so she would not be dependent on biased media for her information about individuals participating in tea parties.

The Times Examiner maintained a presence at the Upcountry Tea Party at the Bi-Lo Center for more than 6 hours. During that time we witnessed no violence, no racial comments, and no confrontations between individuals or groups. Any negative comments from speakers were directed at elected and appointed government officials who are violating their oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.

The crowd was not all white as has been alleged. It was fairly representative of the local community.

One large Hispanic family including children paraded through the crowd with signs and banners declaring their agreement with the tea party movement. There were also a few Americans of Asian extraction in the crowd exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.

A young black man from Spartanburg visited The Times Examiner table and commented that there were several people of his racial background in the crowd participating in the activities.

On the following Tuesday, we received an email from William, the young man from Spartanburg. He has been seeking employment as a professional photographer. His message was to the point.

“We spoke at the Tea Party Rally. Here are pictures of my fellow black Americans at the Tea Party Rally.”

Some of his photographs accompany this article.

Democrats in Washington and some liberal Republicans fear the tea party movement because it is awakening and educating a large number of Americans who have been tolerant of evil for much too long. There is also a remnant of the Christian Church that has awakened to their duty as defenders of truth. That remnant appears to be growing.

Recently Sen. Jim DeMint was interviewed by the Christian Broadcasting Network. A comment by the dedicated   Senator from Greenville revealed something important about the tea party movement as well as the Christian growth and maturity and spiritual discernment of Senator DeMint.

“I really think a lot of the motivation behind these tea party crowds is a spiritual component,” DeMint said. “I think it’s very akin to the Great Awakening before the American Revolution. A lot of our founders believed the American Revolution was won before we ever got into a fight with the British. It was a spiritual renewal.

“I think as this thing continues to roll you’re going to see a parallel spiritual revival that goes along with it. I think people are seeing this massive government growing and they’re realizing that it’s the government that’s hurting us, and I think they’re turning back to God,” DeMint concluded.