"We don’t want politics on Main Street."
The Nantucket Tea Party will be one of more than a thousand such protest events to be held across the nation on Independence Day.
The organizers were all set. They were given permission by the Town’s head of Park and Recreation. After the local paper publicized the event, some members of the Nantucket Park and Recreation Commission decided to forget about the First Amendment. One local official was quoted as saying "we don’t want politics on Main Street." Apparently the head of Park and Recreation was overruled by the commissioners.
The Nantucket Tea Party then got permission to use a bank's private property. A Town official then advised the Nantucket Tea Party that the Tea Party must obtain a permit to block the sidewalk -- even though the street is closed! The Nantucket Tea Party got the Police, Fire and Public Works departments sign off on the event, but the Park and Recreation department balked.
Now the Nantucket Tea Party has been restricted to the steps of a bank. The town government will not allow the Nantucket Tea Party to be part of the Independence Day celebration on Main Street as had been planned.
Nantucket's heavy handed attempt to quash the Nantucket Tea Party is a sad commentary on what too many so-called leaders in this country think about freedom and our rights.
It is especially unfortunate that this is happening in Nantucket, which has a particular historic connection to the first tax revolt in this country, the Boston Tea Party of 1773. The ships Eleanor, Beaver and Dartmouth, later known as the tea party ships, were owned and operated out of Nantucket.
If you are near enough, go to Nantucket tomorrow and support the Nantucket Tea Party. Festivities begin at 9:30. There will also be a historical presentation by Maurice Gibbs, Commander U.S. Navy (retired), about the historic Boston Tea Party of 1773 and its connection to current events at the Nantucket Tea Party, a reading of the Declaration of Independence and a citizen forum.
The Nantucket Tea Party is a grassroots, nonpartisan group of concerned citizens on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The group is open to all who want to get involved in a grass roots movement to reinforce the principles upon which this country was founded.
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