海角大神

A violent brawl at one Tea Party rally Saturday laid bare the raw emotions now wrenching American society.

Tea Partiers took to the streets Saturday to protest President Obama鈥檚 promised immigration reforms, which would offer some illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., however, counterprotesters from ANSWER 鈥� an antiwar, pro-immigration reform group 鈥� also took to the streets, with one blaring, 鈥淎mnesty, yes. Racists, no,鈥� from a bullhorn. When two Tea Party activists entered their protest zone, a fight erupted as Tea Party and ANSWER protesters kicked and punched one another and . [Note: The link is a YouTube video of the altercation provided by a Tea Party supporter. The fight includes profanity.]

One fistfight does not signal a dawn of 1960s-style social upheaval. But the weekend鈥檚 events, seen as a symptom of the polarizing rhetoric that fueled them, point to a nation in which the political extremes are active and agitated.

Tensions surrounded the Fort Lauderdale protest even before it began. A Florida chapter of ANSWER sent out an e-mail in the days leading up to the event, saying the Tea Partiers were racists:

鈥淩acism is like anything else in this world: in order to make it fall, you must smash it!鈥� the e-mail notice read. 鈥淭hat is why we are calling on all people to come out tomorrow, to organize a militant confrontation with the so-called 鈥榯ea baggers.鈥� Beating back these forces will require us to organize together, take the streets, fight the racists wherever they show their faces, and drive them out of every community.鈥�

To be sure, most of the hundreds of Tea Party protests held this year have been populated by peaceful, middle-age, middle-class people indulging their inner John Hancock 鈥� not radicals out to pick a fight.

But the fight Saturday might be evidence of a backlash against the occasionally provocative nature of previous Tea Parties, says Howard Brick, a University of Michigan history professor who specializes in the history of social movements in the US.

At one anti-Obama protest in Arizona this summer, a protester carried a rifle slung over his shoulder. 鈥淸Tea-partiers] bringing weapons does suggest a stronger degree of alienation and threat,鈥� he says.

Conservatives place the blame at Mr. Obama鈥檚 feet, saying his liberal leadership has made 鈥渦nion thugs鈥� comfortable enough to confront conservatives in the streets.

鈥淲e conservatives have long talked about our willingness to fight for freedom,鈥� writes John Hinderaker on the . 鈥淚n a sense, that's generally been metaphorical, especially when talking about domestic rather than foreign enemies. With the far left now on the march, however, it isn't metaphorical any more. It's just one more sign of the Age of Obama 鈥� fighting in the streets, as the extreme Left has been empowered as never before.鈥�

The first spark of violence connected to the Tea Party movement came in St. Louis Aug. 6 when a Tea Party protester named Ken Gladney was injured after a confrontation with Service Employees International Union protesters.

Both sides claim the other side started the confrontation, and the case is still under investigation.

A second scuffle also broke out last Saturday when Tea Party protesters in Phoenix attempted to trying to join their protest.

The incidents of violence come amid Obama鈥檚 ambitious agenda 鈥� including legalization for some undocumented immigrants, limits on carbon emissions, and a massive healthcare reform. Some conservatives see the agenda as nothing less than a path to socialism and ruin.

At the same time they by the administration, which has said the Tea Party movement could lead to something 鈥渦nhealthy.鈥�

----

See also:

Did rifle-toting protester help or hurt gun rights?

Axelrod comment that Tea Parties are 鈥榰nhealthy鈥� stokes militia fears

-----

Follow us on .