It took a couple weeks, but the mood appears to have shifted at Congressional town hall meetings. After a week of stormy protests -- which reminded Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) of the "hate" he saw during the civil rights movement -- the events are reportedly calming down.The likely reason: Advocates of reform are now turning out bigger numbers and taking a bolder stand, evening the scales.
Just a week ago, advocates faced a much more difficult -- and even dangerous -- situation. Here's a clip from from Rep. G.K. Butterfield's (D-NC) town hall in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on August 8.
Despite being in the heart of the state's "Black Belt," the meeting was dominated by the almost-all-white opposition -- which African-American community leaders confronted with no small amount of courage:
Rocky Mt. Health Care Town Hall Meeting from Ajamu Dillahunt on Vimeo.
From the Raleigh News & Observer, here are more pictures of the event that capture the scene, especially the racial dynamic (for example, see numbers 4 and 5).
For an example outside of the South, Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) response to a protester claiming the Democratic health plan is a "Nazi policy" may signal a new boldness among elected officials in confronting the right's more outrageous claims:
Monday night I attended Congressman Gene Taylor's Town Hall meeting in Moss Point, Mississippi. Gene's a Blue Dog and I understand, his district voted 75% for McCain/Palin. But Moss Point, is a overwhelming Black town and went heavily for Obama. Unfortunately, the crowd made up predominantly of whites ages 50-70. Hardly any Blacks showed up. The Town Hall was nothing more then an exercise in hate. Except for some physicians and some small business owners, people just ranted against socialism and how evil Obama is. I think the president time for being nice is over and he needs to go into campaign mode.
August 20, 2009 10:42 AM | Reply