Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Roanoke tea party: it's not just adults speaking out about spending
"Tea Party" protests also included local students.
Hope Ammen | Home School
Hannah Whitt, a Glenvar High School sophomore, joins a rally to protest government spending.
April 15 is a day dreaded by many Americans -- tax day.
However, this year, thousands of Americans used this day "to voice their opposition to out of control spending at all levels of government ... irresponsible fiscal policies and intrusive government," according to taxdayteaparty.com.
Throughout the nation, roughly 800 grass-roots protests -- known as "tea parties" -- took place and were attended by people who oppose President Obama's stimulus, bailout and budget bills.
One of these protests was in Roanoke at River's Edge Park, where a few hundred residents of the Roanoke and New River valleys gathered.
Even though the event is over, some local teens who participated say they believe it's important for students to learn more about government issues and be willing to speak out now.
At the park, crowds lined both sides of the road, waved mostly homemade signs and chanted. They yelled comments such as, "Somebody read the Constitution!" and "We're not the government's ATM."
Teens also were in the crowd, and they got involved in the action. Hannah Whitt, a sophomore at Glenvar High School, diligently waved a sign at her post on a sidewalk.
"[The government] is spending my future. I don't want that to happen."
So what does Whitt see as the solution? She believes that the federal government should be smaller, with state governments having more power.
Brian Schippers, a senior at Roanoke Catholic, also attended the event and said, "We don't want the government to be using money for projects that don't help us out at all."
Whitt and Schippers think their peers need to take a stand and become more educated on issues.
Schippers suggests that students should, "Get educated about what they think they're talking about. The best source of info is our founding fathers and what the country was founded on and should be governed on."
Whitt challenges her peers to "take a stand. This can't happen -- [America has] been a democracy for far too long. We're the future and we're not doing our jobs."
