Inside #OccupyDC

Posted by Crystal on October 11, 2011 in Society, Thinkers · 2 Comments

Agree or disagree, side with or against, there’s no denying that the #Occupy movement is newsworthy. From its roots on Wall Street, the movement has branched out worldwide and shows no signs of dying. And it’s unsurprising. Look, I’m not here to editorialize or try to explain any of it. It has been done far better at other places across the web. What we did want to do was to get beyond the big crowds with the waving signs to find the people inside.

This past Saturday, we met up with the Occupiers in DC’s Freedom Plaza. It was an odd day; not long after we left, protesters who had joined the stroll down to the Air & Space Museum found themselves face-to-face with pepper spray. And right next door to the sleeping bags and the anti-corporate sentiments, the corporate-sponsor-heavy Taste of DC was in full swing — complete with a moonbounce emblazoned with the logo of a major bank. But none of that affected the atmosphere. What we found was a mix of people of all ages, all races, and all opinions — from veteran protesters to families that just wanted to be a part of the movement — who had gathered in an effort to simply be heard. The one commonality they shared? That they are all a part of the 99%. So we let them speak for themselves. Full gallery at the bottom. (And please click to view these full size — my appreciation to Richie Downs and Joseph Wimberly for the photography work.)

Cardyn Brooks, writer/inventor, Bowie, MD

“We’re a 70% consumer driven economy, so that means the masses have to prosper. If we have manufacturing jobs and service jobs that pay a decent wage and allow us to pay for the essentials, and save regularly; then, when we go into a marketplace, we can be consumers. We’re the ones who shop at the shopping malls. We’re the working class, the middle class; we’re the ones that go there every day to support that.”

Bob Bowes, Somerville, MA

“We’ve reached the tipping point. We’ve worked so hard on so many diverse issues; it’s like fighting brush fires. If you get the system fixed, then you can get the culture fixed, and then you can put out the brush fires.”

Jonathan B. Tucker, team coach/organizer for Split This Rock (and 3 other jobs), DC

“I’ve been very upset with this country for the last 10 years. It’s been very crazy growing up like this, especially [for] the youth out there. We were at an event last night with War Voices, where the kids are 16-17 years old. So ten years ago, when we started these crazy wars, they were six years old. They’ve grown up their whole life with that. It’s become normalized, this type of violence…and we’re a party to it. They’re using my money[...]It’s heartbreaking that my generation has their Vietnam now, because before they said, ‘this is not what we’re going to do, we’re not going to let this happen’. But we’ve let it happen.”

Bob Palmer (retired, Northwest Airlines) and Coleen Rowley (retired FBI agent/9.11 whistleblower), Minneapolis, MN

“We drove here in a 12 passenger van, but there are over 40 Minnesotans who came by bike, plane, and car…We don’t know what else to do. We lobbied both our Minnesota senators and we’re basically sending them a message that we can’t have any war now…That [it's] all connected to the 4-5 trillion dollars that’s going to the war.”

Maggie Breaux, grad student, Tulane School of Social Work, New Orleans, LA

“We really believe in human rights: that’s what the base of our profession is and it’s how we operate professionally and personally. Just looking at the 12-15 core issues that they’re dealing with here, there’s so many that we see in our personal and professional lives every single day that impact our family [and] friends…Whatever way you want to look at it, whether its the criminal justice system or health care, it’s all really affecting everyone where we are, and this is a chance to be their ears and voice. We’re here to learn from everyone here as well as teach what we know.”

Nancy Thacker (above left), professor, Tulane School of Social Work , New Orleans, LA
“When I heard about this trip, it’s full circle for me, because I’m an old hippie. It feels so intergenerational, so hopeful, so powerful, that I’m so proud to pass this to the next generation.”

Kristen Calais (second from right), grad student, Tulane School of Social Work, New Orleans, LA

“In all the jobs I’ve done in social service, [some of our clients] don’t even have the knowledge to know how oppressed they are sometimes. They know they’re upset, you see them on the news and they’re like ‘we’re just upset, we’re mad, we’re angry’, and sometimes they don’t know the extent of the situation because they’re dealing with their own reality. So we’re out here advocating for them and educating ourselves so we can bring it back to New Orleans. Sometimes you know the issue, but you don’t have a solution. Being in a committee with like-minded people who want to concentrate on the same things that you’re passionate about, they come up with ideas that you would have never come up with. There’s things that can happen, not just like ‘it’s a revolution’; there are legitimate points that we can go home and present to our congressmen and our public policy people down there.”

Hassan Shabazz (center), laid-off construction worker, DC

“One thing that can be gathered out of the Occupy Wall Street, Occupy DC, and around the country is that it’s quite diverse. It cuts across ethnicities, race, and perhaps even class…it cuts across many stratas of American society…The people are hurting, and we’re just out here to stand up for our rights, and let the politicians and the elites know that we’re not going to stand by and tolerate them ripping us off….We should immediately crack down on the fed, the institution; it’s no longer any use to us. We should go back to the golden standard and stand up for the American people’s rights. Thousands of people have lost their homes, and Obama hasn’t locked anybody up, he hasn’t indicted anybody. That makes him, to me, just as culpable as Bush.”

Courtney Campbell, Roanoke, VA

“The Occupy movement has inspired a lot of people, and Roanoke is beginning to organize its own. So we came up here to not only show support for the movement, but also to learn and get information, so we can go about this realistically and peacefully. [For smaller areas or individuals] my personal answer is locally move your money out of large banks and into local credit unions or a local bank — find a place where you’re comfortable keeping your money and that doesn’t perpetuate the corruption that caused the bank bailout.”