So fast forward one year since my last post (has it REALLY been that long??) and I find myself recently back from a NYC visit. After an interesting and informative evening with my friend MW, I got a much greater sense of what Occupy Wall Street was all about. I officially woke up on the evening of Sunday, September 25.
On Monday, I began researching where things truly stand for most Americans. 25 years ago, 13% of Americans held 33% of the wealth. Today, 1% of Americans hold 40% of our country's wealth. This is UNACCEPTABLE. The more I processed, the more I realized that I was called to participate in this movement, which was giving a distinct voice to my concerns and fears for this country.
OccupyAsheville held our first meeting on Wednesday, Sept 28 -- it was my first time attending a meeting like this since college. Attendees had many ideas on the levels of activism they were prepared to take to join this burgeoning movement. We agreed to start our occupation on Saturday, October 1 at 11am -- starting as a funeral/protest/celebration for Troy Davis (RIP) and moving into a rally for the financial and economic goals of this movement. It was a powerful day of protest, speakers, and activity on Wall Street (ironically one of Asheville's most charming streets filled with locally owned small businesses ).
On Sunday, I attend church at 8:30 at jubilee community, a non-denominational church that reads from all sacred texts to celebrate humanity, the environment, and creation. At the end of the service, we sing (every Sunday) a Carly Simon song which has the line: Let all the dreamers wake the nation. When I got home, I decided to make a poster with this slogan, which ended up in the Asheville Citizen Times.
Let all the dreamers wake the nation. These words continue to inspire me every day of this massive movement to WAKE UP the nation to the injustice that is so pervasive and reclaim American to be the country we envision. A country where corporations are fairly taxed, a country where banks are not too big to fail, a country where education is more valued than war, a country where our poor are fed and our rich are generous, a country where our food is safe and fresh veggies are subsidized instead of GMO-filled processed junk food, a country not consumed by consumerism but rather aware of the delicate balance of true need versus mindless waste.
The Sunday protest may have been my favorite so far -- that sign guided me and my voice, and I felt, for the first time in a LONG time, AWAKE and UNITED with a group of people that are committed to making a difference -- however long it takes.
I must admit, it surprised me how uncool I felt the first time I posted something about my activism on Facebook -- I felt like I was willingly engaged in a social pariah behavior, and I was surprised by how many of my liberal friends have posted bitter remarks about this movement. While some offered other ways to make a difference (support a local politician to effect change), I still believe that this movement, as it grows, will have far greater and longer reaching impact than we (or any election) has had in a long, long time. When did political discourse become taboo? Let's bring back conversations about local and national governance, activism, and opportunities for making things better to our nightly dinner table, to our social media, to our daily lives. I realize that those that do not want to hear my opinions will simply hide my stream, and that is most certainly their choice, as being vocal about it now is mine.
As the unions join, and other organization, my heart swells with hope. This is happening, on a mass level, and it is getting bigger and bigger. We all have special talents -- if you can't protest (or don't want to) there are still MANY ways to get involved...Write a letter to your local paper about the unjust balance of money and power in America, make a graphic illustrating corporate greed and post on facebook (as more and more people are doing), make a piece of art, send supplies to NYC, organize a salon with your friends to talk about this -- there are MANY ways to be active in this movement.
Onward and upward, my 99% friends!
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