Occupy Wall Street Revisited

As we left Boston we had a better picture of how the Revolutionary effort started to move from independent colonies to a united nation.  Everyday guys and early rebel leaders Paul Revere and Sam Adams took leadership roles and got the word out to people calling for cooperation, meetings to discuss options and plans and organized messages for the people.  They didn't have the internet or television or radio so back then it was people who spread the word to other people when things were happening.  So, we asked ourselves, Where were the Paul Revere's of OWS?  Where was the leader of Philly's OWS movement?  We looked and found one woman eager to talk to us but also frustrated herself by her experience with this group.  

We have visited tent camps in cities from Buffalo, NY to Philadelphia, PA.  We have tried to read their signs, get their core messages and listened to their speeches and parade chants.  Then, I read some articles and asked my family for their opinions.  In Philadelphia Mom and I went through the tent city and found some people to talk to and interview about what they were doing.  I think I finally have a few answers.

Holding a Anti-racist meeting sign in front of many other signs (that read Forgive my college debt!  Repeal the 12th Amendment! Zeitgeist! Our Crumbling Bridges are the Worst in the country!  How do you get a 21st century job with a 19th century education?  Inter-faith Tent Here!  You are existing in the Slave System!)  it was difficult to zero in on what they wanted us to support.  So we asked what her main messages were.  She laughed.  "Uh, well...there's many."  So we then gave her our impressions over 15 states of observation.  We explained that we felt they needed a leader for the overall, a leader for each topic if not and 3-5 core messages for the public to read when they first see the camp.  Her reply was that they spend so much time in meetings arguing with city and unions over sanitation, permits and rules that they rarely have time to get down to business.  We replied that they started this almost two months ago.  She explained that the message got hijacked by homeless and mentally ill people who came for free housing and food and no one took leadership role to stop their messages from crowding their purpose because they wanted to not squash participation and their 1st amendment rights to speak out on whatever they wanted.  We explained that sort of ruined it for them and drove people like us away or to confusion and we found it hard to support them.  She replied with "Spend time at a GA (general assembly) meeting or a day here and we would stop using words THEM, THEY, YOU and we would start saying US, WE."   Mom then said you have not compelled me to bring my child into the cold and around some of these people who are, well, not stable and could be dangerous (like where we were in Burlington, VT where the man killed himself in the tent right where we were a couple weeks ago).   We spent about 40 minutes trying to get a clearer idea of things but we did learn they have a library, children's center, regular meetings and the Philly group is actually delaying a wheelchair accessible subway project in hopes of being able to give demands to the city as their leverage.  (I learned that word from a great movie called Leverage). 

The biggest thing that surprised me was when we asked where their Sam Adams or Paul Revere was...meaning their leader who comes from the group and unites and inspires...the women replied "Oh, we aren't going to have an old white guy speaking for us!" laughing very loudly, while holding the anti-racist meeting sign.  I wasn't ever considering white or black or yellow skins I was asking about leadership.  They were white women by the way.  They gave me the message that if I was older I couldn't lead them because of the color of my skin.!?  I wondered what race had to do with any of this?  Shouldn't we just not care about the color of skin and focus on the government giving money to banks and businesses that should not have been given if everyone is supposed to make it or break it on their own?  I didn't even understand what race had to do with the money issues anyhow.   So, while I think it's cool to see people acting on their beliefs and speaking up and protesting things in their government they aren't happy with...I don't think this is the movement that's going to change much.  I don't think they are even going to decide where the port-o-potty's go (a real argument they were having).  Too bad, because there are many things to change and clean up.  Benjamin Franklin said "We've given you a republic, it's your job to keep it if you can."  It's our job to change and add things as we need to because the founding fathers only gave us a place to start from.  As our country changes our needs and rules can change too if we are "educated" as Thomas Jefferson felt we should be and get up and do it as Franklin challenged.  There was a quote we saw that said, "Some men dream of great things, other men get out of bed and make it happen."  Leadership is important and the OWS movement really needs leaders.  Delegating, my mom said, is a great skill and can be really effective in times like these when there is so much to tackle. If they had a leader who could delegate to other leaders for each issue they might be able to organize their messages so we can understand and support them better.  If not, there will not be anything clear for us to get behind.  But it's been neat to watch it all first hand instead of some distant news story.


Thanks for all the comments and input on this it was very helpful.


Democracy in action! Don't sit on the sidelines.

Jack