It mystifies me how some people are against or annoyed by the Occupy Movement, because this movement is all about giving you the rights to get what you want out of your country. The Occupy Movement is most famous for the events that took place on October 15th, 2011 at Occupy Wall Street.
Occupy Wall Street was a peaceful protest of social and economic inequality. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what the demands of the movement were/are because they are so vast and unique to each region where occupiers live. If I must point out a few, I'd say its primary goal is to remove total power from the richest 1% of the country and to move our country towards a land of true equal opportunity. Corporations pay politicians to meet their interests and pass bills that allow them to make record amounts of money, while paying us sub-par wages. These awful wages have caused the formation of a new social class: The Working Poor.
The working poor are a class of people making about $20k a year or less even with a full-time job. Chances are you are the working poor. I mean I know I am. It has taken me 7 years of working up from $7.75/hr to get to $10/hr. And that was lucky that I hit $10. Thanks to my current boss for helping me out and sneaking in an extra $.50 into my wage. We, as the working poor, can't afford to pay all of our bills without the assistance of credit cards. I admit sometimes I buy my groceries on my Discover card when I've spent all of my paycheck on my bills. Without Andrew I couldn't afford to live on my own, but the minimum wage was intended to pay for all of the bills, groceries and needs of a small family.
We are also having a similar, yet more complicated issue with colleges and student loans. I can't afford to go back to school, but I have tried and failed multiple times. Most recently, I had to decline attending school because I couldn't get enough federal funding. I claimed semi-independent but my "anticipated family contribution " was too high. Meaning my parents were expected to comp my tuition. My parents are just as working poor as I. My step-father works two jobs and my mom works about 60 hours a week in her salaried position. (Note* she's worked for the company for 15+ years and is the lowest paid manager in her pay-grade) Oh and here's a funny story! When someone questioned Mitt Romney about student loans, he said there was no need to work on them because student loans are not the only option! You parents can pay the tuition. Duh! Thanks Mitt!
Anyway, so why are we having such a hard time getting out of this hole? Because corporations have the same rights as people (another one we want to get rid of) and money is free speech (thanks Supreme Court) so The Working Poor literally have no voice and the corporations are making huge strides to keep us just the way we are. This works for them.
But it doesn't work for us. It sure as shit doesn't work for me.
So what do you do?
Join the movement.
And that's what thousands of people did in September and October of 2011 in New York City's Zuccoti Park as well as hundreds of other cities worldwide. The peaceful demonstration in New York was met with police brutality in order to get them to stop. 32 people died. What did the occupiers do? Chanted, "We love you! We forgive you!" because the police were under orders and trying to make a living too. Even though 32 people. Died.
Visit the website, Occupy Together to see what you can do and join like minded people like you in the fight for a true shot at life.
I also recommend a short cut to feeling the power of the movement by looking at this. It may make you cry.
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