Obama and Occupy Wall Street

 According to Democracy Now, hundreds of protesters have been arrested across the Nation during the Occupy Wall street movement. They announce that the arrest totals include: 175 in Chicago; 100 in Arizona; 92 in New York City; 19 in Raleigh, 19 in Denver; and 19 in Washington, D.C., including Princeton University Professor Cornel West, on the steps of the Supreme Court. West was arrested at the new MLK memorial, where according to Democracy Now, Obamas dedication speech included words such as "It is right for us to celebrate Dr. King’s marvelous oratory, but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone. Progress was hard. Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats."
I can’t decide if this is a warning, or simply encouragement from president Obama. He appears to understand where protesters are coming from; in a recent news conference he concluded that the protests revolved around a "broad-based frustration among Americans about how the U.S. financial system works.” According to The Las Angeles Times, Obama seems to feel what the 99% feels when he announces that "not only did the financial sector, with the Republican Party in Congress, fight us every step in the way. But now you've got these same folks arguing we should roll back all those reforms and go back to the way it was.” He then added that “that does not make sense to the American people. They are frustrated by it and they will continue to be frustrated by it until they get the sense that everyone is playing by the same rules."
True, but is Obama just saying what the American people want to hear? I find it hard to truly understand something until I have personally gone through it myself. Sure, you can use empathy and what not, but you can never really KNOW until it has actually happened to you. Obama is not going to lose his job because of the financial crisis. Well, actually he may, but not under the same terms or conditions. He will lose his job because he didn’t DO anything about financial crisis, whereas the 99% could easily lose their job as a victim of it. Obama does not have to worry about his home being foreclosed, or how to pay for supplies or admissions for his children in school. He doesn’t have to worry about filing for bankruptcy, or stress over the electric bill. So does Obama really understand? I think not. He has and never will be where most all of us are today, stuck in an economy where even something as simple as going to the grocery store can put grey hairs on your head. He hasn’t seen the other side, where you wonder where your tax dollars are going and can’t keep track of where all your hard earned money ended up.
If Obama truly realized that there was a problem with our current system, if he truly understood, then those 175 people in Chicago wouldn’t have been arrested. Same with the other cities. He would be doing more to protect the protesters from cops, one of which arrested a lady as she was innocently trying to withdrawal money from a bank, according to Democracy Now. Remember all that “change” Obama was talking about in 2008? Yeah, there would be a lot more of that.

Works Cited

Memoli, Michael A. "Obama Occupy Wall Street | Obama News Conference: Obama: Occupy Wall Street Protests Show Americans' Frustration - Los Angeles Times."Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. Las Angeles Times, 06 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/06/news/la-pn-obama-occupy-wall-street-20111006>.

Kamat, Anjali. A Daily TV/radio News Program, Hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Airing on over 900 Stations, Pioneering the Largest Community Media Collaboration in the United States. Democracy Now, 16 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://www.democracynow.org/>.

Occupying Wall Street: Making a Change For the Better.

            Response #6

             
 I’m sure most have heard about the recent protests/encampments given the name “Occupy Wall Street.” This protest originally started In NYC on Wall Street, but has begun to spread not only into other cities in America, but up into Canada and other countries over seas as well. The main purpose for these protests is not only to point out some of the major problems occurring in America, but to ask for some major changes for these problems as well. Problems such as economic inequality, corporate greed, along with the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector. According to Roberto "Múcaro" Borrero of the United Confederation of Taíno People, “There needs to be an end to the cycle of colonialism and greed.”
Though these are considered to be mostly peaceful protests, there is indeed some chaos going on as well. Chaos not caused from the protesters, but from the police officers instead. This can be considered something bittersweet though. Bitter, because the police are obviously taking advantage of their positions, which is causing pain upon the protesters. Sweet, because it has brought this country, along with other countries together in a wave of support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. According to Justin Wedes, an organizer with Occupy Wall Street, “New York City police have arrested people for peacefully demonstrating and exerting their free speech rights. The reaction has been—and I think the whole world sees it now—that every time that you try to silence peaceful protests, you just get an explosion of new support. And I think that’s what’s happened. And it really bares sort of naked the truth about who the NYPD serve and protect. And if that’s not the people… then we have a problem.”
On msnbc’s The Last Word with Lawrence O‘Donnell, Lawrence announces that “Everyday in America, police are too tough. Everyday in America, police cross the line and abuse citizens. Everyday in America, police get away with that.” He then shows numerous video clips of police officers stepping over the line; literally and figuratively. One clip shows a policeman actually reaching across the orange boundary line, only to drag an innocent woman across the ground to the other side, and handcuff her for no reason at all. Another clip depicts a police officer abusing his ability to carry pepper spray, catching a woman in the eyes, yet again for no apparent reason at all. Policeman are obviously taking advantage of this situation, using brutal and unnecessary force for no logical purpose what so ever. As O’Donnell points out, they do so only because they know that they can get away with it. They realize that the media will not cling on to the attack stories unless someone gets seriously injured or killed. They also realize that their department will neglect to serve a serious investigation on their manners. It makes me sick.
Occupy Wall Street isn’t just about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It is about much more than that. It is about people finally raising their voices and taking a stand against the mistreatment the American people have gone through. It is about making a change for the better over all.

Works Cited

"Democracy Now: Special Broadcast on the Occupy Wall Street Protests, October 11, 2011." Dialogic. Blogger, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://dialogic.blogspot.com/2011/10/democracy-now-special-broadcast-on.html>.

O'Donnell, Lawrence. "MSNBC on NYPD Police Brutality during Occupy Wall Street Lawrence O'donnell with "The Last Word" - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Msnbc, 26 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgr3DiqWYCI>.