Occupy Black America

blkoccupy.jpegOccupy Wall Street has been going strong for over a month. People from all walks of life have occupied Zucotti Park, which has been nicknamed Liberty Square, protesting bank bailouts, corporate greed, and the unchecked power of Wall Street in Washington. The protestors say that they represent the 99% of Americans and seek a political agenda that is more attuned to the 99% rather than the wealthiest 1% it currently seems to cater to. 

As part of the larger Occupy Together phenomenon, 100 movements have sprouted up nationally and there have now been 1,500 “Occupy” inspired protests in 82 countries worldwide. Among the faces are college students with excessive student loan debt, elderly people who have lost their homes to foreclosure, and people who have been laid off from their jobs and have spent months unemployed while searching for new opportunities amidst this vicious job market. Given how heavily the recession has affected Black unemployment rates and how large a percentage of Black America occupies the 99%, one might assume that Black people would be on the front lines of the “Occupy” protest. However, this has not been the case.

Perhaps Black America simply does not believe in the movement yet. Many have criticized the Occupy protestors for being disorganized, and not having a set of clear goals. Footage of the chaos on the Brooklyn Bridge where 700 people were arrested during an Occupy march is all over the web. Videos of women being pepper sprayed in the face, and police officers beating protestors indiscriminately have also gone viral. Given these images, it is possible that Black America feels the stakes are too high to support a movement that has yet to definitively define itself.

occupy-the-hood.jpgSome see the ability to protest in this fashion as a sign of privilege. Camping out in Zucotti Park is simply not possible for everyone. While there may be Black moral support for the Occupy movement, physical support may not be something they can afford. There are many people in the 99% Black and non-Black alike doing their best to hold on to the jobs they’ve got. Still others are working multiple part-time jobs just to make ends meet. Many have families that they need to support. Occupying any space besides a workplace might simply feel unrealistic to them. But what about the unemployed masses of Black Americans that are constantly being talked about?

Black celebrities such as Kanye West, Russell Simmons and Danny Glover have publicly supported the Occupy movement, but even with such an endorsement, Black people have had relatively low attendance. Some believe this is in part because when Black people turn on their televisions or search the web, they look out into the crowd and see mostly white faces. This gives Black Americans the sense that the protests are not about them. However, someone must take the first step. If Black people want to see themselves in the movement, Black people have to put themselves in the movement.

The main tenets of Occupy Together are wealth inequality, poverty, the burden of debt and unemployment. There are multiple reasons why Black people have not supported the Occupy movement in mass, but many more reasons why they should. Black unemployment has reached rates that have not been seen in decades. Elderly Black people are being ousted from homes they have lived in since the Civil Rights era. Almost half of Black children live in poverty. The wealth gap between Blacks and Whites continues to widen. Black families around the country continue to be torn apart by the prison system from which Wall Street earns billions each year. Black people have every reason to become a part of this movement. Black people must stand up and be counted because Black voices need to be an integral part of this movement to ensure that Wall Street and the government are held accountable.
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@DeenaHarbaugh tweeted link to this page. 2011-11-07 12:31:14 -0500
RT @TheBlackInst: Occupy Black America - The Role of Black American in the occupy movement - http://t.co/TpF90lNu #OWS #theblackinstitute
@schwartzbrown mentioned @TheBlackInst link to this page. 2011-11-07 12:06:43 -0500
RT @TheBlackInst: Occupy Black America - The Role of Black American in the occupy movement - http://t.co/TpF90lNu #OWS #theblackinstitute
Pat Smith commented 2011-11-06 20:15:38 -0500 · Flag
You should know that when I attempted to join this organization, your email was sent straight to Spam! I waited and waited for your email to come. And something told me to check Spam. I did, and I found your email there. Someone might consider checking this out. I saw where it was said that most black people are not joining Occupy Black America—- this could also be one of the reasons why. How can someone join something if they can get the proper communication. Just thought I might share this experience.

JonahSister
Steven Halvorson commented 2011-10-26 10:13:01 -0400 · Flag
Occupiers in Oakland our hearts go out to you. Having tear gas canisters shot at you is horrific in this day and age. Citzens of the US that did not fire bomb or cause any harm were awakened by the force of government turning on it’s citizens. I was in the Army and one training tool is to put you in a tent with cooking tear gas. We were told to take our masks off and say our name and rank. Then we were quickly wisked out to fresh air. Now my mouth was drooling, eyes, and skin burning. The point of the excercise was to train us that the masks do protect and to not panic. The intent of tear gas/CS gas it to do is disperse, cause panic, and disrupt a riot or people intending to do harm to property or other citizens. Did the Occupiers cause any significant harm to property or attack fellow citizens? What was the point in tear gassing Americans? The process we are teaching our young Americans is that a police state silently rules the nest. The American Seal with the Eagle Claws are turning on its own. It reveals itself in incidents such as this.
James Daniel commented 2011-10-26 01:56:16 -0400 · Flag
What is so sophisticated to mastermind and engineer? They commandeered commercial airliners with boxcutters and flew them into large buildings using the rudimentary skills learned in a flight school. I am a pilot and I don’t think it is far fetched at all. The conspiracy theory is far more sophisticated and would have been exceedingly difficult to conceal. But I agree that this is not the venue to discuss it.
william snyder commented 2011-10-25 18:12:22 -0400 · Flag
I should have said that In addition to NESARA’S misuse of the Occupy platform it is also a misuse of the Black Institute website. What I am about to say doesn’t fit this website either but I’ll say it as something related to historical fact or fiction depending on your perspective. For anyone interested check out Pilotsfor911truth.org for a different view of the events of 9/11. The likelihood of Al Qaeda being able to mastermind and engineer the sophistication of the disaster of 9/11 is far-fetched based on what most pilots have to say. There are also other scientific facts and speculative theories about what happened on 9/11 that have been offered. Much of it can be found on the Internet for those interested.
Stan Banos commented 2011-10-25 17:56:34 -0400 · Flag
A law in favor of US citizens (backed by Army Special Ops & Navy SEALS)- WOW!!! Now that’s what anyone would call a Conspiracy… or a dream, hallucination, delusion, shizophrenic disassociation…
James Daniel commented 2011-10-25 15:24:39 -0400 · Flag
Folks who broadcast this NESARA conspiracy theory do not understand the complexities of getting 20 or so hardened members of al quaeda to go along with this charade. They also ignore the physics involved with flying fully-loaded with fuel, cross continental airliners into buildings at exactly where preset charges have been placed, and then setting off these demolitions without anyone on the outside seeing, hearing or otherwise recording them exploding (even though there were several cameras recording the event from many angles.

Furthermore, I do not see any relevance of the NESARA theory to this issue o OWS. It is an unwelcome distraction and an inappropriate venue to air it.
william snyder commented 2011-10-25 13:19:03 -0400 · Flag
I don’t believe the 9/11 story we’ve been told by corporate media and the oligarchy, but the NESARA explanation for 9/11 is not an explanation I dig. Using OWS as a forum for broadcasting NESARA’s message will only serve to make the mainstream more skeptical of Occupy’s political and social legitimacy.
william snyder commented 2011-10-25 12:52:45 -0400 · Flag
I didn’t get the memo either, James. Thanks for sending it along. As a white kid in the burbs I was always wishing they would move. I mean come on life has to have an edge to it or we ain’t alive. I’m not saying I like living on Soc. Sec. without anything else after working years in consulting and teaching, and paying my ex-wife’s medical bills because my health insurance wouldn’t. But at night in that moment before sleep comes I know I didn’t hurt anyone willfully or take food out of anyone’s mouth. I chose brotherhood and it feels good. Occupy the burbs, occupy the hood, occupy the streets!!!
Patrick Hansen commented 2011-10-25 12:42:44 -0400 · Flag
Being fairly new to TBI I am not sure if this topic has been covered and if it has it bears repeating especially at this time. I’m talking about Nesara Law. It’s already Law and just needs to be enacted, lets push this along.
What is NESARA Law?

Late one evening on March 9, 2000, a written quorum call was hand-delivered by Delta Force and Navy SEALs to 15 members of the US Senate and the US House who were sponsors and co-sponsors of NESARA. They were immediately escorted by the Delta Force and Navy SEALs to their respective voting chambers where they passed the National Economic Security and Reformation Act. It was signed into Law on October 10, 2000 by Bill Clinton. It has been kept secret by members of Congress and the US Supreme Court who are working in collusion with the banks.

The next step is to announce NESARA to the world, but it’s not an easy task. Many powerful groups have tried to prevent the implementation of NESARA including all those in government and the courts who will go to jail for crimes of High Treason. If giving 16 Trillion to the banks for their recovery is not a sign that this is real, I do not know how else to show you. Many White Knights working to enact NESARA have been assassinated. They are reported as having a massive heart attack or suicide, or a tragic car accident. Tim Russert understood there were problems with the 911 story. He was the first to interview Dick Cheney at Camp David after 911. He questioned him that night because he recognized the inaccuracies in the story from the beginning. The interview is very telling and the video is out there. Watching it in hind sight helps us see NESARA is hard to fathom, but completely true. The NESARA petition will open the door to President Obama to Announce and Enact NESARA Law.

In 2001 after much negotiation the Supreme Court justices ordered the 107th Congress to pass resolutions approving‘ NESARA. This took place on September 9, 2001, eighteen months after NESARA became law. On September 10, 2001, George Bush Sr. moved into the White house to steer his son on how to block the announcement. The next day, on September 11, 2001, at 10 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Alan Greenspan was scheduled to announce the new US Treasury Bank system, debt forgiveness for all U.S. citizens, and abolishment of the IRS as the first part of the public announcements of NESARA.

Just before the announcement at 9 am, Bush Sr. ordered the demolition of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers to stop the international banking computers on Floors 1and 2 in the North Tower from initiating the new U.S. Treasury Bank system. Explosives in the World Trade Center were planted by operatives and detonated remotely in Building 7, which was demolished later that day in order to cover-up their crime.

What does NESARA Law do?

NESARA implements the following changes:

1. Zeros out all credit card, mortgage, and other bank debt due to illegal banking and government activities. This is the Federal Reserve’s worst nightmare, a “jubilee” or a forgiveness of debt.

2. Abolishes the income tax.

3. Abolishes the IRS. Employees of the IRS will be transferred into the US Treasury national sales tax area.

4. Creates a 14% flat rate non-essential new items only sales tax revenue for the government. In other words, food and medicine will not be taxed; nor will used items such as old homes.

5. Increases benefits to senior citizens.

6. Returns Constitutional Law to all courts and legal matters.

7. Reinstates the original Title of Nobility amendment.

8. Establishes new Presidential and Congressional elections within 120 days after NESARA’s announcement. The interim government will cancel all National Emergencies and return us back to constitutional law.

9. Monitors elections and prevents illegal election activities of special interest groups.

10. Creates a new U.S. Treasury rainbow currency backed by gold, silver, and platinum precious metals, ending the bankruptcy of the United States initiated by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.

11. Forbids the sale of American birth certificate records as chattel property bonds by the US Department of Transportation.

12. Initiates new U.S. Treasury Bank System in alignment with Constitutional Law

13. Eliminates the Federal Reserve System. During the transition period the Federal Reserve will be allowed to operate side by side of the U.S. treasury for one year in order to remove all Federal Reserve notes from the money supply.

14. Restores financial privacy.

15. Retrains all judges and attorneys in Constitutional Law.

16. Ceases all aggressive, U.S. government military actions worldwide.

17. Establishes peace throughout the world.

18. Releases enormous sums of money for humanitarian purposes.

19. Enables the release of over 6,000 patents of suppressed technologies that are being withheld from the public under the guise of national security, including free energy devices, antigravity, and sonic healing machines.

How Do I Sign The NESARA Petition?

One may go to the White House We The People website to sign the petition.

Create an Account, Confirm your email address, Sign. Two minutes. Done.

Click on this link and do it now!

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#%21/petition/announce-and-implement-national-economic-security-and-reformation-act-nesara/GrQ0cm26
Carolyn Lockwood-Pitkin commented 2011-10-25 10:29:47 -0400 · Flag
thank you for that, Steven. It took courage for me to write that. thank you. We are the people for these times and OWSWall Street has popped up like a seed out of the very ground of our being. It brings up the tears. thank you for standing beside me.
Steven Halvorson commented 2011-10-25 10:15:45 -0400 · Flag
Carolyn in reply and more discussion on your post-we are in the process of evolving compassion. I couldnt agree more with you. I was reading while on the today a work by the Dalai Lama called “The Universe in a Single Atom”. For a scientist, this is a thought provoking book in that the Dalai Lama counters the theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. What selective process includes is also compassion, self sacrifice, and altruism. What we have been taught is that the selfish gene competes in the environment and wins out in the end. The more competetive and the more selfish the more one wins. Thus the ability to aquire mates and reproduce in excess. But the Dalai Lama counters that if this was the case why do we see acts of compassion and altrusim all around us everyday. Why do people rush in to dangerous situations and risk saving a stranger possibly putting themselves at risk? Answer: Cooperation and human compassion. We see the core group of protestors are trying to peacefully get their points across to wall street wildcatters who have had a bullish mindset of survial of the fittest, profit, and competition. We are here to remind them of a different way.
Carolyn Lockwood-Pitkin commented 2011-10-25 09:52:17 -0400 · Flag
Maybe it’s as though our physical bodies are “space suits”.Each human being is living in a “space suit” of one color or another. Each human being has a unique heritage and walks an individual path. Each human being’s experience in living is unique. Each one of us has his or her own story to tell. That’s the outside.
Deep inside, human beings are human beings — every one. We are beginning to see and feel and express our oneness, to bring our oneness into being. Our feelings, our true values are the same. We are in the process of evolving understanding of our differences. We are in the process of evolving compassion. We are in the process of living our lives for the good of the whole. — It’s hard to put into words.
James Daniel commented 2011-10-25 08:43:06 -0400 · Flag
“The whole political class is just getting the memo that Ozzie and Harriet don’t live here anymore.”
EDWARD HILL, a dean at Cleveland State University, on new issues like poverty confronting the suburbs.
James Daniel commented 2011-10-25 08:37:12 -0400 · Flag
Sol Ras, methinks that you underestimate progressive white folks abilities and motivations…how do YOU know these things of which you speak? How do you know what is in other people’s hearts, regardless of the melanin content of their skin?

We are all the summation of our own life experiences…and that is all. Nobody can speak for anybody else…all that we can do is look at the data on how they voted and leave our guesses as to their motivations aside. Fact is, there really is no such thing as a black perspective or white perspective as that grossly oversimplifies each individual’s perspective, which is dangerous…and basic sociology.

Most folks remember Cynthia McKinney as the Congresswoman from Georgia, not for the futile Green Party run. I will bet that most black folks have never heard of her either (I don’t know anybody that does), including the Koch brother’s own “black walnut” candidate, Herman (Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan) Cain. Do you know who David Cobb is? What does it matter? All Green Party votes are essentially votes for Republicans anyway. Do any of us really “get it”?
Stan Banos commented 2011-10-24 21:51:10 -0400 · Flag
Stan Banos commented 2011-10-24 21:50:19 -0400 · Flag
@ Sol Ras- Few whites will get things solely from the black perspective. I’m Puerto Rican, and being lighter skinned, neither will I- even Africans coming here are often cited for not “getting it.”

I can’t disagree with most of what you say- its beyond refute. But we can continue to emphasize our differences and divisions, and remain relatively powerless minorities within minorities… or we can learn to set aside our petty differences (at least temporarily), unite into a truly indivisible force, a power that will finally have to be dealt with- and get business done. No it won’t be easy, but nothing will change until that’s the reality; money only fears numbers.
Sol Ras commented 2011-10-24 20:43:22 -0400 · Flag
@James D. “there are plenty of things that have changed as a result of progressive white folks becoming socially conscious" I do not disagree with this totally but hear are some things to think about.

1. White people did not vote for Obama because he was black they didn’t sit at home and go “The black youth of today nee to see a black person in a position of power to empower them to know they can do great things in life besides rapping and sports” The voted for Obama for his promises and his camping run (it was a well thought out good campaign) but how progressive is any one if no white person has herd of Cynthia McKinney ( female black woman that ran 2008 and for the first time the independent party was almost on all the ballots in the US)

2. Progressive white people are great allies but there role has to be allies, even with you exception it proves the rule. The treat of no middle class, police brutality, AIDS epidemic, war on drugs, war on gangs where only looked at when it bleed in to white communities.

3. The only white people in my circle are ones that know about privilege and work against in every way they can and they know a huge part of that is being supportive but not running issues that are crippling the black community (like the ones listed above)

4. On your voting polls, I am not going to dispute the numbers with you though I think depending where you get them they are different everywhere. But you must think about the disproportionate numbers if felons are high in black in brown communities, now that’s always been the case (and we wont discuss the reason) but that has a lot to do with tons of votes un accounted for and lets go more local and see the statistics of who voted for the "responsible” black guy in lets say state reps, city council, governor.
Zakiyah Ansari commented 2011-10-24 16:39:38 -0400 · Flag
Words can often be more powerful than physical presence, so keep supporting the struggle through your thoughtful words.
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