On Friday, at Dewey Square in Boston, there was over a thousand people there. And being a part of the huge crowd, of the movement, was exciting and exhilarating. But, Friday night, when I was there, they hadn’t set up the physical camp yet. It was an open park with a ton of people. I couldn’t make it back down there until yesterday, Monday. And I have to tell you, it has really changed.
Now there were over 80 tents set up in this park. It was a tent city.
And I have to tell you, there is something really haunting about a tent city.
It harkens back to the era of the Great Depression, to Hoover-ville tent cities, where people who were kicked out of their homes were forced to live in tents… homeless.
But, right now in Boston, you have people choosing to live in tents to show people that unless something changes, and changes soon, actual tent cities will be popping up everywhere. With actual homeless people.
At the actual Occupy Wall Steet in New York, and I believe at most of the other Occupy protests, people are not allowed to put up tents, or tarps.
I tweeted a couple of photos of the tent city, yesterday and people occupying in New York and Chicago, joked that they were jealous of Boston’s tents. And they should be.
And I am convinced, I am completely convinced that places not being able to put up tents, is by design. While obviously, if you’re sleeping outdoors, it’s great to have any type of shelter, like a tent, to help protect you from rain and wind. That’s obvious, right? That they don’t want protesters to have any type of shelter.
But, I’m actually convinced that there is another side to it.
And that’s the fact that it is chilling to see an actual tent city.
It is chilling to confront the fact that people losing their homes and being forced to live in tent cities may be the future for a vast majority of our country.
And the top %1 doesn't want you to think about that reality. They don’t want you to see that reality. They sure as hell don’t want you to do anything about that reality.
But, tent cities may be our future.
And don’t get me wrong, I say it’s chilling, and it is. But, it’s also simultaneously inspiring. Considering all of these people are putting their bodies on the line, to try to make the future better.
I was both inspired… AND horrified. And that’s a good thing.