Today started out as most of my Thursdays do, I dropped my son off at daycare, then headed into the Texas Medical Center to attend my weekly didactic lectures. As a resident, I work 65-70 hour weeks, so having a few hours to just sit and listen is usually a welcomed break from practicing medicine in the most uninsured city in the country. However, when I arrived to class, I discovered that our lectures had fortuitously been canceled. I had 4 hours of rare free time, and I decided I was going to put it to good use by heading downtown to bear witness to the Occupy movement. Follow me below the fold to witness the revolution, Texas style....
As I arrived at City Hall, the first thing I noticed was the heavy police presence. In fact, as I tried to cross the street, I had to make way so a van full of HPD officers could parallel park. They were on foot, bikes, and horseback, but they were cordial and I never felt threatened.
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I made it there just in time to see the protesters marching up to the City Hall doors shouting various chants, including "Hey, hey, ho, ho, corporate greed has got to go," and "We are the 99%!"
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For all the talk of how "disorganized" this movement is, I found the general assembly to be very organized, employing creative strategies for gathering and disseminating information. They quickly started with the now infamous "Mike Checks," which were very effective at grabbing the crowd's attention. They then made use of the "human microphone," asking the crowd to repeat everything the speaker was saying. Everyone followed directions, and it was very easy to understand what was being said. The assembly started with the leaders asking for people to volunteer to be "stackers." They informed us that stackers would be tasked with walking around the crowds to speak with protesters and take note of each individual's concerns and reasons for joining the movement. They then asked who wished to address the assembly, and directed those volunteers to the "stage." Next, they informed us that we were inhabiting a public space and exercising our right to free speech, but should legal issues arise, there were lawyers in the crowd who would provide free legal services in the event we were arrested. The lawyers were from the National Lawyer's Guild, and could be identified by way of the lime green hats they were wearing. I counted at least 6 lime green hats from my vantage point.
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They made it clear that if we were arrested, our possessions would be confiscated, so they instructed us to write the names/numbers of 2 lawyers on our arms just in case.
The various speakers spoke about the corporate influence on our government, the lack of good paying jobs, and the public's apathy toward working for change. They were Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, young, not so young, teachers, students, hippies, and non-hippies. It was a very diverse crowd, yet everyone got along just fine.
There was an interesting moment when this gentleman said he came to send a message from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and the Progressive Congressional Caucus. He said she supported the movement and agreed with the sentiments being voiced by the protesters. Halfway through his comments, the crowd erupted in chants of "She should be here," as if to say put your money where your mouth is and join the movement if you really do agree.
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I didn't see any major news station presence there, but there were plenty of people with video cameras documenting the day's events and interviewing protesters.
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Check out the signs....
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Reinstate Glass Steagall!
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I spoke with this nice woman for a little bit, turns out she was a delegate for Obama in '08. She's a small business owner who says Rick Perry's policies are killing her business. She also said she worries that the Republicans will dismantle social security. Let the GOP tell it, people who think the way she does don't exist.
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More creative signs...
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"Flush Chase."
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Stop Big Oil and Stop the Keystone Pipeline
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And T shirts too...
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The cops remained calm and cooperative throughout my time there, they even got a few shout outs from the speakers. At one point, one of the leaders said that the police were standing with us, not against us, and that they too were part of the 99%.
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They set up a donations table, and requested donations of water and other food items for the occupiers. The organizers could be easily identified by their white shirts with red crosses.
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There were a few characters there too. The lady in pink was amazing, she led a spirited song during the assembly.
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This mask was a popular look, there was a group of people wearing them.
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There was only ONE counter protester there and he was pretty lame. At one point, he was surrounded by people asking him to explain his position. He refused to do so, and was only able to say "it's on my sign, can't you read it?....I don't have to explain it since I wrote it down..." Typical teabagger...
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Surprisingly, the local media coverage has been pretty neutral if not supportive.
http://www.khou.com/...
The protesters said they chose the Chase Tower because it’s a symbol of banking and corporate greed.
"We should be able to live normal lives just like everyone else, and it’s hard right now with things the way they are in the economy," protester Patti Cruz said.
Protester Laura Haley said she’s tired of corporate lobbyists – rather than the general public – having all the power and say in government.
"And because of that, we have laws that favor these industries, not common people," Haley said.
The demonstration was patterned after the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, which have been going on for 20 days. Now, the movement is spreading to other cities across the country, including Houston.
All in all, it was a great experience. I've heard crowd size estimates as high as 500 people during the event's peak today, which is very impressive IMHO. There are many prime targets for these marches in downtown Houston, they plan to put the pressure on Big Oil, as well as our infamous Crime Lab, in addition to the Big Banks. I will most certainly stay tuned and keep y'all posted. I may even upload video if I can figure out how...
UPDATE: Wow, just checked back in and realized I'm on the rec list!!! Holy crap, this is my first "real" diary, so I'm totally over the moon about this! I managed to figure out how to upload video in the meantime too, so here's a short clip of the human microphone. For those that can't view it, he's basically just saying we've officially occupied Hermann Square Park and we're not leaving 'til our voices are heard. Oh, and my apologies for the first 40 seconds of the clip, I put the phone down to sign a petition. For those of you wondering if this movement is real, it is. It made it from NYC to Houston in 20 days, just think what we can do between now and Election 2012!