Too often I hear that the Occupy Wall Street Movement lacks a clear message. This misconception that has pervaded through the mainstream media, finally has a challenge. For those who want to get down to the crux of the movement, to the living, breathing struggle taking place at many occupy sites throughout America, a good place to start would be: “Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement” edited by Larry Flank.
When I first started reading the accounts and press releases from those who have been breathing the dirt and gravel at these sites, I felt privileged to be a part of it. When I was contacted last month to submit two of my blogs from Occupy Columbus, OH and Occupy Madison, WI, I didn’t know what to expect. The two articles that I wrote on my way to the Progressive Media conference in Madison, contained just one persons perspective of a movement of millions. Yet, when they are all put together in this oral history the voice of the 99% comes alive. Not through mainstream publications, but, the unbiased, uncorrupted cry of the rank and file of this epic undertaking.
As I delve into the narrative of real life stories from those at the heart of the occupation, I feel the message come alive. Conservatives attack this movement as being lazy, unemployed student activists, marxist and anarchist trying to destroy freedom and steal the wealth of the 1%. The Occupy Movement is not asking the government to guarantee equal results for the 99%, we want equal opportunity to have a chance to achieve those results. Occupy Wall Street attacks the banks that exploited us, the market that forgot us and the corporations that stole the We the People that Jefferson guaranteed us.
We are not lazy, many of us have jobs, yet, we take time from them to fight for those who have none, or are underemployed. We are not marxist, many of us want the competition and opportunity that a capitalist system offers, but, we want the regulations that prevent a unregulated market from steam rolling us. We want corporate personhood to end and we want to be acknowledged as We the People. The people that Thomas Jefferson wrote about in the Declaration of Independence.
We, the people of the United States in order to reclaim our union have occupied the streets and financial districts of our country. The We, exists in the pages of this narration. The next chapter of the occupation is being written every day. This history is becoming our future. Help us write the next chapter that “Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement” starts.