Okay first diary...
Occupy Sacramento started October 6th. I'm an average middle age, middle class white guy, who occupies a cubicle 8 hours a day, and a civil servant. I'm absolutely positive that I am the 99%. I was actually a little fearful, and maybe a little scared to show up in Cesar Chavez Park on Thursday after work. This isn't New York, and I didn't think there would be many people there. I was wrong.
That night, they topped about 500 people, had our first General Assembly, after a march on the Capitol, and Capitol Plaza (a long street lined by our favorite targets - BofA, Chase, Citi, etc.) The SAC PD was generally nice, and so we were too. We formed a security committee, which met with the police (State, County, and City), and we all agreed that it was best to police ourselves and save the cops some hassle. The cops agreed. However, recently, an measure was passed by the City that allows the cops to roust the homeless that camp out. They told us that at 11pm they would first cite, and then arrest anyone in the park. Dozens volunteered to be arrested :). And they were, about 20 of them. They were released the next morning, given court dates, and told they were 'banned from the park for life'. Some of those photos are on line (I can't figure out how to put photos up here yet). When I showed up after work today, I went to some of the speakers of the GA and asked, "Really? Banned for LIFE?". They told me that the police had backtracked and told the crowd that it was 'a mistake'. They told us if we had phone numbers for any of the arrestees (some made it back anyway), we should call them. I had one, so I called him. His name is Jethro (really). I told him he could come back and that I had his backpack. He was there two hours later. These guys are heroes. Every person the SAC PD arrests, makes the numbers of people double the next day.
More beyond the Orange (insert clever name here):
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