On the day we remember a leader in civil rights and liberty
for all, I wonder why the Occupy Movement has dwindled. When Occupy began I got caught up in the
current and the rhetoric and the adrenaline; so many people, all sorts of
people, having conversations that mirrored my concerns. I’m disappointed that
the media has decided it’s over. “Why?” I asked Marc, my mom’s boyfriend. “Why
couldn’t Occupy have the same staying power as the Civil Rights Movement?”
He said, “Well, because we
had a leader for the Civil Rights Movement. We had a clearly defined message
with a clearly defined goal."
And in light of that I see how activism has changed since the early-mid 20th century. When you think about the names of
the major movements of the 20th century, you hear it – We wanted
Women’s Suffrage, we wanted Civil Rights. What do we want now? Balanced wealth? Corporate accountability? Evenly distributed taxes? It's a hard question to answer because what we want no longer falls under one umbrella. These movements of the 20th century had visionaries and a
face that could be distinguished from the rest of the crowd. There was
consensus. We had Susan B. Anthony and the National Women’s Party. We had MLK
and the NAACP. Blacks during the Civil Rights movement knew that they were
marching into police brutality, unemployment, and terrorism as a result of
their visible unrest. It was the brutality under which they suffered that
brought the Civil Rights Movement to the world arena. When they were sprayed with fire hoses and
beat with police batons, when they were being stabbed and beaten, when their
daughters were blown up in places of worship, they responded with peaceful
protest, not physical violence. What would happen today if officials did that
to a crowd of Occupiers? We would not sit peacefully and wait for the world to
see, we would vandalize and we would fight, because we have a much deeper sense
of entitlement now.
That’s why our approach to protest has changed. We defend our rights instead of acquiring new
ones. The voices of our
protest come from every race, religion, sexual orientation, employment status
and ability. Our face is every face. And instead of having a clear goal,
whether it’s a law to be passed in Congress, or an Amendment made to the
Constitution, we have instead opted to turn political theatre into a stage
where we can express the diversity of our opinions and show the world that the
injustices that we are facing today transcend the boundaries that we thought
once separated us.
Yes, Occupy has faded, but new avenues of conversation have
opened up in academia, in politics, and in economics. The truth that there is an imbalance of
wealth has found it’s way into the media; people are now trying to define the
“1%.” And in the midst of Occupy, Bank Transfer Day was born, which lead to
Bank of America changing one of its major policies around debit and checking
fees. Things seem to be changing from the bottom up instead of trickling down.
It’s got people buzzing in the age of information, and that’s the legacy of
activism today.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it
must be demanded by the oppressed.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
