Occupy Wallstreet: Where Do We Stand?

This post has been severely delayed, mainly because I am not quite sure of my feelings on it. When it comes to Occupy Wall Street, I admit to talking out of both sides of my mouth.

On one hand, I think its great. For far too long, large corporations and big banks have thrown money at politicians to have laws worked out in their favor. It appears that favor can be bought and sold, to the highest bidder of course. This leave those who don't have a couple extra million to spend out in the cold. The Occupy movement calls on government to be responsible to its citizens, not corporations.

But then again I have to wonder why these protests were nonexistent when it was mainly minorities that were suffering. After all, poverty and high unemployment (and underemployment) is nothing new to the Black community. African-Americans have been the victims of predatory lending for years. Many of us have been unable or barely able to pay for medical treatment, student loans, etc. In the all too common "laugh to keep from crying" way, dodging bill collectors has become a running joke. Yet the majority of Americans turned a blind eye to what was going on, or they felt (like many of the bankers and big businessmen feel today about Occupiers) that we were just too lazy and needed to simply get a job.

And then I have to wonder where someone like me fits in. I'm nowhere near the 1% but my story doesn't compare to many of those who proclaim to be the 99% (and there are some tearjerkers there). True, I am basically living from check to check, can't quite afford to move out of my parents' house (at least, not into the kind of place I want). I don't make as much money that it seems a Master's degree would afford me. But this doesn't surprise me. I was prepared as a child to face this because I am black and I am a woman. So even though I am frustrated with the situation, it's not as if it's something new to me due to a down-turned economy. It's just life...

So are the Occupy movements just a momentary outcry from those who were once spoiled by privilege? Will there be any benefit to those who have been the victim of corporate greed for years and not just in the past year or two? Or will they be forgotten when/if there is an upswing and the protesters are pacified with jobs? Time will tell.

Quote of the Day

Like many people, I have been following the #OccupyWallstreet and subsequent Occupy movements. While I am in support of the movement and the idea behind it, I have some conflicting thoughts about it. (More on that to come in another post. I swear.) But these protests, along with uprisings all over the world and those in Catching Fire which I am sooo into right now, give me hope. They show that many are not willing to be sheeple. They want their voices heard. They want their rights realized. They want a fair chance from those who have been elected to look out for them. Many of the people taking part in these movements have little or nothing to lose. Do you know what this means? It means the powers that be are losing their grip and their control. After all:

“You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power - he's free again.”   -Aleksander Solzhenitsyn