Spring Forecast – Sunny And Warm With Lots Of Occupy

Occupy Movement On The Brooklyn Bridge

I wrote and lost track of this story during the holidays, but its message is still relevant. In honor of the Occupy Movement, which will enjoy a resurgence in the Spring of 2012, I share it with you now. I hope you enjoy the brilliant YouTube video created during the OWS Bridge March in New York last Fall.

Last November I was having a conversation with a friend, who was complaining loudly about the Occupy Portland protestors’ having made him late that day. He said he thought what they were doing was a totally ineffectual way to accomplish their goals, so I got him to watch MSNBC with me. We saw “The Ed Show”, “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell.

We listened to the commentators and their guests while we watched the scene unfold in New York, interspersed with film from other cities around the country where protests continued today with more fervor than before. We saw a series of peaceful demonstrations by very large numbers of people. The crowd in NY was estimated to be close to 30,000. The protestors were determined to keep things peaceful, though there was some verbal heat. The violence and aggression came from the heavily-garbed and helmeted police, who looked like storm-troopers from a “Star Wars” movie. It was police who were pushing and shoving and macing the faces of helpless protestors. Check out the video of the march: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L_7Htvsw-g

What the strong-arm mentality doesn’t get is that every time one of those scenes is replayed, every time the police attempt to break up the demonstrations using force, to intimidate people who are trying to make their voices and their very legitimate concerns heard, even more people are angered, and more sympathizers with OWS are created. The police drove the protesters out of Zucotti Park, and they came back many thousand times’ stronger!

There is the film of the young man with the blood-drenched face in NYC, the picture of the 84-year-old lady in Seattle, viciously maced and in danger of being trampled, who was rescued by the handsome young returning vet. She said that later, as she rode her usual bus home, the other riders asked what had happened to her and she shared her story. They were all angry at the treatment she received. Perhaps when the next march sets out some of them will join the ranks.

Politicians and conservative talk show hosts have tried to characterize protestors as mobs, but when you see Labor Union officials, a NYC Council member and other neighborhood and religious leaders committing civil disobedience and being marched off in handcuffs, it’s hard to maintain that lie. Sometimes I’m so proud of my fellow humans I want to hug them all.

Just before I switched off the news that night, there was a story about a group of 200 Patriotic Millionaires who got together and told Grover Norquist that they wanted to pay more in taxes. They spoke of feeling fortunate and wanting to pay something closer to their fair share so that no new burdens would be heaped on the backs of the poor and the middle class. Surely this is a hopeful sign that the Occupy Movement is having a positive impact on our world!

One Person Can Make A Difference

This is a story I started and lost track of several months ago, but the news is still positive and I wanted to share it with you.

From a March 24^th article on Huffington Post entitled, “Plato, Missouri Sits At Center of Nation’s Population”, comes this quote: “Meanwhile, more than 9 Million Americans checked two or more race categories on their 2010 census forms, up 32 percent from 2000, a sign of burgeoning multiracial growth in an increasingly minority nation.”

I remember a conversation with my son when he was quite young. We were watching something on TV and my son made a comment. When I asked him which character he meant, he said “The White lady.” I pointed to the screen and said “Who is that?” and he replied, “That’s a Black man.” “What am I,” I asked. “You’re White,” he replied. “And Daddy?” “He’s Black,” my son said. “What are you,” I asked him, to which he replied, “I’m White.” And I thought, this is it. This is the conversation you knew you were going to have someday.

So I took a deep breath and explained to him that he was neither Black nor White but biracial, the product of two racial heritages. He took it in calmly, and we talked a little about it, and things were fine.

I remember when my son went to Montessori School when he was going on four years old, and I remember the forms that came home for me to fill out. In those days, when you came to race there was very little choice. There were Caucasian, Black, Hispanic and Asian, and that was it. I checked the first two boxes and sent the form back to school. It was returned to me with a note – Please check only one box. I declined to do so, and when I was asked to fill it out their way, I refused. “Your form is what is wrong, not my son. Change your form.”

There was a similar conversation when he went into the public school system, and again I stood my ground. I checked both boxes and if there was a box for Native American I checked that too, since my son is part Cherokee on both sides of the family.

Now it’s a different story. The choices on the 2010 Census forms included the following: White, Black, Native American or Alaskan, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Other Asian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Other Pacific Islander, or Some Other Race (print race). Something for everyone!

Did my actions have anything to do with these changes? I hope so. If you don’t like the way things are, remember what one of my heroes, Mahatma Gandhi, said: “Be the change you want to see.” One person really can make a difference.