COMMENTARY | As I watch the news I am shocked and appalled. I was able to walk through the Occupy Oakland demonstration with no problems. There are many young people who are assembling at the Occupy Oakland event, educated young people, college young adults. There was also many older adults from all races.
The place was clean, the people were well behaved, clean (although I did see some obviously homeless people who needed a bath), there were many children there (as young as 10 and younger) with adults and most of all they were having a lecture and public assembly about issues which are important to everyone. The issues spoken about were many, but to name a few there people spoke about affordable housing, health care, jobs and more Jobs, education, keeping a good spirit and most of all obeying the law while they protested and Occupied Oakland.
Different people spoke in different ways. Some people sang songs for the crowd assembled at Oakland City Hall Plaza. Still other people simply spoke and some rapped over music. My favorite however were the many individuals, from all races, which came together and spoke on what they were demonstrating for. There are Occupy events all over the United States of America. I was amazed at the overwhelming number of people who were actually out protesting. I felt I went back in time to the 1950s and ’60s demonstrations for peaceful and positive change (which I read about in college) were happening all over again, only this time, I am a part of it.
I hear on the news that no one in the Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Atlanta, Occupy Denver, Occupy Berkley, etc., has made any demands and the national media outlets and newspapers don’t seem to have written anything about them. This is why I decided to write this article for people to read from my perspective. I am here in Oakland at ground zero and this is my story for history.
A few of my friends and I went to see what was going on with the Occupy Oakland protest because we work with youth and we have some things we know need to be done to help the youth of Oakland and every other city in America who has a middle class. When we arrived, we saw street preachers on the corner of Broadway and 14th street and as we walked toward the Oakland City Hall plaza, about 100 meters away, we saw tents of many people who had setup to stay in the Oakland City Hall plaza as peacefully as anyone could. They did not have trash around on the ground, nor did they have any defecating around the Oakland City Hall area (as far as I could see). We decided to go to the center of the plaza where they had a speaker and microphone system setup to allow everyone in the plaza to hear those who stepped up to speak. This is where we watched and listened to many people speak, sing, dance and rap (both with music and without).
It was clear to me what people were protesting for. They want their constitutional rights back, they want the Declaration of Independence to be honored once again, they want jobs to feed and house themselves, they want an education without going into so much debt they can never recover from it, they want the police, fire and hospitals to operate properly, they want rent control so they can continue to live in downtown and West Oakland, they want their children to have a fair chance to obtain the American dream.
This is not a the Arab spring, this is the American Winter and some politicians are being really cold toward those who need help the most. I watched on the news today about what happened last night in downtown Oakland and I was appalled. Oak Town is better than using tear gas on it’s population for protesting peacefully in the 21st century! There is no need to hurt people who are protesting peacefully. There are women and babies among those protesting, have a heart. WE HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE. PLEASE, WAKE UP! This is a nation based on Christianity (for the most part). My King James version Bible says at:
Matt.25
[31] When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
[32] And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
[33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
[34] Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
[35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
[36] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
[37] Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
[38] When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
[39] Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
[40] And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
[41] Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
[42] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
[43] I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
[44] Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
[45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
[46] And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.