Please Don't Shove Me

I stood in the cold in February 2003 and voiced my mind against an ensuing war. The NYPD pushed us into barricades, to let the horses come through, and then released us into horse manure streets. My friends and I reveled in the glory of it. 

In March of 2003 I lied down in DC for a die-in. My Dad, in town for a NRA meeting, told his friends his daughter was out protesting the war. I was there for research that weekend. Very few know that a cop yanked me from the ground seconds after a chalk line was made, I got lucky that weekend. Even luckier, since I was protesting without friends of my own in the crowd. I downed Jack and Cokes all night as I listened to the stories of "my finger was on the nuke button" from the NRA crew.

The RNC Protest of 2004 took me from Chelsea to Madison Square Gardens. It was hot that day. My halter top was too hot. Booing, and feeling the sounds of thousands, was something to not forget. 

On Saturday 25 September 2011 I went to voice my discontent that corporations rank higher than education. That individuals who made horrible choices on homes have been bailed out. That a bi-partisan government has halted my future. Traveling the masses alone--not something I recommend--encountered me with the NYPD. At no fault of my own, I stumbled and paused on the exterior of the crowd near the timing of the incoming wave of police. Perhaps it was a change of shift.  I paused . . . as my knee throbbed and I mangled it on an edge of railing . . . A cop told me I needed to keep it moving as he stepped toward me and put his hand on my shoulder to push me back. 

I have been lucky to not end up in the tombs. Eighty protestors were arrested . . . Yet, what does any of this mean?

Protestors arise for a variety of reasons.  Some are seeking a utopian world.  Some are looking for their voices to be heard.  Some, in an odd type of form, are merely tourists of the activity.  Yet, a singular point remains.  We protest for a fair and just system.  We protest from anger and confusion that banks and corporations are not being held accountable in the same way average Americans are.  General Electric paid zero in taxes in 2009 and 2010.  More so, in 2010 the company received a 3.2 billion dollar tax benefit.  Appalling.  In 2006 Americans paid an average of 25.8 percent of their incomes in taxes.  Yet, the current outpouring of discontent runs deeper and broader than taxes. 

Our schools are devoid of funds to open their doors, our public transportation systems are slowing as operational funds are depleted yet rates to ride increase, our roads are filled with potholes, and our bridges remain in disrepair.  Yet, banks do not have to resort to bake sales and reducing working days to four to stretch shrinking budgets.  A fellow protestor captured the sentiment well with his sign, “Bake sales for banks and bailouts for schools.”  We want a country, and a world, that allows us to be performing members of society.  We want a nation that honors our work, dedication, intellect, and critical thought. 

We are a conglomeration of people, coming from every demographic and subset.  Unlike The New York Times piece “Gunning for Wall Street, With Faulty Aim” (25 September 2011) leads the reader to believe, these activists are looking for more than individual remedies and concerns.  Certainly, jobs and healthcare are personal; they are also universal.  The New York Times let Americans down by showcasing a piece that attempted to downsize the protest to make is appear like youngsters and extremists out to make a public spectacle.  Instead, this collective protest without one organization taking its central core represents the layers of American society.

We are the so-called cultural elite with PhDs adjuncting at several schools to make ends meet, we are PhDs with tenure, we are construction workers, laid-off workers, unemployed teachers, writers, poets, painters, bankers, CEOs, preachers, college graduates, college drop-outs, the poor, the wealthy, those with no college ambition, and the tangible forces that make a society function.  Some hold steady jobs, some are struggling in a fledgling economy, some have led lives of wealth and privilege never knowing a work day or of going without.  In the end, we are more than the 99 percent of Americans below the wealth threshold.  We are looking for a future that honors us, respects us, holds all to the same standards and laws, and gleams of the change we have been promised. 

The media blackout of this event disturbs us as much as the economy currently does.  The Arab Spring was celebrated throughout the world; yet, when the United States began to leave their front porches and living rooms to walk the streets in contempt attempts to silence this growing contingent have arisen.  The police have grown more violent in their attempts to quarantine and rebuff us, making the larger contingent out to be radicals without a purpose.  That we are not.     

In the end, we want to be heard.  We want to be seen.  We want to show that we are not just looking for a spectacle.  We want a viable country with jobs, healthcare, housing, and a functioning financial system so that we have a nation to provide for (as it to us).  We were raised to think critically.  Our college professors and teachers taught us to question our world.  We are doing that now.