Forum Post: Please take this message seriously.
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 9, 2011, 9:30 p.m. EST by Miguelitomama
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This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I am a 53-year-old member of the middle-class, and I have been ecstatic about this movement -- the vibrant protests, the simple message of what it means to be a member of the 99 percent.
You all have given me hope that the impoverished, the working class and the middle class might once again have hope and a future.
So it is with deep sadness that I say that I am now concerned about our future. As we remain encamped in various cities, we have had more needless problems with violence, drugs etc. The actions of a few inevitably skew public perception and tarnish us all.
I am begging you all to consider the following: Police the camps. Refrain from nasty exchanges with municipal officials. Do not scream at mayors, city councilmen etc. City governments have been decimated by the recession; they are legitimately struggling financially. Let us at least be respectful when we speak to them.
Finally, I hope that we use the winter for outreach. We must talk to teachers, to church leaders, to cab drivers. We need to talk with nurses, janitors and government workers. We need people to see us as more than a mob.
In solidarity.
That is the approach being used in Burlington, Vermont. I hope that knowledge brings you some small comfort.
Disband the parks or use them as central meeting places. Get out of the cold and occupy the foreclosures. Everyman has a divine right to a piece of earth. The banks are currently holding tons of property rather than sell it at a loss. We all know what they did. The moral justification exists for widespread occupation of property. Bank owned property. Use adverse possession laws. Push to have them strengthened. Use this property to be neighbors, community. Live the life you dream. All you have ever needed was property. Occupy the foreclosures.