As the Occupy movement continues in various ways throughout the country, Occupy Oakland continues to be fraught with difficulties. Mayor Jean Quan again issued an order for the occupiers to leave as of last Friday, November 11. The night before, in the middle of rush hour, a man was shot and killed on the street by a man apparently living in the Occupy Oakland encampment. While police do not believe there was a direct connection to the occupiers, it did happen in the area. Oakland Police, identifying themselves as part of the 99%, wrote a letter to the occupiers asking them to leave the plaza peacefully and let the officers go back to protecting the citizens of Oakland rather than protecting the occupiers and the businesses surrounding the plaza. In addition, there has been trouble with power outages due to the power cords being run into the encampment and trouble with one of the water pumps in the area. It seems as if many of the homeless in the city, some of whom are mentally ill, decided to join the occupiers, as have some others who seem bent on destruction of property.
Business owners in downtown Oakland, some of whom claim to be a part of the 99%, are not amused by the movement and, in fact, have lost a tremendous amount of business in the past 30 days as a result of the movement. Some of them have had their businesses vandalized by protestors and marchers who were interested in destruction rather than having a voice. Oakland’s leaders are spending an inordinate amount of time and attention on the safety and health of the occupiers rather than being able to address the root problems of homelessness, poverty, racial divide and poor education. Citizens are hesitant to go downtown due to fears regarding safety.
One has to ask at the end of the day, what is being gained by those who are occupying Oakland? What message is being heard, if any? How is Occupy Oakland different from other Occupy experiences? If Oakland is the 5th most dangerous city in the country, what is happening with the Occupy movements in the first four most dangerous cities? The Huffington Post reported today that 3 deaths in different cities across the country are raising questions about the sustainability of the Occupy movement. Oakland protestors are not the only ones being evicted from their encampments. It appears that in most cities those who are concerned about the issues and who wanted to join in the protest against Wall Street are inevitably joined by those who are homeless and looking for shelter and free food.
Is there anything to be gained by making this an overnight movement? Would anything be lost by occupying the various places during the day and then leaving at night? It would certainly solve the issues related to health and some safety concerns. Are the protest and message somehow lost if people are not camping out overnight? I can’t help but think about the Civil Rights Movement and how much was accomplished without having to spend the night in large groups anywhere. Is there something to be learned from that movement? In the end, aren’t we trying to achieve something that will benefit ALL people and not just a few? Our church is trying to figure out how to help facilitate justice and peace in the Occupy movement. How would you do it?