The occupation of Wall Street celebrated its one month anniversary today. Since that small and widely unpublicized group began it has grown in membership and notoriety. Now there are similar occupations going on in nearly every major city including Chicago. The occupations taking place in city parks have commonly been compared to the same tent villages of hippies that form every year for music festivals and the like. Groups of counter-culture young adults gathering in circles banging on drums, dancing, and chanting looks like a scene straight from Woodstock.
People like this man leading a chant is why the news agencies have such an easy time portraying it this way. With his long dread locks and over all unkempt appearance he looks like a walking stigma to the common american. On top of this he has a large cut and scrape along the bridge of his nose that is scabbed over as if he only just recently got in a fight.
Meanwhile protestors dance with their signs to the beat of the drum. These kind of protestors are easily written off as typical hippie protestors. They are viewed as the kind of people who will join any protest, jump on any cause, and picket at any event. On these grounds the growing movement of Occupy the US is ignored.
The true face of this movement isn’t necessarily found in these people. The new and intriguing part of this movement is its lack of face. Similarly its lack of a unifying political agenda make it a unique movement. The people gathered on the corner of Jackson and La Salle in chicago come from many different backgrounds. 
This man being interviewed by fox news will explain to anyone that asks why he’s here. He’s in the business of construction. When the market crashed due to the banks irresponsible loan and mortgage policy his job market also crashed. With so little new construction being started he says that he has only been able to work six months out of the last 3 years. While the banks that struggled during the crash, such as The Bank of America that he’s leaning against, received bail outs he received very little in the way of help. This whole experience has led him here to the Occupy Chicago movement to get his word out. Many more people like him line the street holding signs that protest trickle down economics, needless war spending, and the general outrage over concentration of wealth in 1% of the population.
The strategic placement of the protestors at the corner of Jackson and La Salle forces many of the executives that work in the surrounding buildings in the banking district to pass through the crowd of protestors. Some of them could be seen walking in the street to avoid the group all together, but some braved the crowd and walked through.
While at first glance it may appear that the bank of america worker on the left is about to enter into a serious confrontation instigated by the protestor on the right, such is not the case. Minutes before this scene a heated argument erupted between these two men. They debated and argued, the employee defending himself and his choice in job while the protestor argued against the institution that he represented. This heated argument did not end in violence though. Instead these two men clasped hands and showed the utmost respect for each other.
The movement is a broad one that invites any and all who are dissatisfied with the current concentration of wealth to join. Political affiliation or how you want to change things is irrelevant to the movement so long as you can agree that change is needed. As long as this openness continues the movement will find new members and momentum easily. Only time will tell if this unity of people from across the country will affect any kind of change.
Cheers,
James
