Watching Occupy Wall Street

I really didn’t have time to post today, but I’m watching the Occupy Wall Street protests on-line. This is crazy. It’s hard to know what to think, let alone what to say. Three things though…

1. I grew up in a neighborhood full of NYPD families. I know these guys. Thirty years ago they could make a decent life for themselves, buy a nice house, afford to have their wives stay home, send their kids to college and retire comfortably. Now most of them are strapped to the limit with both spouses working two jobs and overtime, struggling to pay their mortgages in one of the most expensive cities in the world … but still too rich to qualify for financial aid and send their kids to college without dipping into their amazing shrinking pensions. They’re working for Mayor Bloomberg, the man who brought them the City Time scandal and the ‘Christmas Bonus’ pension steal. And the police union has spent much of the last decade locked in an insane wrangle with the city over bans on transfers out of the department and withholding of personnel records to prevent officers from leaving the force to move to departments that pay more reasonable salaries! Frankly, what younger cops on the force are putting up with is nothing short of outrageous.

2. The mainstream press has been having a grand time making fun of the protesters for being granola-fueled wing nuts, but from what I see they’re handling themselves very well for the most part. Most important, they’re talking to the cops like human beings. They need to keep doing that! Like I said, I know these guys. Maybe the higher-ups can afford to mock the ‘crazy hippies.’ But the younger guys? I’ve been watching their faces all day while the protesters are talking to them across the barricades. And I don’t think they’re very happy about this. This is not what those guys are about. This is not what they believe in. This is not what they signed up for. I really, really feel for them. But I also really hope they go home tonight and take a good long look in the mirror. Or better still, a good long look at their children.

3. The New York Times’s ridiculous ‘protest criticism’ piece had it dead wrong. And The Nation was only slightly better, frankly. Are the protesters disorganized and naive and sometimes silly? Sure they are. But they’ve put their physical safety on the line to show America something. And they’ve succeeded. What they have shown us over the last ten days is that we no longer have the right to peaceful protest.

Think about that last sentence. Really think about it. Today on Wall Street ordinary Americans are being arrested for peacefully assembling in public to air political grievances, mainly pretty reasonable ones like taxing and regulating Wall Street. Stephen Colbert’s parody of the abysmal press coverage of the protest was spot on as usual; the press is more interested in laughing at crazy hippies than discussing what they’re actually saying. But we can quibble about crappy press coverage all we want. The real issue — as obvious as mace in the face — is that there could not possibly be a clearer case of first amendment expression than what these kids are doing. They are peacefully speaking out about political issues. And in case you haven’t been watching the live streaming video … they’re getting the holy living crap kicked out of them. If you don’t think this is a problem, you might want to brush the dust off your copy of the constitution and read it.

And as for me? What am I doing? Well, I started out today wishing I could figure out some way to get down to the city and join the protest despite having an infant and a toddler to take care of. And then I saw that “Granny Brigade” out marching and felt so jealous. I thought: “If only my kids were grown up I’d be down there in a flash!” And then I thought, “Well, why aren’t I down there? This is a peaceful protest. I could go march in it with my kids. Why not? Who’s stopping me?.” But by the middle of the day I had seen so much police violence — most notably the gratuitous macing of three girls who were surrounded by cops, completely detained, and offering no resistance whatsoever — that I realized that as a responsible parent I simply could not put my kids into that situation.

And then it hit me: That is the point.

That’s what this is all about:

Intimidation.

I’m a law-abiding taxpaying citizen who would like to participate in a peaceful protest, and I can’t because I’m afraid the police will hurt my children.

That’s where our country is right now. In a place where a mother with young children can’t responsibly join a peaceful protest because peaceful protest is too dangerous for children.

That’s wrong. In fact, it’s just plain un-American.

Honestly, I don’t care what the kids occupying Wall Street stand for. I happen to agree with them. I happen to be against massive bailouts for ‘too-big-to-fail’ banks. I happen to think we need to re-pass the Glass Steagall Act (something the protesters have repeatedly demanded but that the mainstream press chooses to ignore because it’s not apparently kooky enough to be worthy of air time). I happen to think that a beat cop in the NYPD shouldn’t have to pay more taxes than General Electric or Exxon Mobil. And I definitely agree that we ought to spend more money feeding children and less money feeding Goldman Sachs and Haliburton. But you know what? Even if there were no children in America going to bed hungry tonight, and our schools were well-funded, and Wall Street wasn’t foreclosing on houses and stripping cops’ pension funds, and Elizabeth Warren hadn’t been run out of Washington on a rail … I would still have a problem with what’s happening on Wall Street today. Because the fact that hundreds of obviously peaceful protesters are being beaten up, handcuffed, arrested, and even maced on the streets of my home town? That is a problem. It’s a huge problem. For anyone who actually believes in democracy it’s a goddamm dealbreaker.

So I’m sending them money and food, and I’m donating to keep the livestreaming going so that if and when the authorities decide to evict the protesters from Zuccotti Park, the eyes of America will be on them. I wish I could do more. If I didn’t have two very tiny people depending on me to keep them safe I’d be down there right now myself. And I’m still trying to figure out how to make that happen. But in the meantime … at least I can buy them pizza and help replace damaged camera and computer equipment so they can keep the protest on the air. And if anyone else is looking to help, I’ve tweeted out the best links I’ve come up with to do that, and I’ll post them in the comments section and update as needed.

Good luck to the protesters!

And to the cops … c’mon guys. I know, I truly do, what a terrible position you are in right now. And I know that you look at these kids and see kids who’ve had stuff handed to them in life that your kids won’t get … and it makes you furious. But think about that for a minute. Think about your kids. Think about my kids. Think about everyone’s kids. Is shutting down this protest going to make America a better place for anyone except the same people who are busy right now trying to steal your pensions? And if you agree with me … well, there are already rumors going around about cops who aren’t showing up for work. Who says you can’t be one of the ones who just ‘happens’ to be sick tomorrow? There is after all, genuine violent crime out there. So seriously … how many of you can they really afford to fire for not showing up to to protect Wall Street from a bunch of college girls??

NOTE: For anyone who wants to donate, I’ve devoted the first comment below to keeping an up to date list of where to donate. So go to the comments if you can’t make it to New York but still want to help…..