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Old 04-29-2012, 10:55 PM   #1
Despanan
 
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Sugar Hill
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Exclamation OWS, Racism and the Establisment Media

So, I just got the time to get around a computer and type this up. Sorry it's taken so long, but I've had a CRAZY couple of days.

Originally, this was going to be a reply to Versus in this thread, however I felt that this was a broad enough topic that it deserved it's own thread.

So, to catch up, this is the claim made by Saya:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya
[OWS is] a movement plagued with white privlege, Ron Paul wankers, neoliberals and reformers
As evidence, she site numerous complaints of r@pes, r@pe culture, as well as articles like this one as evidence that Occupy Wall Street is racist, overcome with chauvinism and white privilege, and as a movement it is focusing solely (or overwhelmingly) on the issues of white men to the exclusion of women, people of color, and other minorities.

Now, It's important to note here that largely, I am not disputing Saya's facts. What I am stating is that she has

1) a skewed perspective of the movement based largely upon exaggerations fed by a corporate media which is overwhelmingly interested in slandering Occupy Wall Street.

and

2) A fundamental misunderstanding about what Occupy is, and how it functions.

Now some of this, I got into in the other thread, but I'd like to clear things up, as well as address Versus's questions, and criticism of the Movement, and my own attitude towards it.

To begin:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Versus View Post
How has OWS addressed the concerns of non-whites? Where has that discourse come to?
In a number of ways, which are WAY too numerous to mention here in their entirety

The first and most glaring is our opposition to Stop and Frisk Which is a racist policy carried out by the City of New York, primarily against Black and Latino men (85% of stop and Frisks targeted these two racial groups, and 90% did not result in arrest or conviction of any crime whatsoever.

This is a policy which virtually no white man ever has to fear being targeted by, yet this has become a major issue for Occupy Wall Street.

Our opposition to Stop and Frisk is more than just protesting and getting thrown in jail over a policy which largely does not effect white males we also have an anti-stop and frisk workgroup which is funded by occupy money, and facilitated by a woman.

Second, Occupy has declared solidarity with indigenous peoples, Welcomed those who came to join our ranks and officially endorsed and incorporated proposals brought forth by some of the Native Peoples who met with us in solidarity.

We also took a stand against Columbus day, and with many indigenous activists who came to NYC to protest the Columbus day parade.

We have held multiple anti-racist education sessions and Teach-Ins, and been joined by former black panthers our library has carried BPP literature and we have had multiple speakers of color (or as Saya would put it "Tokens") who have taken their time to help educate us both on matters of race and activism. For instance, a little while ago we had a panel which among others featured both Cisco Torres and Laura Whitehorn both of which are former Black Panthers, and lifelong activists.

We have multiple important work and affinity groups which are facillitated by people of color, most notably the Tactical Action Committee in LA, and Occu-Evolve here in NYC and of course Occupy The Hood

Recently, I and other die-hard Occupy Wall Street protestors joined up with NYU students and Gilbert Baker in a protest against NYU's welcoming of a Chick-Fil-A in the west village, just blocks from Christopher Street and the Stonewall inn.

Now Saya would dismiss this as "Tokenism" which the movement affects in order to not lose it's liberal street cred/avoid being seen as a racist movement, but that's simply not consistent with the facts; for one thing Occupy is NOT all white men, as I have said and shown it is extremely diverse both in its membership and in the issues it addresses, and when minority groups make their voices heard, more often than not, they are heeded: <---**Anyone worried about racism and sexism in Occupy needs to read this whole article, it's long but it's VERY good, and it's worth it**
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