Photo: Stacy Lanyon
I saw the videos on the news where the protestors in New
York were getting brutalized by the police and two girls were pepper
sprayed. I was immediately filled with rage. I wanted to go up to New
York, but I was in school in Atlanta, Georgia. I had just started college.
Then, I looked online, and I found out that Occupy Atlanta was starting up. I
decided to go to a general assembly to see what was going on there. I wanted to
see how I could help. I was
really new to everything. I had never done any sort of activism besides when
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened. I cut all of my hair off and sent it to
the clean-up crew to help fill the hair booms. I ended up at the general assembly. We branched out and created different
groups like media and a group called tactical unity, which was created for
times when people would get into a dispute. A tactical unity member would come
and facilitate to make sure that people didn’t abuse each other.
The next week, we ended up at Woodruff Park, which we renamed Troy Davis Park. The amount of people had triple because of the Brooklyn Bridge arrests that had just happened. Congressman John Lewis came and wanted to speak that day, and there was a big controversy over that. He was told that he could get on stack and speak when his time came up like everyone else. This created some controversy, and half of the people left that night and didn’t come back. David Graeber told me that he talked to John Lewis, who said if some politician had shown up at a ANCC meeting when he was involved and asked to make a speech at their meeting, he would have behaved exactly the same way. That was the night that everyone else decided to camp. There were only five tents, but it grew day by day. Within three weeks, we had 86 tents, including huge tents. We started October 7th, and we were evicted on October 26th. Everyone broke out into different groups and took what they cared about the most and focused on that, whether it be Monsanto or the Federal Reserve or Occupy Our Homes.
There was a huge group of Occupy Our Homes people in Atlanta. I actually lost track of the amount of places that they have saved. They saved a historic black church, and we all saved a homeless shelter. They were supposed to shut the homeless shelter down because it’s pristine real estate in the heart of Atlanta. We have a huge homeless problem in Atlanta, and we knew there would be nowhere else for them to go, so we occupied the fourth floor of the building. That was actually our headquarters after we got evicted from the park. One day Jesse Jackson showed up there and gave us a pep talk after the eviction to help keep us focused on the problem.
We have a huge amount of people in Atlanta against Monsanto. There were over 1000 people at the global Monsanto march back in May, and I only recognized about five people from Occupy Atlanta, so I’m seeing the Atlanta activist scene grow, and we’re getting really organic. We’re getting bike shares. We have a huge Food not Bombs group. We still do a really, really free market in the park the first Sunday of every month in the park, and Food not Bombs will feed everyone.
The next week, we ended up at Woodruff Park, which we renamed Troy Davis Park. The amount of people had triple because of the Brooklyn Bridge arrests that had just happened. Congressman John Lewis came and wanted to speak that day, and there was a big controversy over that. He was told that he could get on stack and speak when his time came up like everyone else. This created some controversy, and half of the people left that night and didn’t come back. David Graeber told me that he talked to John Lewis, who said if some politician had shown up at a ANCC meeting when he was involved and asked to make a speech at their meeting, he would have behaved exactly the same way. That was the night that everyone else decided to camp. There were only five tents, but it grew day by day. Within three weeks, we had 86 tents, including huge tents. We started October 7th, and we were evicted on October 26th. Everyone broke out into different groups and took what they cared about the most and focused on that, whether it be Monsanto or the Federal Reserve or Occupy Our Homes.
There was a huge group of Occupy Our Homes people in Atlanta. I actually lost track of the amount of places that they have saved. They saved a historic black church, and we all saved a homeless shelter. They were supposed to shut the homeless shelter down because it’s pristine real estate in the heart of Atlanta. We have a huge homeless problem in Atlanta, and we knew there would be nowhere else for them to go, so we occupied the fourth floor of the building. That was actually our headquarters after we got evicted from the park. One day Jesse Jackson showed up there and gave us a pep talk after the eviction to help keep us focused on the problem.
We have a huge amount of people in Atlanta against Monsanto. There were over 1000 people at the global Monsanto march back in May, and I only recognized about five people from Occupy Atlanta, so I’m seeing the Atlanta activist scene grow, and we’re getting really organic. We’re getting bike shares. We have a huge Food not Bombs group. We still do a really, really free market in the park the first Sunday of every month in the park, and Food not Bombs will feed everyone.
I lost my home after I started occupying because my boyfriend
didn’t really understand Occupy. We ended up breaking up. I was staying in the
park until we got evicted. I stayed at the homeless shelter for a while. Then,
I had to move about 45 minutes south of Atlanta with my friends. Without a
place to stay in Atlanta anymore, I had to give up my schooling. I just started
traveling because I wanted to check out the other occupations and find out
different strategies and tactics that were working and weren’t working. I
wanted to dive head first into the movement and really try and understand it
better, so I could explain it better to people who didn’t know what it was
about.
I went to Occupy Congress in January 2012. That was amazing. In February 2012, I went to Occupy Nashville for a week. I didn’t know anyone there. I just went. Occupy Nashville was where I met the father of my child. They were right on the capital where the legislators were walking by every morning. They had a bit of a split. One side of the encampment was homeless people and what they considered freeloaders, and the other side was veterans and organizers. I got to know everyone because I wanted to know what was going on. I didn’t get to experience it much because the day I got there they were supposed to be evicted, so people were really focused on that. I went to the NATO protests in Chicago and the National Gathering in Philadelphia. After that, I went to see some people from the occupation in New Haven, CT .
I went to Occupy Congress in January 2012. That was amazing. In February 2012, I went to Occupy Nashville for a week. I didn’t know anyone there. I just went. Occupy Nashville was where I met the father of my child. They were right on the capital where the legislators were walking by every morning. They had a bit of a split. One side of the encampment was homeless people and what they considered freeloaders, and the other side was veterans and organizers. I got to know everyone because I wanted to know what was going on. I didn’t get to experience it much because the day I got there, they were supposed to be evicted, so people were really focused on that. I went to the NATO protests in Chicago and the National Gathering in Philadelphia. After that, I went to see some people from the occupation in New Haven, CT .
I got to New York for the one year anniversary. It was beautiful. I couldn’t have even imagined that it would be that big. It was really inspiring. The most amazing thing about it was that people just had so much spirit. Everyone was just so happy. Everyone was working so well together during the one year anniversary. It was just so well organized that it blew my mind. Then, there were also autonomous actions. I went on over seven marches just on September 17th alone. I went from the eco-friendly march to the debt march to a spontaneous debt action. We shut down a few intersections, but most of the intersections were actually shut down by the police before we even got there. The fact that we were all getting together to bring awareness and make change just filled me to the brim. It was just beautiful. We weren’t protesters. We're the population of the country, and we’re all tired, and we’re not going to let things continue the way they’re going.
I went to Occupy Congress in January 2012. That was amazing. In February 2012, I went to Occupy Nashville for a week. I didn’t know anyone there. I just went. Occupy Nashville was where I met the father of my child. They were right on the capital where the legislators were walking by every morning. They had a bit of a split. One side of the encampment was homeless people and what they considered freeloaders, and the other side was veterans and organizers. I got to know everyone because I wanted to know what was going on. I didn’t get to experience it much because the day I got there they were supposed to be evicted, so people were really focused on that. I went to the NATO protests in Chicago and the National Gathering in Philadelphia. After that, I went to see some people from the occupation in New Haven, CT .
I went to Occupy Congress in January 2012. That was amazing. In February 2012, I went to Occupy Nashville for a week. I didn’t know anyone there. I just went. Occupy Nashville was where I met the father of my child. They were right on the capital where the legislators were walking by every morning. They had a bit of a split. One side of the encampment was homeless people and what they considered freeloaders, and the other side was veterans and organizers. I got to know everyone because I wanted to know what was going on. I didn’t get to experience it much because the day I got there, they were supposed to be evicted, so people were really focused on that. I went to the NATO protests in Chicago and the National Gathering in Philadelphia. After that, I went to see some people from the occupation in New Haven, CT .
I got to New York for the one year anniversary. It was beautiful. I couldn’t have even imagined that it would be that big. It was really inspiring. The most amazing thing about it was that people just had so much spirit. Everyone was just so happy. Everyone was working so well together during the one year anniversary. It was just so well organized that it blew my mind. Then, there were also autonomous actions. I went on over seven marches just on September 17th alone. I went from the eco-friendly march to the debt march to a spontaneous debt action. We shut down a few intersections, but most of the intersections were actually shut down by the police before we even got there. The fact that we were all getting together to bring awareness and make change just filled me to the brim. It was just beautiful. We weren’t protesters. We're the population of the country, and we’re all tired, and we’re not going to let things continue the way they’re going.
Even before Occupy, I thought that change was really important, and it
made me really cynical to think about where everything was going before Occupy
started. A lot of people say that America isn’t doing anything, and a lot of
people who aren’t occupying say that we shouldn’t be complaining because we
have it good here compared to other places. In my eyes, I feel we are in the
belly of the beast. Wall Street is here. Monsanto is here, and we have all of these other things
that branch out into other countries. There are a lot of other countries having
their own revolutions, but they need us to work here at the heart of all of
these problems to help them, too.
There is this story I heard where people go along living in the society that they have come to know because that’s all they've ever known, like police brutality, they just expect it. So this kid sees his grandmother on Thanksgiving and asks her why she cuts the turkey in half the way she does before she cooks it, and she says, “I don’t know. That’s the way my mother and her mother did it, so that’s the way I’ve always done it. Go ask your great grandmother.” So he goes to ask his great grandmother, and she said “I don’t know why your mother or your grandmother do it, but I did it because my pan was too small.” We’ve taken all of these ways of doing things because this is how they’ve always been done, and we keep doing it even if it makes no sense at all and even if it’s completely awful for us as a collective.
Before I thought about that a lot. Now, I think about it mostly because now that I have my daughter Eeo. I really think about the next generations and about the education system. All of it just turns my stomach because like Occupy says, “All of our grievances are connected, and it all leads to Wall Street.” We need to change so many things. That’s why I think about the whole paradigm shift because we need to change our way of thinking. I didn’t want to raise a child in this world. I used to have nightmares about World War III, which I feel like we’re in now anyway. It’s just not talked about. I feel like if we don’t change anything that we’re just going to kill ourselves in a lot of ways.
There is this story I heard where people go along living in the society that they have come to know because that’s all they've ever known, like police brutality, they just expect it. So this kid sees his grandmother on Thanksgiving and asks her why she cuts the turkey in half the way she does before she cooks it, and she says, “I don’t know. That’s the way my mother and her mother did it, so that’s the way I’ve always done it. Go ask your great grandmother.” So he goes to ask his great grandmother, and she said “I don’t know why your mother or your grandmother do it, but I did it because my pan was too small.” We’ve taken all of these ways of doing things because this is how they’ve always been done, and we keep doing it even if it makes no sense at all and even if it’s completely awful for us as a collective.
Before I thought about that a lot. Now, I think about it mostly because now that I have my daughter Eeo. I really think about the next generations and about the education system. All of it just turns my stomach because like Occupy says, “All of our grievances are connected, and it all leads to Wall Street.” We need to change so many things. That’s why I think about the whole paradigm shift because we need to change our way of thinking. I didn’t want to raise a child in this world. I used to have nightmares about World War III, which I feel like we’re in now anyway. It’s just not talked about. I feel like if we don’t change anything that we’re just going to kill ourselves in a lot of ways.
I used to say that I feel like we have so much technology
and knowledge built up to this day that we could literally build a Garden of
Eden. We can fix all of the problems that we have because we are the ones
who created them. Energy companies are turning down green energy just for
profit. It’s silly. We really need to look deep into solutions that will make more
sense and help the next generations. We are doing stupid things just because we perceive them to be "successful." Nothing makes sense
anymore. After Occupy, I’m having a really hard time trying to live what people consider normal, and I feel like I’m being processed wherever I go. No one really
talks to each other. I think that we have all the tools and all of the energy
to really make everything work if we just start thinking a different way.
It’s like the butterfly affect. In Egypt, their success isn’t just going to help their country. That definitely has inspired things over here. Occupations and movements and protests popped up all over the globe. A brush fire was created, and it keeps growing and growing. I can’t imagine what all of these things going on in other countries is going to do here. When one person acknowledges that there is another person who sees all of these problems, they don’t feel alone anymore. When people realize they are not the only one who wants to make change, that completely changes you. What we’ve needed most is a sense of community, and Occupy did that. We now have connections where we can organize actions in the future. That is the most important thing. It brings a sense of hope. Now, we have a lot of it. We’ve really got a foundation started, and wherever it’s going from here is going to be amazing. Hopefully, it can surpass the destruction.
I got goosebumps just thinking of the kind of world we are capable of creating. I feel like I can’t even fathom it. There were a lot of times during Occupy gatherings, it’s almost like there was something in the air, just the fact that all of these people were together and had the same optimism and hopes and dreams that other people thought were crazy and idealist. I feel like if the world we’re trying to create is anything close to what I’ve experienced with these groups of occupiers, it’s going to be amazing. It’s ineffable. I can't explain it. Down the road, we might have different problems, but I feel like it will be better. I can’t even imagine it. I just feel that it will be beautiful and there is no way I can describe it. We only know about 10% of what’s going on in the Universe. I think if we get past all of the problems that we have caused, then I think we can begin to start learning more and get past that 10%. I think we would evolve. I think we’re holding ourselves back from an entire evolutionary process, and who knows what we could evolve into.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/
It’s like the butterfly affect. In Egypt, their success isn’t just going to help their country. That definitely has inspired things over here. Occupations and movements and protests popped up all over the globe. A brush fire was created, and it keeps growing and growing. I can’t imagine what all of these things going on in other countries is going to do here. When one person acknowledges that there is another person who sees all of these problems, they don’t feel alone anymore. When people realize they are not the only one who wants to make change, that completely changes you. What we’ve needed most is a sense of community, and Occupy did that. We now have connections where we can organize actions in the future. That is the most important thing. It brings a sense of hope. Now, we have a lot of it. We’ve really got a foundation started, and wherever it’s going from here is going to be amazing. Hopefully, it can surpass the destruction.
I got goosebumps just thinking of the kind of world we are capable of creating. I feel like I can’t even fathom it. There were a lot of times during Occupy gatherings, it’s almost like there was something in the air, just the fact that all of these people were together and had the same optimism and hopes and dreams that other people thought were crazy and idealist. I feel like if the world we’re trying to create is anything close to what I’ve experienced with these groups of occupiers, it’s going to be amazing. It’s ineffable. I can't explain it. Down the road, we might have different problems, but I feel like it will be better. I can’t even imagine it. I just feel that it will be beautiful and there is no way I can describe it. We only know about 10% of what’s going on in the Universe. I think if we get past all of the problems that we have caused, then I think we can begin to start learning more and get past that 10%. I think we would evolve. I think we’re holding ourselves back from an entire evolutionary process, and who knows what we could evolve into.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/