Today is Occupy Wall Street’s 10th Birthday — Here is My Love Letter to It
When I walked into Zuccotti Park (Occupiers know it by its original and symbolic name of Liberty Plaza) I was already approaching three-quarters of a century in age. I was also a semi-retired executive from the accounts receivables/collections industry who apparently had nothing better to do with his time.
But I knew what I wanted. I wanted to understand. What was this influx of people who had invaded this plaza just a few days earlier with signs and slogans. They had good reason for being there.
If you remember, our country was just coming out of the “The Great Recession” of 2007–2009 in which the net worth of American households and non-profits declined by more than 20 percent from a high of $69 trillion to $55 trillion.
The politicians told us it was our fault and they and the bankers began clamoring for belt-tightening and reducing public services to pay for their mistakes. Or, greed.
The first reason I love you — you changed the narrative
As you stated so well in your Declaration of the Occupation of New York:
“We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be…
