To sit in silence when we should protest
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest.
– Ella Wheeler Wilcox, I Protest, 1914
With so much effort being exerted by the right-wing lunatic punditocracy and commentariat, Citigroup fiancées with CNN programs, know-nothing pizza magnates and billionaire mayors to belittle and dismiss Occupy Wall Street protesters as “stereotypically aging hippies and young kids who could have just left a Phish concert,” here’s a look at who’s actually down at Liberty Plaza.
Hero, 21
The Bronx, New York
John, 61
Croton-On-Hudson, New York
Alisha, 20
Las Vegas, Nevada
Kevin, 60, and John, 57
Queens, New York
Ronnie, 24
New York, New York
Taylor, 20
Catasauqua, Pennsylvania
Ari, 29
Chicago, Illinois
Michael, 20
The Bronx, New York
Susie, 52
Brooklyn, New York
Matthew, 28
New York, New York
Natalie, 26
Seattle, Washington
Lexi, 38
New Orleans, Louisiana
Samoa, 53
Brooklyn, New York
Hamza, 29
Utica, New York
Pat, 69
Erie, Colorado
Layla, 5 months
Brooklyn, New York
All photographs ©Nima Shirazi
The ever-intrepid and affable J.A. Myerson contributed to this report.
*****
I PROTEST
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1914
To sit in silence when we should protest
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance and lust
The Inquisition yet would serve the law
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle; Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills,
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and child-bearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.
Therefore do I protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong which holds one rusted link,
Call no land free that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled, slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee;
Until the Mother bears no burden save
The precious one beneath her heart; until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the Land of Freedom.
*****
Nima Shirazi blogs at Wide Asleep in America. You can follow him on Twitter at @WideAsleepNima.
And I suppose they are all anti-Semites, at least that’s what the Israeli supporters here are telling us. Especially that Ari guy. ;)
This needs to be added to the post:
We are the 99 percent
LOL. All good democrats. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Some of my best friends are democrats. My wife is a democrat, so I can’t be called anti-democratic. I have no problem with liberals, but loathe progressives.
Guys, how do you spell astroturf? The above montage of pics does not match the lilly-white screenshots we are bombarded with daily. Free WIFI viewing, latte drinking, wine tasting, vegan eating, Obama voting, PBS viewing, documentary loving, Marx believing crowd of yuppie in a New York state of mind….
Obviously my post is very much tongue in cheek, but the 60’s radicals they are not. Opposing the Vietnam war, marching for civil rights is a cause, protesting for free tuition is a joke.
And the pic of John looks like one of the 1 percent-crowd with his pink university oxford. He might be a plant from the banks.
“call no land free that holds one fettered slave”
until that last chain is broken
none of us will be free
i’m better than you
that last chain