This Land is Your Land…Or is It?

Occupy OKC was evicted from Poet's Park in downtown Oklahoma City Dec. 14. Photo: Curtis Ensler.

Occupy Oklahoma City fights to keep the commons; sues in federal court

 

 

By Lori Spencer

 

Originally published on This Can’t Be Happening! Also appears on Counterpunch and OpEdNews, among others.

 

*An abridged version of this article originally appeared on Yahoo! News

 

 

Having spent the better part of two months as an embedded reporter with Occupy OKC’s camp in Kerr Park (aka Poet’s Park) I have often praised both the city and police department. Oklahoma City’s occupation has so far managed to avoid the mass arrests and police brutality seen in other cities around the nation. In my opinion, this is largely due to the group’s respect for the park and city ordinances, as well as the city’s respect for the First Amendment. I frequently pointed to OKC as a model city, setting an example for how a local government and occupiers can peacefully coexist.

So imagine my surprise upon learning that the City of Oklahoma City recently refused to accept the group’s $55/day permit fee. Assistant City Manager M.T. Berry told Occupy OKC that not only were they being evicted from Poet’s Park, all city parks would be closed to them. Protesters were further informed that anyone remaining in Poet’s Park after curfew would face citation or arrest, effective immediately.

The word was blasted out in urgent text messages, Facebook posts and Twitters: “EVICTION IMMINENT! Please come to Poet’s Park NOW!”

6:40 p.m. – an emergency General Assembly is called to decide whether to leave the park voluntarily or standoff with police. Occupier Jay Vehige speaks first:

“Mic check!

(Crowd) Mic check!

Mic check!

Jay: I’ve been arrested twice already and I’ll do it again if I know people are with me. I’m not afraid!

(Crowd) Not afraid!

Jay: Clearly (crowd repeats) They’ve lied to us before. I bet the police officers are suiting up for battle right now. So let’s be real. The time has come for us to make our stand. Will we cower? In the corner? Or will we stand against tyranny? We will not allow them to continue to infringe upon our rights. We will stand in solidarity with our brothers and our sisters until our grievances have been redressed by our government!”

The GA’s decision is unanimous to stay. Former U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary Jaymie Johnson stood up and announced, “I’ve signed up to get arrested. I’ve already called my fiancee’ and told her what to expect. I contacted Capt. Byrne (of OCPD) myself and asked him if we’d be evicted from the park and he said no, we wouldn’t be. He lied to me. So now I can’t trust the city, I can’t trust the police department. Right here, right now, we’re taking a stand. All of these people out here are the 99% and so are you. And whatever happens, if I get arrested, I will smile when they take my picture.”

Britney Shantel-Guest begins passing around a sign-up sheet for those who are willing to be arrested. Each volunteer is to fill in their full name, phone number, and emergency contact information. Those assembled are assured that anyone arrested will be bailed out of jail.

As the 11 p.m. eviction deadline approaches, a crowd of about 100 people have gathered to defend the park. Marching and chanting helps stave off the 38-degree cold and a biting north wind.

“Whose park?”

“Our park!”

“Whose streets?”

“Our streets!”

“Whose city?”

“Our city!”

“Whose state?”

“Our state!”

“Whose country?”

“Our country!”

As police encircle the park, occupiers sing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The words of Oklahoma’s best-known songwriter seem to have the desired effect on police: they leave quietly.

Occupiers Jay Vehige (carrying flag) and Army veteran Jaymie Johnson rally to keep the park. Nov. 28, 2011. Photo courtesy Garett Fisbeck, The Vista.

OCCUPYING THE COURTS

The following day, U.S. District Judge Timothy DeGiusti granted Occupy OKC’s emergency motion to obtain a Temporary Restraining Order. This would prevent Oklahoma City police from from evicting or making any arrests after curfew in the meantime. A hearing was set for the following Wednesday, December 7, on Occupy OKC’s motion for preliminary injunction against the city. The judge also required protesters to post a $550 bond within five days.

The 43-page petition filed in federal court by Occupy OKC addressed point-by-point each reason the city was using to justify an eviction. As in most other cities giving protesters the boot, city officials claimed potential health and safety concerns were the reason for revocation of the group’s permit.. Occupy OKC countered that participants keep the park as clean as possible, but alleged that the city “has been dilatory about picking up trash at the park,” and that “the Defendant City refuses to provide running water to assist in clean up of the park.”

The group also argued that the city’s burdensome permit fees were bankrupting the organization. From the first day of occupation on October 10 until November 27 – the date the city refused to accept any more permit renewal fees – Occupy OKC paid the City of Oklahoma City a total of $2,680. Says the complaint:

“Permit fees charged by the City, and the fees incurred for maintaining portable toilets on-site and service which is an express condition of the permit required by Defendants, have comprised over 90% of the expenses incurred by Occupy OKC. These fees are having the practical effect of starving

Occupy OKC and its political message by attrition of funds.”

In the week leading up to Occupy OKC’s court date, the city released information to the media designed to make Occupy OKC look like a burden to the taxpayers. The city claimed that it has spent in excess of $58,000 “protecting” the occupiers, including overtime pay for police officers. Wondering how the city could possibly blow through more money in two months than most Americans make in a year, Occupy OKC challenged the city to provide an itemized detail of expenses.

“Plaintiffs dispute this assertion and would contend that Police conducted unnecessary surveillance of the park, even though two police stations are located within six blocks of Kerr Park and the response time from these stations to Kerr Park would be less than one minute. There is no reason that officers regularly assigned to patrol the downtown area could not have handled any and all calls relating to any activity at Kerr Park, and Occupy OKC did not request or require any extraordinary police presence or protection.”

Late in the afternoon, the city notified Occupy OKC that the planned police eviction set for that night was being postponed. Both sides agreed to wait until a federal judge could hear the case and nervously anticipated what would happen next.

After an exhausting day-long trial on Dec. 7 and an excruciatingly long weekend waiting for the federal judge to decide their fate, a ruling was issued on Dec. 12. The news wasn’t good. Judge DeGiusti’s denial order reads in part:

“The court concludes that plaintiffs have not satisfied their burden to show that the circumstances of the case warrant extraordinary relief and that a preliminary injunction should issue to prevent the city from proceeding to enforce its laws regulating the use of Kerr Park.”

Unlike numerous other cities across the country that openly defied overnight camping ordinances, Occupy OKC perhaps wisely decided to avoid the pepper spray and complied with the court’s ruling. On the night of Dec. 14, the occupiers assembled one last time to break down the tents and say their goodbyes to Poet’s Park.

The first Occupy OKC General Assembly meeting at Kerr Park, Oct. 7, 2011. Photo courtesy Curtis Ensler.

 POET’S PARK SITS EMPTY AND DARK

It was an emotional farewell. This was the place where more than 300 former strangers sweated out the first General Assembly in oppressive 112-degree heat. This was where we’d shared many meals together, debated politics, hatched ideas, shared life stories, laughed and quarreled. Here we marched in both the stifling heat and the freezing cold; camped in the pouring rain, experienced a 5.6 earthquake, and frantically battened down the hatches when the first winter storm came barreling in.

This is where we’d met an 18 year-old homeless man named Louis Rodriguez (aka “Street Poet”), who quickly became a beloved part of the camp family. When Street Poet was found dead in his tent here on Halloween, he became the first casualty of the occupy movement nationwide. His sudden death also had a profound impact on all of us personally. Occupy OKC even managed to track down his estranged family members and flew them in for Louis’ memorial service at this park, now unofficially re-named in his honor.

Everywhere you look around this park, there are memories. Strange how you can become so emotionally attached to a place in such a short period of time. Occupy OKC only resided here for two months, but for those who spent long hours working at the park daily or slept here night after night, it was home.

Only one tent was left behind as a symbolic reminder that the occupiers were once here. The park was otherwise left spic-and-span, with all trash disposed of and all evidence of our occupation erased. A couple of occupiers (who shall not be named for obvious reasons) climbed a tree and hung our battered old American flag from one of the high branches. The hope was that Old Glory would continue to fly long after we were gone. Unfortunately city crews tore down the flag the next day; an irony that wasn’t lost on us.

On Christmas Eve, Poet’s Park sat empty and dark. This once-bustling public square in the heart of downtown should have been glistening with colorful Christmas lights. If the occupiers were still here, there would be hot food cooking, music playing and conversations brewing. There would also be a safe and warm tent city for 20-30 homeless members of the 99% to sleep.

The true spirit of Christmas eluded Oklahoma City officials and a federal judge this holiday season. Here in the buckle of the Bible Belt, “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

Unidentified occupier hangs Old Glory high in a tree on the final night of the occupation. Dec. 14, 2011. Photo courtesy Bronwyn Agnew.

LORI SPENCER is a veteran journalist and musician from Austin, Texas. The newest member of the ThisCantBeHappening! collective, she has visited eight occupy camps throughout the American heartland since early October. Currently she’s an embedded reporter with the Occupy Oklahoma City camp (while managing to squeeze in some holiday time with her family). Look for more of Lori’s traveling occupy journals on TCBH! in the months ahead. Keep up with her journey on Facebook and Twitter.

Occupier Jacob Vogt stands in a deserted Poet's Park on Christmas Eve, 2011. Photo by Eryn Nichole Short.

What the GOP Can Learn from Its Own Mistakes

By Lori Spencer

Yahoo! News

Ron Paul is now the new Republican presidential frontrunner.

 

With the Iowa caucus now less than two weeks away, the formerly wide field of Republican presidential candidates is narrowing further. Early frontrunners, such as Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain, have all taken a nosedive in recent public opinion polls. As is usually the case with politicians, the candidates’ own boneheaded blunders caused their fall from grace.

What lessons can the GOP learn from these “don’t-ever-do-that-again” mistakes?

 

 

Story continues at: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-learn-own-mistakes-003700574.html

Occupying a Jail Cell: 13 Hours in the Hole

By Lori Spencer

(This article originally appeared onThis Can’t Be Happening!)

 

This is Part II of a series of reports from our traveling correspondent in the American heartland. Part I covers the arrest of 10 Occupy OKC protesters as they “mic checked” a local Walmart on Black Friday. Part II takes them through 13 hours in an Oklahoma jail. Part III will culminate in the occupiers’ final standoff against police as they face a forceful eviction from Poet’s Park.

All Chris Thomas remembers of his arrest was that “several officers ran past me and tackled Jay (Vehige) first. I was grabbed from behind. I informed the officer that I had a compound fracture and had five surgeries on my elbow. I asked the officer to be careful because my arm does not extend fully. He said, `we will fix that!’ – as he forced my arm behind me and cuffed me.

“They left me in the cuffs for over an hour,” said Thomas. “I meditated while I was in cuffs and tried to ignore the pain. The officer that finally un-cuffed me commented that my had was twisted into a weird position. My hands were numb. My arm was forced into a position that my arm can not normally go in.” When I interviewed Thomas nearly 36 hours after the incident, he was still in a great deal of physical pain.

Del City police deny that excessive force was used in handling the occupy protesters. Police Lt. Steve Robinson said that only one of the protesters – Jay Vehige – was “combative.” Vehige and his fellow demonstrators say this allegation is untrue. Video of Vehige’s arrest shows that he was complying with all of the officer’s orders. He is lying face-down on the floor and does not appear to be physically resisting. Regardless, Vehige was also charged with resisting arrest.

Other Occupy OKC members arrested that night were Thomas, Agnew, Destiny Smith, 22, David “Cody” Grandstaff, 21, Sean Lovell, 25, Mark Faulk, 55, and siblings Helen Lavictoire, 27, Cassandra Lavictorie, 27, and Griffin Lavictorie, 19. All were charged with disorderly conduct.

“It’s a pretty vague charge,” according to Brittany Novotny, an attorney representing the Occupy OKC protesters. She told KOCO-TV, “I don’t think these folks are guilty of disorderly conduct. They were asked to leave by store personnel. They tried to do so and, at that point, a couple of them were tackled and arrested.”

“We weren’t being hostile at all,” Agnew insists. “We just wanted to raise awareness.”

Bronwyn Agnew and Sean Lovell (courtesy Bronwyn Agnew Facebook)

 

Once booked at the Del City jail, Faulk and Thomas paid their own bond and gratefully avoided occupying a jail cell. The three siblings were bailed out by their parents. That left the other five – all financially-strapped young people under age 25 – stuck in jail because they were unable to afford a bail bondsman’s fees. “I think this highlights how the system preys on the poor,” Thomas says. “Justice and freedom are only available to those who have the cash.”

“When we got to the station we were almost immediately separated by gender,” says Bronwyn Agnew. “They processed me and the other three women in a courtroom. After that, the five of us that didn’t bond out were separated into two-person cells. Destiny and I were in one, Jay and Sean in one, and Cody was with a man that was already in the jail when we got there. The officers that processed us were nice enough, but once we were in the cells, the way they treated us was reprehensible.

“I was finally allowed to make a phone call on Friday morning,” she remembers. She called her parents to get the phone number of one of the other occupiers who had bailed out earlier. “We needed to contact him to ask if he and the others could help get us out. Once I got his number I asked if I could make another call and at first was told no. Then the officer said, `Oh, is it that Mark guy?’ And when I said yes, his response was, `Well, if it’ll get your ass out of my jail, okay.’

“A couple of hours later they served us lunch – mystery meat, potato paste, re-hydrated corn, and applesauce sweetened with aspartame – and we still hadn’t heard anything. Sean asked if he could use the phone and the officer said, `sure, right after lunch. Two hours passed and nobody came to check on us or let us make a phone call.” Agnew says she caught up on her sleep while waiting what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, exasperation became the mother of invention. Bronwyn cried out from her cell, loud enough for all her fellow protesters (and the jail guards) to hear:

“Mic check!”

“Mic check!” the others repeated.

“Attention, Del City Police Department: We would like to use the phone. It is imperative that we contact our lawyer and bondsman before five o’clock p.m..If you do not wish to host us over the weekend, and be treated to many more mic checks, chants, and songs, we urge you to let us use the phone now!”

It was clever. It was courageous. It was cool. And it didn’t work.

“We got no response,” she says. “Although we heard officers laughing at us and saying, `yeah, that’s our Occupy Walmart crew.’ Finally we decided to hold our blankets over the doors of our cells, so that the cameras couldn’t see into the cells and officers would have to check on us. When they came in we immediately asked to use the phone. They said, `use the phone in your cell,’ took Jay’s blanket away from him, and left. The phones in the cells didn’t work. When we said, “We tried, but they don’t work,” we were ignored.”

Jay Vehige remembers getting his cell phone returned to him for a short time. “I immediately called Channel 9 news and let them know what was going on.” He said. “As soon as the police overheard me talking to the media, they came in and took my phone away.”

“Taking my blanket away was another thing I believe they did intentionally to dish out extra punishment,” Jay says. “Bear in mind it was about 30 degrees outside and the jail felt even colder. I don’t think they had any heat in there at all. So the blankets they gave us were our only hope of staying somewhat warm. It was bone-chilling cold in there. The lights were on bright the whole time, shining in your eyes, a classic sleep deprivation technique. The wall next to the toilet was smeared with feces. I mean, it was like a concentration camp or something.”

At that moment, Jay couldn’t take it anymore. All the stress of the past two months hit him like a mack truck. The constant financial struggles, the marches, the rallies; sleeping in a tent, yelling until his voice was completely shot, and now this – his second time in jail this month for civil disobedience. Jay flashed back to Tulsa on November 3^rd. He remembered that two of those same occupiers were in the jail again with him today. Jay broke down in tears.

“When the others heard me crying, it was a very somber moment.” He says softly. These other four people were some of his closest friends. They had already been to hell and back together. Now they all sat miserable, watching time tick away ever so slowly, wondering when they were ever going to get out of this place. Jay might have even felt somewhat responsible for their predicament. Then again, nobody ever expected to actually get arrested for chanting “buy local” in a crowded Walmart.

Everyone in this photo was arrested at Occupy Tulsa on Nov. 3, 2011. Five Occupy OKC protesters went to the pokey that night: Ventura Esquivel, 24, Brittney Guest, 31, Destiny Smith, 21, Sean Lovell, 25, Jacob Miramontes, 19, Nick Saltzman, 18, and Jay Vehige, 21. (Photo courtesy Occupy OKC Official Facebook page.)

 

Later that same evening, Jay complained to me that his wrists still hurt. “I’ve got circular bruising from where they had those cuffs as tight as they could go. I have a mark on my face, on my cheek, that you can see in the TV interview I did at the jail. And one side of my face is still swollen from when they slammed me to the ground.”

All day long Occupy OKC organizers were frantically trying to round up help for their jailed comrades. Prior to the Del City arrests, Occupy OKC was already struggling with funding. Donations had dropped off in recent weeks, often rendering them unable to pay for porta-potty rentals and the city’s $55/day permit fee for use of Kerr Park. Beth Isbell, the group’s Media/PR coordinator, even ponied up her own rent money last week to pay the group’s bills. She may soon find herself occupying a tent by default.

With the organization in such desperate financial circumstances, there was no legal fund available to post bond for the 10 arrested occupiers. At $526 per person (plus a $45 “jail fee” – that’s the part where you pay them to treat you like dirt), the total bail added up to more than $5,000 – money the Occupy OKC group simply didn’t have.

As a result, five of the ten arrested protesters sat in jail for nearly 13 hours while occupy organizers scrambled to get them out. When sufficient funds were raised for only one person’s bail, all arrestees refused to accept the offer. As a show of solidarity, the remaining occupiers had agreed that none would not leave the jail without their other brothers and sisters. The last five were finally bailed out around 3:30 p.m. the following day. (See video of their release here.)

Destiny Smith was the last to get sprung. “Thank you guys for saving us!” She exclaimed, smiling.

Destiny Smith's mug shot. (Del City Police Department)

 

The “Occupy OKC 10” will appear in court at 4 p.m. on February 6^th, 2012 and say they plan to fight the charges against them. They maintain that the arrests were unlawful and that police used excessive force. They are also strongly considering filing a civil rights lawsuit against the City of Del City.

In the meantime, Anonymous (or some anonymous person pretending to be Anonymous, anyway) has created a viral video campaign urging supporters to phone bomb the Del City Walmart store and request that the charges against the “Occupy OKC 10” be dropped. The phone number to call is (405) 670-1007.

 

LORI SPENCER is a veteran journalist and musician from Austin, Texas. The newest member of the ThisCantBeHappening! collective, she has visited six occupy camps throughout the American heartland since early October. In recent weeks she’s been an embedded reporter with the Occupy Oklahoma City camp (while managing to squeeze in some holiday time with her family). Look for more of Lori’s traveling occupy journals on TCBH! in the months ahead. Also check her Facebook and Twitter feeds for breaking news updates from the road.

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Arrested for Supporting Local Businesses: Occupying Black Friday at Walmart

Occupying a Walmart landed 10 protesters in jail

By Lori Spencer

 

(This article originally appeared on This Can’t Be Happening. It was also published on Truthout and Counterpunch.)

 

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – In the early morning hours of Black Friday, 10 members of Occupy OKC were arrested while taking part in a nationwide Occupy Walmart protest. But that’s not the real headline here. The bigger story is that chanting “buy local” in a crowded Walmart is now an arrestable offense in the United States of America. 

It all started with a group of about 20-25 Occupy OKC demonstrators doing “mic checks” at several mega retailers around the Oklahoma City area open on Thanksgiving night. “We hit Best Buy, Toys `R’ Us, a Target store, and two other Walmarts between 10pm and midnight,” said Nick Saltzman, 19, one of the local occupiers who managed to avoid arrest. “It was going so well.”

That is, until the group left Oklahoma City limits and ventured into nearby Del City (recently voted “OKC’s Worst Suburb” by 41% of Lost Ogle readers.) Unlike the Oklahoma City police department, the off-duty officers working security at the Del City Walmart on Tinker Diagonal were not in a tolerant mood. Maybe they were already unhappy about having to work an extra shift on a holiday when they could have been home with their families. Like so many underemployed Americans today, they too are struggling to make ends meet. These guys wouldn’t be working the graveyard shift on Thanksgiving night if they didn’t need the extra dough.

Nonetheless, it is clear that these police officers are on the payroll of the 1%. That is who they were being paid to protect. Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman told the Daily Oklahoman the off-duty officers were hired to provide extra security. “We have taken a lot of steps in our stores to maintain a safe shopping environment,” he said. “As part of these plans, our store worked with police to have officers at the store during the (Black Friday) event.”

All of the earlier protests within Oklahoma City limits had gone off without a hitch. In every other case, the group walked in, mic checked the assembled shoppers and employees, spoke their piece, and walked out unmolested. But they did notice something interesting as the night went along: with each new store they visited, there was an increased police presence.

“It’s like someone tipped them in advance that we were coming,” said Bronwyn Agnew, 23, one of the arrested protesters. “There were at least eight officers that originally arrested us, and I don’t see how they could have responded that quickly if they had not been there waiting for us.”

Saltzman concurs. “There were security guards at the second and third Walmarts we mic checked that were also at the first Walmart. I mean, did they follow us around? Were they tapping our phones and listening to us?”

33 year-old Chris Thomas was there to film the protest for a documentary. Although he was not actively participating, passing out fliers, or chanting, Thomas was also arrested. “I was later told by an officer in the jail that they knew we had been doing this at Walmarts all over OKC and Norman that night. He said they were on alert and waiting for us. Also the officer told me that all Walmarts in the area had been notified of the earlier mic checks.”

By the time they reached the fifth big box store of the night, the trap had been set. Virtually unaware that they were walking into an ambush, the 20 some-odd merry occupiers marched into the Del City Walmart Superstore.

“I could tell immediately there was something different this time,” Thomas recalled. “There was a larger presence of law enforcement and not as many customers.”

For a brief moment, the occupiers wondered whether or not to abort the mission, then decided to go ahead with what they had come there to do. They headed for the busiest department – electronics.

Occupy OKC's Jay Vehige (aka Jay Fox)

ATTENTION, WALMART SHOPPERS

As happy consumers eagerly loaded their shopping carts with $200 laptops and 51-inch Plasma HDTV’s, 21 year-old occupier (and former Walmart employee) Jay Vehige stepped forward, cleared his throat, and let `er rip:

Mic Check!
Mic Check!
Mic Check!

Attention Walmart employees
It is a shame and an outrage
That you are forced to work today
When you should be
With your friends and families

It is a shame and an outrage
Walmart makes huge profits
From your labor
But only pays you pennies

It is a shame and an outrage
While you slave away
At below poverty-level wages
Walmart’s CEO Mike Duke
Makes 19 million a year

It is a shame and an outrage
You may earn $8.75 an hour
While CEO Mike Duke
Makes $16,000 thousand dollars an hour

It is a shame and an outrage
That you struggle to survive
And feed your families
While Walmart’s Profits
Are over $10 billion dollars a year

Walmart is unjust
Stop what you are doing
Leave your carts behind
And join us!
Buy local!

“We finished the mic check without incident, and then were asked to leave,” Agnew stated. “We complied immediately and began making our way toward the exit. Some were chanting, `Buy local’.”

Just after 2 a.m., Walmart security guards called for law enforcement assistance, claiming the occupy protesters were causing a disturbance in the back of the store.

Video of the incident shows Walmart employees asking the protesters to leave. As the group marched towards the front of the store chanting, a group of store security guards, police officers, and a sheriff’s deputy are seen running towards Jay Vehige before pouncing and tackling him to the floor, slamming his head into a retail display crate.

Bronwyn Agnew recalls, “We heard the cops yelling, `Get on the ground!’ And I saw one put a taser against Sean’s back and say, `Get down now if you don’t wanna get tazed.’”

According to Chris Thomas, “they tackled a few people and cuffed them. I think the others stopped and dropped to the ground when they were told to after witnessing several people being tackled. Some cops had their tazers out and shouted at us, `drop to your knees or you will be tazed.’ This was after several people had already been tackled and cuffed. Then I heard one of the officers yell, `grab the cameraman!’”

At first Thomas wasn’t sure if the officers were referring to himself or another cameraman. Then he saw his filming partner about 40 feet up the aisle, trying to slip out of the store unnoticed. Just then, Bronwyn Agnew turned on her camera phone and captured video of police officers running after the cameraman, tackling him from behind, pushing him down on the floor and handcuffing him.

The officers then turned their attention to Agnew, the only person still shooting video. “I didn’t realize any officers were near me until they reached from behind me and grabbed my phone,” Agnew said. She believes the reason she was targeted for arrest is because she was openly recording the officers.

According to Agnew, “As the officer was taking me out of the store, Jay was still shouting things like `support local business,’ and the cop said to him, `See? That’s why you’re getting arrested.’

Jay doing what he does best: pissing off the establishment

GAY JAY

Jay Vehige, aka “Jay Fox,” or “Gay Jay,” as he’s affectionately known by the group, is one of the most politically active and at the same time most controversial members of Occupy OKC. As an openly gay man, Vehige has been known to shock conventional Oklahoma sensibilities before – and he enjoys doing it. Jay’s brutal honesty about his lifestyle and his do-or-die brand of radical activism also earned him more than a few foes. But while others may sit around and talk about acts of civil disobedience, Jay is out doing them. He’s gone to jail twice over the past month for taking part in Occupy protests.

The previous arrest was back on on Nov. 3^rd. Jay and 15 other members of Occupy OKC had traveled to stand in solidarity with Occupy Tulsa after the notorious pepper spray incident. When police returned the next night to clear an even-bigger crowd from Centennial Park, five Occupy OKC protesters offered themselves up as sacrificial lambs for arrest, including a pregnant woman. (Two others arrested that night – Jay’s close friends Destiny Smith and Sean Lovell – proudly bore the cuffs again on Black Friday.)

On that blustery, cold night in Tulsa, Jay’s performance was fearless. Leading chants of “show me what a police state looks like!,” hoisting the American flag, and doing a little dance while being arrested, he looked like young David Bowie in a hoodie and skinny jeans. He struck such a memorable pose that the Tulsa World newspaper put him on the front page. Jay’s the kind of guy you notice. Unfortunately for Jay, Oklahoma cops really notice him, too.

When I asked him if he felt that the Del City police treated him differently, intentionally targeted him, or were rougher on him because he’s gay, Jay bluntly replied, “oh yes, absolutely.”

Bronwyn Agnew was standing right next to Jay and saw him being manhandled by police. “Jay told this cop he was going to call the ACLU, and the cop just slammed him down onto the back side of the car. The officer said, `Okay, I’m gonna take Loudmouth over here,’ then they separated him from the rest of us. Jay still has a bruise on the right side of his face.”

“When I threatened to call our contact at the ACLU, the cops grabbed my phone away from me,” Jay says. “And the cop (Officer Miller of the Del City Police Department) slams my face down onto the car and tells me, `you’re stupid. You never should have tried a thing like this.’ His tone was very demeaning and aggressive. He just kept instructing me to shut up, shut up, shut up.

“As Officer Miller was pushing me into the squad car, he threatened, “you’re gonna go down, boy. I’m gonna get you charged with assault and battery of an officer. He claimed that I had pushed him, which is a lie. An outright lie.”

Occupy OKC attorney, Brittany Novotny (also the state’s first openly transgender political candidate; Novotny challenged Republican Sally Kern for the House District 84 seat last year) is planning to subpoena the store’s surveillance camera footage to prove just who pushed whom.

Officer Miller’s threat to charge Jay with assault and battery of an officer turned out to be an idle one. However, Jay was the only member of the group to be charged with resisting arrest. The other nine arrested protesters were charged with disorderly conduct.

Jay stands up to Tulsa police on a bitterly cold Oklahoma night, Nov. 3, 2011.

Part II of this report, “Occupying a Jail Cell,” describes the OKC occupiers’ experience in the not-so-friendly Del City, Oklahoma jail. Look for it on This Cant Be Happening December 1^st.

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Lori Spencer is a veteran journalist and musician from Austin, Texas. She has visited six occupy camps throughout the American heartland since early October. In recent weeks she’s been an embedded reporter with the Occupy Oklahoma City camp (while managing to squeeze in some holiday time with her family.) Look for more of Lori’s traveling occupy journals on TCBH in the months ahead.

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Occupying America: Sowing the Seeds of a Second American Revolution

OCCUPYING AMERICA:

Sowing the Seeds of a Second American Revolution

By Lori Spencer

Originally published on ThisCantBeHappening.net

#1 user-rated story on OpEdNews.com for week of Oct. 21, 2011 and redistributed on more than 78,000 websites

Sign posted inside an Occupy OKC protester's tent, Oklahoma City. (Photo: Lori Spencer)

“There are combustibles in every state which a spark might set fire to.”

– George Washington’s letter to General Henry Knox offering his view of Shay’s Rebellion, 1786

One month ago, a group of some 1000 demonstrators gathered in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park to protest the pillaging of the nation’s economy by powerful corporations and international houses of high finance. While these young activists were entirely peaceful, they also made it clear that this would be no hippie-dippy flower-twirling love-in, sit-in, teach-in, or even a camp-in; this was an occupation. The demonstrators announced that they intended to Occupy Wall Street 24/7, staying until hell freezes over if need be.

The New York City police welcomed them warmly with pepper spray and more than a few violent smack-downs, even going so far as to arrest some 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge who were lured into a position where they could be charged with blocking traffic.

After video of these outrages went viral on the Internet, a wave of righteous indignation swept the land. Hastily-formed Occupy groups proclaiming themselves in solidarity with the NYC protesters began to spring up in big cities and small towns across America. At first it was just a handful: 20-30 groups in the first week, growing to a few hundred in the second week, then rapidly mushrooming to today’s current total of 1,947 cities around the globe.

The most common critique leveled against the Occupy demonstrators is that they don’t seem to have a plan. “Disorganized,” “unfocused,” and “aimless” are buzzwords the movement’s detractors — both liberal and right-wing – like to toss around. Last week former President Bush’s key political adviser Karl Rove cynically opined in the Wall Street Journal that Democrats should distance themselves from the Occupy Wall Street movement to avoid alienating potential voters in 2012.

And it’s true that even those Americans who are in fact part of the 99% and generally support OWS’s principles are themselves unclear as to what the protesters ultimately want and how exactly they are going to accomplish it. What are their demands? How long are they going to keep this up? Have they proposed any concrete solutions? But that’s an awful lot of pressure to put upon a spontaneous social movement that is only little over a month old.

Certainly these are valid questions. In defense of the revolutionaries, though, remember that the last time we had a revolution in this country , it took 20 years to start it, eight years to fight it, and still another six years to fully secure and implement a new government. If the Occupy movement is indeed the genesis of a Second American Revolution, we should not expect its progenitors to simply cough up a prefabricated quick fix. After all, if our elected representatives couldn’t seem to figure out how to correct the country’s multitude of problems over a few decades, is it reasonable to expect a loosely-organized band of citizen activists to offer the solutions within just a few months? We may be sowing the seeds of a revolution now, but let’s not forget that it usually takes many years to reap the harvest.

History shows that revolutions do not occur overnight. Reasonable humans always prefer to work out their differences through lawful avenues and communication whenever possible. It is only after many years of futile petitioning that the oppressed are left with no other choice but to revolt. Some 236 years ago, the American colonists signed a Declaration of Independence – prepared to back it up through force of arms if necessary – but that unforgiving line in the sand was only drawn after 22 years of peaceful attempts to negotiate with Britain had failed.

The seeds of the American Revolution were planted not in 1776, but in 1754 during the French and Indian War. Colonists became further disenchanted when taxes were levied upon them to pay the costs of that war. A number of other encroachments added fuel to the fire: restrictions on settlement of the West, increased duties on imported goods, the Stamp Act, the banning of colonial currency, outlawing town meetings, quartering British troops among the citizenry, and closing Boston Harbor, just to name a few. Discontent festered for nearly 20 years whilst the Loyalists and Patriots argued amongst themselves as to whether or not they dared to overthrow British rule.

When the first armed conflict of the Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, only one-third of colonists supported the cause. The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, but it took another year for all the delegates to actually sign their John Hancocks, quite literally putting their lives on the line for what they believed in. Although the final battle was fought in 1782, the state of war did not formally end until the Treaties of Paris and Versailles were ratified in 1784. The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 but was not ratified until 1789. This delay was the result of ongoing debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists over just how much power the new national government should have. Debates were so heated in fact that they frequently turned into armed skirmishes, standoffs, and deadly showdowns with authorities. One resonant example was Shay’s Rebellion, a populist uprising of debt-ridden New England farmers who had served their country in  the war, only to come home and have their lands foreclosed upon. (A scenario all too familiar for today’s veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the returned veterans of practically every war in the 20th century).

One citizen's petition for a redress of grievances. Placard from the Occupy OKC demonstration in Oklahoma City, October 16, 2011. (Photo: Lori Spencer)

“You say you want a revolution…well, you know…we’d all love to see the plan.”

– The Beatles, “Revolution”

Revolutions are a process of trial and error, of discarding what doesn’t work and eventually figuring out what does. Of course you can always count on revolutionaries to make some massive screw-ups along the way (such as George Washington’s bright idea to exclude blacks from the Continental Army, thus driving more than 20,000 African Americans to pick up guns for the British and turn them against their countrymen, for example). In truth, the original 13 American colonies were rarely in agreement on anything. While everyone could agree that the country was out of joint, reaching consensus on what to do about it proved far more difficult.

Even when all 13 colonies finally signed on the dotted line in 1776, they still didn’t have a plan for a new system of government to replace the old. And while the Declaration may have been a poetic statement of collective principles and grievances, it offered nothing in terms of solutions.

The Continental Army was a ragtag, disorganized, unruly band of volunteers who seemingly didn’t stand a snowball’s chance against the crushing might of Britain’s superior forces. These men fought an eight-year war without so much as a blueprint for what the hell they were going to do with their hard-earned freedom should they emerge victorious. Once the war was won, it took another six years of bickering, compromise, and re-tooling the Constitution before we finally had a supreme law of the land. All the while, Congress ran the United States because there was no leader; the new nation didn’t elect its first president until 1789.

All in all, the process of the American Revolution comprised 35 years–a generation.

What is happening in the streets today is being hailed by some as the Second American Revolution, and it may very well be that our tree of liberty is beginning to bloom anew. By that historical comparison, the agitators who are taking it to the streets would be the modern day Patriots. The majority who tell them to just sit down, shut up, get a job, and stop whining already are the Loyalists. All of these empty arguments being made today against the Patriots as a bunch of naive, ungrateful, disorganized fools are nothing new under the sun. We Americans have heard that old saw somewhere before. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and even Tom Paine didn’t have all the answers in the beginning, either.

Not until 1774 did the First Continental Congress convene to draft an official list of grievances, a statement of principles, and plans for organized resistance to England within the colonies. This bold first step towards independence had been 20 years in the making.

Today’s revolutionaries actually seem to be moving forward much, much faster. Already, an Occupy Wall Street working group is calling for the election of a National General Assembly to meet on July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia. According to the 99% Declaration, “870 Delegates shall set forth, consider and vote upon a PETITION OF GRIEVANCES to be submitted to all members of Congress, The Supreme Court and President and each of the political candidates running in the nationwide Congressional and Presidential election in November 2012.” Now that sounds like a plan!

It took many decades of unsustainable excess and deep-rooted corruption for America to reach this critical stage of mass unrest. So no one should expect us to get out of this mess tomorrow.

We’re done with trusting politicians to sort it out for us. We have finally come to the inevitable conclusion that if we want the job done right, we’ll have to do it ourselves. We The People will fix this, even if we don’t know quite how to do it just yet. We will win some, lose some, fall on our faces sometimes, and learn from our mistakes as our forefathers did. If it took them at least 35 years to come up with a system that worked. Instant gratification is not something we can expect this time around, either. Give it time. Better yet, roll up your sleeves and help if you want change to happen faster. Many hands make light work, and we’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do.

To borrow from President Kennedy, who outlined the New Frontier’s goals for the 1960s in his inaugural address and called his fellow Americans to action: ”All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”

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About the Author:
Lori Spencer is a veteran journalist and musician based in Austin, Texas. She spent 25 years in the trenches of radio and print newsrooms by day while playing her music by night. Most recently she became one of the 99% when the mega media corporation she worked for laid off more than 7,000 writers and editors, informing them via a cold and impersonal email that their services would no longer be needed. Now just another unemployed journalist, she’s hitting the road to document the occupation as it spreads across the American heartland. You may find her visiting your city soon. If you see Lori at a rally and would like to help fund her quest for reporting the truth, please toss some spare change in her guitar case.

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Legal Questions About Recording TV Programs

By Lori Spencer

 

The landmark 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sony Corporation v. Universal City Studios (more widely known as the Betamax case) established the legality of home video recording. The court ruled that home VCR use did not infringe the rights of copyright holders, and that the plaintiffs would not suffer a substantial loss in profits because of home video recording. In this case, it was decided that recording a TV program for later home viewing met the “fair use” standard.

The ever-changing landscape of digital technology presents new legal questions for copyright holders and consumers alike. We’ll tackle a few of the most frequently asked ones.

Read more: Legal Questions About Recording TV Programs | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_7391290_legal-questions-recording-tv-programs.html#ixzz1g8rTvUc6

How Do I Become an Advertising Coordinator?

By Lori Spencer

To become an advertising coordinator, you should gain a thorough knowledge of advertising through various media, effective sales techniques, and customer service and communication skills. Experience in radio and television, print or Internet media, market research, public relations, marketing and promotions are also desirable. An advertising coordinator needs to work well with a team, manage budgets, and deliver ad campaigns that live up to a client’s expectations. As this job often involves working in a high stress, deadline oriented environment, the ideal advertising coordinator will be able to multitask and juggle several accounts simultaneously.

Continued at http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-i-become-an-advertising-coordinator.htm

How to Produce and Promote Your Own Concerts

By Lori Spencer

 

Whether you’re an aspiring promoter wanting to produce a music festival, or a local band producing and promoting your own shows, be prepared to do a lot of hard work. Unless you have unlimited funding to hire help or a lot of dedicated volunteers, most of the responsibilities will fall upon your shoulders.

While there are certainly ways to make money from concert production, you have to spend money before you can bring the show to the stage. Having a budget – even a small one – to work with is essential. You’ll also need to be well-organized, perform well under pressure, and have the ability to juggle several different things at one time.

Read more: How to Produce & Promote Your Own Concerts | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7343601_produce-promote-own-concerts.html#ixzz1g8vqHH7Z

How to Become a DJ of a Music Radio Station

By Lori Spencer

 

Whether you are changing careers as an adult or are still trying to decide if broadcast journalism is the college major you want, you should know that radio is a very difficult field to break into. This is because there are a finite number of radio stations and available on-air jobs, not nearly enough to match the pool of talented, trained job-seekers in the marketplace. Finding work as a disc jockey on a music radio station is more often a combination of job skills, industry connections, timing and…

 

Continues at http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7463099_become-dj-music-radio-station.html

How to Write a Concert Review

By Lori Spencer

 

You may be asked to write an appraisal of a musical performance or performer for a number of reasons: judging a competition, teaching a music class or workshop or as an essay project for class. Although it is difficult sometimes to sit in judgment on an artist’s music, if you stay focused on offering constructive, well-reasoned criticism, your tactful observations can show the performer areas that need improvement.

Read more: How to Write an Appraisal for Performance Music | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7481738_write-appraisal-performance-music.html#ixzz1g8gHKIIB