FLASHBACK: The Bitter End of Occupy Wall Street Protests

Journalism isn’t always a job. Sometimes, it’s an occupation.

On this #TBT Throwback Thursday, I’m reposting a piece I wrote for Counterpunch 11 years ago, in December, 2011, about the sad and sudden demise of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

I spent the fall of 2011 traveling to various Occupy camps across the American heartland — Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Denton, Norman, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas City — setting up my tent and literally camping out with them as an embedded reporter.

My approach to the coverage was not as an objective journalist, for I was not a disinterested onlooker. I was part of the movement. I was occupying. I was protesting right along with them, and writing daily dispatches about what we did, what I saw, and told the personal stories of the people I met on the streets, in the parks, and the public squares of America during my travels over those unforgettable 3 months.

In this report for Counterpunch I detail the eviction of Occupy OKC from Kerr Park in Oklahoma City, and their court battle over who really has the right to occupy public spaces. Turns out, it’s not the public.

“This Land is Your Land…Or Is It?”

By Lori Spencer for Counterpunch

Original publication date: Dec. 29, 2011

Also, some vintage local news coverage of Occupy OKC below. Great memories, nice to see some of these faces again. After weeks of camping out together, a special bond was formed between us — even though our paths would only cross for a short few weeks. After the Kerr Park eviction, most of us never met again.

I wonder where these wonderful people are now, 11 years on?

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.

The Occupy Movement’s First Casualty: Death of a Poet

The 18 year-old occupier known as "Street Poet," who was found dead in his tent on Halloween.

THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT’S FIRST CASUALTY

Protester Dies at Occupy OKC Camp

By Lori Spencer
ThisCantBeHappening.net

With additional reporting by Charles M. Young

You say you feel my pain
But
You don’t even know what pain is.

– Untitled final poem by Street Poet

After spending the last three weeks on assignment in Oklahoma City covering the Occupy OKC encampment, I was deeply saddened and shocked to learn of Street Poet’s passing yesterday. At first it just didn’t seem possible that this talented, upbeat young man whom I had only known for 10 all-too-brief days, could be taken away so suddenly. Just like that – without any apparent sensible or logical explanation for his death.
The man we all called “Street Poet” had never showed any outward signs of physical or mental health problems, drug addiction, or suicidal tendencies. So, what on earth happened to him, we all wonder now? At this time, the details of his death remain as elusive and mysterious as his life.
Here’s what we do know so far: Street Poet was discovered unresponsive in his tent by another camper around 2:45 on the afternoon of Halloween. There was no blood at the crime scene. No signs of trauma or a struggle; no indication of foul play. No alcohol, street drugs or drug paraphernalia by his bedside. No obvious cause of death at first glance. It is generally believed that Street Poet passed sometime during the night, as rigor mortis had already set in by the time his body was found.
“Due to the victim’s young age and because the body was unattended at the time of death, we are currently processing this as a crime scene,” said Lt. Kevin Barnes of the Oklahoma City Police Department. “It appears he died of natural causes, but the medical examiner will ultimately determine the cause of death. We are conducting an extensive investigation and making every effort to figure out what caused this young man to die.”
Homicide detectives worked into the night at Kerr Park, site of the downtown OKC occupation, looking for clues into the sudden death of a seemingly healthy young man. Police cordoned off the tent city area in the plaza’s mezzanine, while allowing occupiers to remain in the lower level of the park. Once the crime scene investigation was concluded, campers were allowed to return to their tents. But one tent was now conspicuously missing from the family circle.

Street Poet's final home: his tent at Kerr Park

It is so hard to find help
out in the world
When the world doesn’t care.
My life is like an open book
Just read the words and you know
every blessed curse.
Don’t be concerned if you find
my past startling
’cause so do I.

– Street Poet

I first met Street Poet around the 20th of October. He bounded right up to me (interrupting an interview), introduced himself, and proceeded to lay down some poetic rap about sleeping under bridges. He was tall and thin with bushy brown hair, sparkling, curious eyes and an ever-ready smile. Of course I couldn’t be irritated with him for butting into a conversation. He was just so damned likeable, even cute. From his outward appearance, I naturally assumed he was a college kid from a typical white middle or upper-class background. It wasn’t until the next night he confided to me that he was homeless, and that his family history had been anything but ideal.
Street Poet said he was originally from Naples, Florida. He had left his foster home at age 16, earning his living by performing (and usually sleeping) on the streets. Over the past two years, he traveled on foot from Kansas City through Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and finally, Oklahoma City, where he landed approximately two weeks ago. His plan, he explained, was to reunite with his brothers who now live in Kansas City, “so we can be a family again.”
Although some of the local occupiers know Street Poet’s real name (or at least the name he gave them), the group is not disclosing it until his family can be located and notified of his death. No one seems to know Street Poet’s exact age, either. Most guessed him to be in his twenties. But from the timeline he gave me in our interview – having left home at 16, which he says was two years ago – he would be only 18 years old now.

When Street Poet arrived at Occupy OKC’s Kerr Plaza encampment about a week and a half ago, he quickly made new friends. People noticed how he came out of his shell a little bit more every day; how his self-confidence grew; how he seemed to revel in the love and acceptance here that he had apparently been denied in the past. His public displays of affection at Kerr Park are what those who ever met him will remember most. Street Poet was always handing out free hugs to any and all, even total strangers just walking by.
“I was almost taken aback by Street Poet’s first hug, nothing held back, all innocent exuberance,” Occupy OKC community moderator Mark Faulk remembered. “But in the time that he was there, I found myself looking for him, waiting for his smile and his welcoming embrace, both coming and going, and sometimes just spontaneously for no reason at all. He gave me more hugs in the space of a little over a week than many people get in an lifetime. After what would turn out to be his final performance, I turned the tables on him…I sought him out, wrapped my arms around him, and congratulated him on an amazing performance. As always, he smiled.”
Occupiers such as Manny Whitlock were impressed enough to bring donations just for Poet, such as some nice J. Riggins suits to perform in. On the last night of his life, Street Poet was asked during an interview how he liked his new threads. “Now look at me. Now look at me!” the poet smiled. “I’m now part of the 99%, along with all these people.”
“These people” had become his new family. There is a certain sense of camaraderie and fellowship that develops inside Occupy camps everywhere. Camping out with people from all walks of life, in all kinds of weather, in pretty close quarters, for weeks on end more or less compels people to get along together. Neighbors know their neighbors. People look out for one another. After all, the reasoning goes, we are the 99% and we’re all we’ve got.

Street Poet performs at an occupy march on the Oklahoma State Capitol just two days before his untimely death. Oct. 29, 2011

“He was the most giving person. Hugged me 20 times a day. He just wanted to be loved.” said Heidi, a 40 year-old single mother and Compassion Tent volunteer. “He told me I was the only mom he ever had. He’d sleep outside by my tent. Always was so happy to play with my four year-old. He was happy when he was making people laugh. He was kindest person I ever met. Just a boy that the system failed. Honest to god, his was a life full of potential. I saw it every day. He was smart and articulate and kind and he found his place here. This entire movement is grieving him tonight.”
Protester Matt Walden, 19, described Street Poet as “a very loving man who happened to find us and find a home. The system never gave a shit about him, but we did. I see him as a martyr for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Guys like him – the ones who slip through the cracks of our society – are the reason we occupy.”
Street Poet’s last day on earth was by all accounts, a good one. He’d been treated to a home-cooked meal and got some new clothes. He performed for an assembled crowd of 50-60 people, many of whom had never noticed how talented he really was until that moment.
“He read a poem about his being homeless and it was quite moving,” said local attorney Jay Trenary, who also moderates the Occupy OKC legal committee. “He was a great guy, kind heart. We had a candlelight memorial for him last night.” There is talk of a larger, more public gathering in his honor later this week.
The last time I saw Street Poet two nights ago, he ran up to me as I was on my way home, threw his arms around me and blurted out the words I love you. I hugged him back and told him I loved him too. (I’m so grateful now for that one last special moment with him.) “Go tell my story,” he instructed me. “Tell the world in your article.”
Little did I know then just how prophetic that final, urgent plea would turn out to be. Now I’m sitting here two days later writing his obituary. The sweet kid I came to regard as my new little brother suddenly turned out to be the first casualty of the revolution.
Street Poet wanted me to tell his story, and I’ve done my best under the circumstances. But the pain is still too fresh for any semblance of objectivity. He told his own story better than I ever could, anyway.

I would like to think I’ve changed
And who I am
I’d like to think I’m now a man.
So here I stand and
I truly know this right from wrong
but should also have known it all along.

– Street Poet

The official Occupy OKC Facebook wall filled up with messages of love, sorrow, and solidarity yesterday. Occupy groups from as far away as Portland, Oregon and Galway, Ireland shared words of support. Occupy organizations around the state (now formally united as “Occupy Oklahoma”) also expressed their condolences.

“We will not let up. We will not back down.” said Tim “Gonzo” Anderson. “The street poet lives on in our every march, every chant, and every person we talk to about this movement. We are all street poets, and we call out his name as he would call out all of ours. Solidarity.”

To see a video interview conducted on the last night of Street poet’s life, go here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=279194725447866

UPDATE NOV. 3, 2011:

Now that Street Poet’s family has been identified and located, we can finally release his name: Louis Cameron Rodriguez, age 18.

His mother and sister live in Clarksville, TN and want to fly to OKC to claim his body. Occupy OKC is trying to raise donations for airfare because Louis’ family can’t afford it. Please spread the word.

Anyone out there who wants to donate either frequent flier miles or cash can contact Occupy OKC. Beth Isbell is coordinating this effort. Her email is roxybeast@hotmail.com. Local readers can just drop by the camp in Kerr Park to donate in person.

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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