Maybe this time.
The parallelism between the Occupy movement and the Civil Rights movement is striking. That's why I believe we will see confrontation ratcheting up more and more.
I remember that Martin Luther King, Jr., started to broaden the Civil Rights movement to a Poor People's Campaign for Economic Justice. He stated to his aides that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference "would have to raise nonviolence to a new level to pressure Congress into passing an Economic Bill of Rights for the nation's poor."
The plan was to march on Washington and set up tents - an area that became known as Resurrection City, a place I visited at the time.
Resurrection City was set up in May 1968, but without King. He had been assassinated a month earlier in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone in support of a labor strike of sanitation workers.
Those who remember 1968 know that the nation was in turmoil. First King was assassinated; then Robert Kennedy.
The Economic Bill of Rights was proposed by Franklin Roosevelt, but he died before it could become a reality.
The Economic Bill of Rights was resurrected by King, but he was killed before it could become a reality.
This Occupy movement, in my opinion, is in the beginning stages of a new campaign. "Who knows," to paraphrase the words of King, "what lies in the future?"
This could be the movement that succeeds, but "there are difficult days ahead."
© 2011
I just wanted to say that I love all of the FDR on your blog. He was an amazing leader (who obviously had his faults), and his speeches on economic justice seem just as applicable today as they did when he made them. Hopefully we will see some form of an economic bill of rights go through this time, although I agree that it will be a long, difficult struggle.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Anonymous, and for your kind comment.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a long struggle, but ultimately I believe one that we will win. People cannot be oppressed permanently.
Keep your "eyes on the prize."
People are starting to understand that we all have a stake in the game. I believe this powerful social movement will bring change.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the historical perspectives Brent. History is a great teacher.
Wow I hope this movement is not the future.
ReplyDeleteThe homeless have been lured to Occupy for the free food, supplies and resources being donated to them.
Occupy is unhappy about this and formed security teams to kick the homeless out.
To the Homeless - Occupiers with the food and water are the 1 % and not the 99%.
If the future is this ripe with hypocrisy our future isn't very bright.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWow I hope this movement is not the future.
The homeless have been lured to Occupy for the free food, supplies and resources being donated to them.
Occupy is unhappy about this and formed security teams to kick the homeless out.
To the Homeless - Occupiers with the food and water are the 1 % and not the 99%.
If the future is this ripe with hypocrisy our future isn't very bright.
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Opinion is not fact. Fact is not opinion. You have made several allegations but have offered no proof. Please offer some links that prove your assertions.