it’s the first week of the month. September’s jobless numbers are in. And the reports, according to the pundits, are better than expected. The 9.1 unemployment rate is stable and 103,000 jobs added in September. Obama is surely taking a moment to exhale. But with economic protesters lined up coast to coast, his re-election campaign organizers should be worried. In Los Angeles, the people holding signs, parading around parks, and fighting police, are passionate. Broke. And angrily disappointed in the president.
Click here to view a Grio slideshow: Occupy Wall Street goes West
After acknowledging the frustrated meaning of the protests, the president diverted blame.
“You’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place,” he said.
The Republican retort was delivered by his nemesis Herman Cain.
“I don’t have the facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration,” Cain said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself. It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded; it is someone’s fault if they failed.”
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Cain is obviously off base, lost in right field. While Obama appears to be unaware of the impact of the protests on his re-election bid.
“They tell us we live in a democracy and then give us a choice between two people who are essentially the same. So now we finally elect a black president, supposedly a progressive and almost nothing changes,” says LA resident, Clay Claiborne, who says he can’t get work as an independent computer contractor. “It’s not even a question of the man in the White House. He’s locked in a system that’s already set up. I don’t know how much Obama’s really tried to change things, but I know he hasn’t.”
Claiborne, 62, sits on a step, smiling, observing Occupy LA protesters make a ruckus. The feel and vibe of the movement takes him back to the radical 1960s. “I think this has potential more than anything else we’ve seen in a long time. This is one of those things of historic importance. I don’t think we’ve seen this kind of activity since the 60s. And the only way we’re gonna have any substantial change is if the ordinary people get off their butts and start demanding it,” he says pointing to the crowd of demonstrators. “This is what’s gonna make a change.”
Sitting in Indian style, a circle of activists quietly discuss plans and actions for Occupy LA’s Outreach Committee. Samantha Cornwell, 26, is the only African-American in the meeting. In fact, black faces are scantly scattered among the current crowd of hundreds. Finding a sista here is like looking for a chocolate chip in a macadamia nut cookie.
“We’re creating different modes of outreach, from just going out to the streets, metro stations, or different parts of the country and encouraging people to come down,” says Cornwell, with obvious college bred diction. “I’m also a filmmaker so I’m making videos on a daily basis so people know we’re here. You look around and there are a decent amount, but there could be more. I think there’s support for it, but people need to come down. I think they’re a little scared, because they don’t know what it’s really like here.”
This week, unions jumped on board to show their support for the nationwide rally. Handing out flyers for a protest, Chase, 26, works for SEIU local 721, as an organizer with LA’s 90,000 strong Service Employees International Union. But he’s quick to mention, “I’m not speaking as their representative. I’m off the clock. I’m speaking as an activist in my free time with Occupy LA,” he says.
“I’m here because we’ve done everything we were told to do as students and home owners. [We did] all the steps the power structure told us to, and we still got screwed. We’re still loaded with student debt, with degrees that are worthless in the job market. We’re still losing our homes, paying our mortgages like we’ve been told to. Following all the rules. And what that tells me, in this economy, is the American dream is dead. So we have to change the way the economic system works. We can revive that for our children. And we need our radical militant minority out here to come and really drive and inspire our members and build bridges so what happened in the Vietnam War doesn’t happen now where union labor is battling in the streets with protesters. We should be on the same side because we’re all economically oppressed and we’re all workers.”
Chase is among the troops who’ve slept in sleeping bags stuffed into tee-pee sized tents. At 26, he represents the average 22-27 age range of those frequenting Occupy LA’s camp site. Near a sidewalk, a girl in black pom pom shorts and cowboy boots wiggles a hoolah hoop around her hips. In a grassy corner, a handful of Polynesian kids play Poi, twirling around a ball connected to on stick. Near the food tent, groups of people cheer, when endless boxes of donated pizzas arrive in time for dinner.
In the middle of all this, rag tag musicians bang on drums and whatever they can find, making melodies that sound like Robin Hood’s Merry Men. In 2008, the youth vote was crucial to a man named Barack Hussein Obama becoming president. Without the 18-34 vote, he wouldn’t have won. This demographic, charged with high hope and expectation, believed in change.
“For a long time I was holding out hope,” says Kentron 21, a local LA college student, who originally voted Democratic. But when asked who he’d vote for if the election were today, he’s quick to respond, “Ron Paul. As of now, I feel like there hasn’t been enough change and I feel like there’s been enough time.”
theGrio video: Is black America sitting out ‘Occupy Wall Street’?
“I think people, especially young people were expecting miracles,” says Jerome Duplesh, an LA resident who spent the past summer as a volunteer organizer for Obama’s campaign. “He gave half a miracle, not a full miracle. Even though he’s done things that help young people, it doesn’t put money in their pockets. The expectations are a little unrealistic for right now.”
But you know how inpatient kids can be. And these revolutionary younglings are smart, feisty, needy and want a ton of action, like, yesterday.
“What I would like to see, bare minimum, is to stop the teacher layoffs, stop blaming welfare moms, keep health care reform in place, education. If you get laid off you should be able to get unemployment. If you’re having a hard time you should be able to receive public assistance. Just basic things,” says Jeramie Jerrod, 26, fresh from rallying crowds on a blow horn. “We’re just saying everyone in a democratic society is entitled to certain human rights, and being the beacon of the free world, liberty and justice, we of all nations should have that in place. And sadly we don’t.”
Although expressions of needs come off like a toddler temper tantrum, they come from a rational place. “I think the way our two party system works, we’re not really gonna get any radical change anytime in the near future,” says Cornwell. “I’ve been raised to believe that voting is important, so when the election comes around, it’s very likely I will be voting for Obama again, because, what’s the better option? I don’t really see one. There have been moments where I’ve been pretty frustrated with him. But overall, I think he intended well and to do what he said he would when he came into office. I think what’s becoming clear with his presidency, is that there’s not a whole lot you can change. I don’t fault the man, but I think within the system he can’t win.”
Take a walk through the Downtown LA backyard of city hall, and you’ll step over sleeping bags, hear varied conversations of kids pontificating about the issues of the world, the food crisis, health care, the economy. Elder parents, ranging in age from 50-60, sit among them like chaperones. Watching. Supporting. “My daughter, when she was 7, asked me when the people were going to start speaking up about everything going on that was wrong. She’s 14 now and the kids are speaking up. They’re her age and a little bit older. I’m here to support them,” says Leo, a caramel complexion dread. Although she looks 50-something, she won’t admit her age. She instead describes herself as “An American from LA, born and raised.”
“I’m an independent, and I find when Democrats get into office, there’s more damage done to the poor people, than when the Republicans are in, sometimes. It’s the policies they pass. I went into it with my eyes open with Obama. He was honest. Now the kids are saying, ‘We’re gonna hold your feet to the fire. You want us to elect you again? We want some jobs. We want education. We wanna be taken care of. That 1 percent of the population you gave 17 trillion to, tell them to stand up and show us what we paid for.’ That’s basically what they’re saying. Look at these kids.”
The grown folks at the protest are as leery of Obama, as those 30 years younger. “I’m disappointed and I’m pretty much leaning toward doing a write in candidate,” says Spain Beck, 50, a part-time nurse. “I don’t think in good conscience I can support the democratic party anymore.”
“I don’t think he’s shown the kind of backbone I’d have him show. I’d rather him decide, ‘Ok, I’ll be a one term president but I’ll do some things that really change things,’ says Claiborne, who paid the 25 cent senior bus rate to get to the protest. “He could be the first president not to veto resolutions supporting Palestine in the UN. That would almost certainly cost him a second term, which he may not get anyway. But he’d be doing something to make a real difference in world peace. He could be a one term president and pull all those troops out of the wars. He could do that. And if he did those things without consideration for re-election, he might actually get reelected. But he’s playing the game of ‘don’t do anything that might upset your chances.’
What if he gets a second term? Now he’s gonna start doing these things? No. He’s already locked into a certain way, staff, and procedures. We’ll get four more years of the same. This is what’s gonna make a change,” he says, pointing to the crowd of young adult demonstrators.
And it appears they’ll be outside screaming for weeks. With ongoing organizing, every day at 730 pm, Occupy LA’s general assembly meeting has the crowd repeat its “Points of Solidarity,” to remind them of why they’re fighting. Committees get on the microphone to share minutes. A flexible agenda flows. And like an easily distracted new millennium kid, the organization suffers from moments of ADD. An Occupy LA meeting is slow and shaky, like a baby learning to walk. But if they can hold position and stay standing, they’ll be running through the corridors of city hall soon. “This is our home. We’re gonna be peaceful. There might be actions, like people might occupy things, or marches on other streets,” says Richard Florence, a PR and media volunteer with Occupy LA.
“This is a worldwide social movement to fight oppression and injustice of all people.” Gia Tremble, one of the group’s spokespeople adds, “We are part of a leaderless team, and we all put a lot of hard work in. There’s no leader,” she says. “We’re planning to stay here for as long as we have to.”
Over in the East, as New York’s Occupy Wall Street members vow to keep the fight going through 30 degree snowy temperatures, it’s apparent that no matter the coast, no matter the generation born or color: Obama needs to rip off his tie, leap into action, spin the angle, and rally the troops to get the faith of his voters back. Or they’ll be no hope for him returning to the White House.