#OccupytheDream: Why We Must Organize

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

At this inflection point within American political culture, the people-powered organizing of Occupy Wall Street and related efforts may represent the best chance of making living-wage jobs possible, housing affordable and decent education accessible. Last Thursday, a coalition of Christian clergy joined the effort. Reverends Jamal Bryant and Ben Chavis, along with the Progressive National Baptist Convention, unveiled the #OccupytheDream campaign at the National Press Club. Their aims are straightforward: $100 billion for community investment from Wall Street banks; a moratorium on new foreclosures; and substantially increased investment in Pell Grants. Starting on Martin Luther King day -- Jan. 16, 2012 -- they plan to galvanize faith communities through coordinated actions at regional Federal Reserve Banks. The actions involve bringing crutches, casts and prosthetic devices to the banks, symbolizing how the excess of the financial sector is crippling the fragile recovery of our economy.

Is the deployment of these symbols the best way to launch the campaign? Yes and no. It may generate good press, but could alienate differently abled folks, a community that Occupy movements presumably want to engage. Nevertheless, I support #OccupytheDream because it offers an opportunity to energize the progressive religious wing of the black organizing tradition. From Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin to Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Erica Williams, black politics has always harbored a rich organizing tradition. The tradition continues today, but its religious dimensions are largely unknown. The commemorative convergence of King's birthday and assassination with the advent of #OccupytheDream -- not to mention a Presidential election year -- offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to publicly "refocus the cultural content" of black Christian faith in the direction of economic justice.

Student loan debt recently eclipsed credit card debt. Political expenditures by well-capitalized corporations on advertisements within electoral contests are regarded as constitutionally-protected speech. Unemployment among African-Americans in November, 2011 was 15.5 percent. Our ability to responsibly consume financial products appears uncertain in view of stalled national protection bureaus. This is the world we inhabit on every day except Sunday. On that day, Christians envision a partly realized, partly forthcoming world of love and justice. The task before #OccupytheDream is to organize around that vision, between those two worlds, during the rest of the week.

 

 

 

Follow Andrew Wilkes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AndrewJWilkes

Comments

[Bernique]

10:38 AM on 12/28/2011

Great street theater idea to illustrate the "crippling of the economy" on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Day. Advertise it widely, invite the press. Make sure the whole country sees us. Afterwards, let's nationalize the so-called "Federal Reserve" (which is neither federal --it's a private bank-- nor does it have any "reserves" -- it prints unlimited money on Koch Brothers paper!)

[unfoxworthy]

09:44 PM on 12/27/2011

...and we should rally around these "Fed" satellites until we wrestle them away from the banks themselves.
And Andrew, if you'll allow me to embellish - it's not just the "excess" of the financial sector, but the greed - the perpetual want for MORE excess. It's evident they are not happy with even MOST of the wealth. We're talking "insatiable greed machine"
which must be stopped.

[katellington]

11:44 AM on 12/27/2011

#OccupytheDream offers a movement embracing visions found in Wright's question "what happens to a dream deferred?" We have to have hope for the future whether climbing out of poverty, shaping the landscape for a new world or finding another way. Basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter converge with the need for access to technology, health care, education and more opportunity. Change takes time, investment, energy and a spirit of compassion. Young people, women and the diversity of America are the hope of #OccupytheDream. Those who can set intergenerational tables where voices from the margins, Main Street and Wall Street can be heard, inspire and move for justice offer much to the work. Carry on.

[Andrew Wilkes]

04:06 PM on 12/27/2011

Thanks for your comments. Your insight about intergenerational tables being set for justice - where voices from the margins can contribute - is an important one.

[J P McMahon]

11:38 AM on 12/27/2011

From wikipedia about organizer Ben Chavis: "In 1994, he was also the first person fired from the NAACP after spending $64,000 from the then debt ridden organization to pay a breach of contract claim layered with allegations of sexual harassment" Note that there does not seem to be an NAACP affiliation with this group. Mr. Chavis was also associated with Louis Farrakhan for a time and affixed the surname Muhammed to his own. He was one of the organizers of the Million Man March, and the subsequent Million More March. I would hold tightly to my wallet when they pass the collection plate for this thing.

[momoluvsu]

10:53 AM on 12/27/2011

Andrew, thanks for writing this. What better tangible way for the vulturous bankers to pay back than at the scene of their crimes in the neighborhoods they fed on? I like it personally.

[Andrew Wilkes]

04:02 PM on 12/27/2011

Thanks for your comments. Restoring accountability and transparency within the banking industry is critical, especially in view of settlement negotiations that fall far short of the negative impact of MBS on neighborhoods, homeowners, investors, and others.