The cover story in this week's Metro Times (Detroit's alternative newspaper) is on the state of Occupy Detroit, now that it has vacated the downtown park where it started. It has not gone away.
Detroit has had a long history of protests (see labor battles with the Detroit automakers in the 1930s), but this one is different. Previous protests were about a particular group and their supporters -- factory workers, blacks, women, gays -- fighting for particular rights. The Occupy group is everyone and the slogan "99%" is brilliant branding. This protest has issues, such as denying alleged terrorists a right to trial, in which liberals, Tea Party members, libertarians, and communists all agree on.
Alas, Occupy Detroit, as does much here is Southeast Michigan, has racial overtones. City residents, more than 80% black, don't trust whites taking over their issues and the OD campers were mostly white. Fortunately, various OD working groups are reaching out to black organizations.
Yes, OD is still protesting. A recent cause is the closure of a few branches of the Detroit Public Library. The group also meets twice a week at a small downtown theater, that has been made available for their use. And a Southwest Detroit businessman has donated space that was to be a café until the economy soured a few years ago. That businessman is mighty pissed at the 1%.
A related organization, Occupy the Hood, is starting to rehab houses that became vacant from the housing bust.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment