Occupy Chicago - The 99% Have Something To Say
The people of New York are usually the first to take to the streets, set up camp, and proclaim loudly that there will be no movement until they are heard. Many people have taken up the cause of the group known as Occupy Wall Street in their own cities. Chicago has followed in solidarity, perhaps fated always to be the Second City.
One could drive by and see the group sitting between the Federal Reserve and the Chicago Board of trade and dismiss them as scruffy college kids that would rather shout loudly on street corners about matters they don’t understand than go to class. While the demographic of Occupy Chicago is largely young people, college students, and people below thirty, they do have a very good reason to be there and they do, to my surprise and comfort, know what they are talking about.
College students, current and past, have many things to be upset about. We all assumed that if we took certain steps down the road of life that everything would work out for us. Get good grades, graduate college, find a job, work hard, get a better job, and marry someone - if you’re into that sort of thing. This all seemed to work out for our parents, so why wouldn’t it work out for us? We graduated from college, found no jobs, moved back into our parents basement, and are now in grad school in order to push off paying our undergrad loans back until the job market improves. Our debt is mounting, our parents have been laid off, and there’s no help to be found out there. We’ve been pushed into depression due to our circumstances and some people aren’t going to take it anymore.
I had an opportunity to speak to some of the protesters of Occupy Chicago. Sam Abrahamson, a mohawked senior in advertising and screenwriting at DePaul University in Chicago, has a good reason to be out here. Like many young people today, Sam seems frustrated with the state of things.
“I’m going to be in debt for decades, if not the rest of my life, just because of the loans I’ve had to take out for school. I mean even Barack Obama is a multi millionaire and he, just a few years ago finished paying off his debts,” Says Abrahamson.
Barack Obama’s net worth settles around 5 million dollars. He was only recently able to retire he and his wife’s massive student loan debt with revenue from his book sales. That being said, his circumstances were largely superior to the average college student, and still, its not an encouraging story to just now be settling decades old debt.[1]
Sam isn’t without hope though. The Occupy Chicago movement is highly organized. I attended a 3pm general assembly meeting on Sept. 30th. The crowd sat quietly on the sidewalk and listened as each speaker brought up a separate topic. They use the American Sign Language form of clapping, shaking their hands in the air, so as not to make noise and miss an important statement. The meeting discussed horizontal education seminars among members and the formation of committees and sub committees for the organization of supplies and member needs.
Sam, a regular speaker, today touched on establishing a dress code, a topic addressed in New York. He urged members to dress professionally, and that they will be taken more seriously if they don’t appear as hippies.
A topic likely on the minds of most people passing by this mass of people is, what do they want? Can they really change the world from a street corner? They believe they can, and their objectives are becoming clearer every day.
I asked Sam about the list of demands that would be formalized in the coming days. The Occupy movement takes serious issue with the Citizen’s United Ruling of 2010 that allows corporations to act as persons and donate to political campaigns and candidates. “We want there to be an end to corporate personhood. We want to get money to not [equal] free speech, because its totally drowning out the voice of everyone else in the political process,” says Abrahamson.
Even President Obama called the Citizen’s United Ruling, “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”[3]
Sam continues, “In general we need comprehensive campaign finance reform. The way it is now, you can pretty much donate unlimited amounts of money for advertisements for politicians and in a lot of cases you can do that anonymously. Again, its not really fair.”
He also touched on the groups feelings on corporate taxes, “We want to see a lot of these corporate tax loop holes closed that are allowing a lot of corporations like GE to pay zero tax dollars.” When asked if forcing large corporations to pay a huge amount of their revenue to taxes would prevent potential job growth, he expressed his frustration with the system we currently have, “We’re pouring all this money into what we call job creators, and what are they doing? They’re going to India and China and they’re outsourcing anyway. So if they’re outsourcing anyway and we’re giving them all this money, I don’t see how the plan we currently have is working.” He admits that taxing big business would make it difficult for big business to grow, but also makes a good point, “I think that may create more opportunities for smaller businesses, who would not be in those same tax brackets obviously, to rise up and we may have a freer market, a more equal market where people can actually create their own business and not worry about being crushed right away.” The downfall of large corporations just may bring about a more vibrant local economy.
I asked Sam if he thinks that Occupy Chicago is reaching its target audience here at Jackson and Lasalle, the heart of Chicago’s financial district. “I think there are a lot more people that we can be tapping in to, because I think the majority of America agrees with us overwhelmingly. But still, I’m out here next to the Chicago Board of Trade waving signs around that say “The banks robbed us blind” and “Private money is drowning out politics”, and most people come out here agree with me. I get a lot of smiles and nods, and not a whole lot of frowns.” Still, he believes that there is room for growth. “I think that if and when we get bigger, we’re going to start going to other neighborhoods. We do have plans to reach out to [disenfranchised neighborhoods] where we know there are a lot of people hurting and try to gather support there.” The movement grows daily and Sam is optimistic about its future.
To stay up to date on the daily workings of Occupy Chicago, go to http://occupychi.org/ They post their general assembly minutes, supply needs, and planned activities online.
[1] - Huffington Post, “The Net Worth Of Every American President, From Washington To Obama: 24/7 Wall Street”
Huffington Post. 21 February 2011
[2] - Associated Press, “Michelle Obama: Barack’s Book Sales Paid Off Our Student Loans”
Associated Press. 14 August 2008.
[3] - Liptak, Adam, “Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit”
New York Times. 21 January 2010,
