Occupy Wall Street’s opposing expression of the disparity between the wealthy and the poor may have begun in good faith by utilizing the Freedom of Speech and General Assembly amendment rights, but the strategies some of the protestors have demonstrated are resulting in adverse reactions against themselves. The Occupy Wall Street movement will assuredly cost affected cities in the double digits of millions of dollars. Increases in payroll, overtime, and business expenses will inadvertently backfire and increase layoffs. The burden the protestors physically place on a city is weighing down an already financially stressed situation. The mass of people and their tent lifestyle is causing a drain on city finances, and alas, the money is coming out of allocations for those divisions of the city workforce, for which, the people pay with taxes. Of course, the conglomeration of protestors is a show of an unguided cast of actors role-playing in a chaotic enactment before a society of varying opinions, beliefs and values. The income of the 1% elite in 2009 based on adjusted gross income was at 348,000. One wonders how many demonstrating protestors have a family member in the elite 1% percent. Some of the self-defeating actions the protestors have brought upon themselves are taunting police in spatial boundary invasions resulting in forcible removal and police self-protection use of pepper-spraying. During a sit-in protest at one college, which appeared to be a group of peaceful students, a police officer sweepingly sprayed the sitting students. They had been repeatedly warned to leave by orders of the chancellor of the college. This is an act of unnecessary aggression and maybe the simplest thing would have been to call th... ... middle of paper ... ...ty as a whole. Protestors go home and vote for a change. Works Cited http://www.ethicalmarkets.com/2011/11/22/how-occupy-wall-street-really-got-started http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/occupy-wall-street http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/occupy-wall-street-un-envoy_n_1125860.html?ref=mostpopular http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/November/Occupy-Wall-Street-Costing-Taxpayers-Millions http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/top-1-percent-earn.aspx http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-wall-street-turns-barack-obama-225702752.html http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/11/15/police_bust_ny_occupy_protest_in_nighttime_sweep http://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2011/10/05/this_is_what_a_mob_looks_like http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57328289/outrage-over-police-pepper-spraying-students
Some can say that The “Occupy Wall Street” movement had the same underlining premise as people in the Realism era, that the corporations were not fairly compensating their workers. Some disagree with the protesters on the validity of their issues, and the way they
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler describes the lives of United States citizens who live within poverty. He highlights the U.S.’s disregard for its working poor, the nature of poverty, and the causes of poverty faced by low-wage earners. Shipler performs an amazing job of describing the factors that play their parts into the lives of U.S. citizens who live in poverty and are in poverty. Shipler explains the effects of tax payments and refunds, the abuse of the poor by private and public institutions, the spending habits of the working poor, the culture of the U.S., and the presence of money as a factor in the lives of the working poor. In dealing with government bureaucracy or private business, the working poor are vulnerable to the abuse of con-artists, employers, financial service providers, and public service providers.
Even though many of the protesters were severely beaten, they still stood their stance and got the message out. What is a Riot? According to Encyclopedia.gov a riot “is a social occasion involving relatively spontaneous collective violence directed at property, persons, or authority.” There are five main
Thoreau wasn 't one to take advantage of what the world had to offer and just took life what it was, all while following his motto of doing what was right. Thoreau sees the miracles of the world similarly to the Whitman poem because there isn 't a limit to what can be appreciated. There are quite a few modern views that compare well to Thoreau as they take that step away from society defined by technology and progression and just take a look at the bigger picture, one of these approaches is the recent Occupy Wall Street movement.
There has been controversy in the world about police brutality and whether police have used excessive force to apprehend a subject is increasing. Police brutality has been around for a long time, but it just now televised. In the late 19th century, the issue of police brutality was often tied to business owners’ efforts to break up strikes by workers attempting to organize and form labor unions, also on a day known as Bloody Sunday where a group of peaceful protesters were literally beaten to the ground, sprayed with tear gas, and water hose by the police (“Police Brutality”). Even in 2015 in Baltimore Freddie Gray, 25-year-old African-American male, died while in police custody due to injuries in the spine and in some parts of Baltimore the
They were willing to break unjust laws to achieve a just law. In John Lewis’ March book One, we see examples of Lewis’s days when he, himself, took part in sit-ins at dinners to be served meals. At the counters of diners, they were rejected by waitress to be served meals. In the book, we witness the brutality and beatings young protesters at counters received as well as in the movie “The Butler”. Both scenes show the consequences protesters faced once in white people’s territory. The goal of the sit-ins was to fight for equality in dining areas and restaurants. With all the violence faced during sit-ins in both book one and two, the protesters continuous pressure to integrate diners and restaurants proved to be effective because a bill was later signed to desegregate diners because of race. In today’s generation, a sit-in would not be effective because this generation’s youth does not have the will and mentality to withstand abuse from whites without fighting back. Violence answers to violence as we have seen recent violence demonstrated by young black protesters in other
The Game was born and raised in the first birthplace of gangsta rap, Compton, California. He received his nickname from his grandmother, who said he was always "game" for anything. His half brother grew up in a different neighborhood and was an active member of the Cedar Block Piru Bloods. As their relationship grew, The Game became a member of the Cedar Block Pirus as well, all while living in a Crip neighborhood. The Game eventually got into the lifestyle of hustling with his brother. Car thefts, drug dealing, and shootings pushed his mother to kick him out of the house. He moved into the projects in a nearby city with his bro in 2000 and took over the local drug trade. Late in the night of October 2001, he was shot five times during a home invasion, one bullet in brushed his heart. While in the hospital The Game decided to change his life, put his past behind him, and pursue his dream of becoming a rapper. His brother encouraged him and told him he always had a way with his words.. The Game began to study classic albums of great rappers such as Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Jay-Z. Soon after, The Game was discovered by rap pioneer and former N.W.A member, Dr. Dre, who signed The Game to his Aftermath Entertainment label. Prior to rapping, at 6'4" The Game was a star basketball player at Compton High School. He received a basketball scholarship to Washington State University but was dismissed from the school during his freshman year over drug allegations... He grew up with NBA star Baron Davis, who is now the godfather to The Game's son, Harlem Caron Taylor. The concept of The Game with G-Unit was to help increase the popularity of one of the leading acts in rap and hip-hop, and to also mainly increase the popularity of G-Unit on the West Coast. Furthermore, the popularity in general of G-Unit also with the support of Dr. Dre would help make sure The Game had high album sales. Dr. Dre and 50 Cent were producers on his debut album The Documentary, an album that explores The Game's life while he was pursuing a career in the rap industry. Though The Game is a was artist, he has already made some hip hop rivals: among them Suge Knight and Death Row Records, and Jay-Z of Roc-A-Fella Records, Yukmouth, Memphis Bleek, Joe Budden, and even mentor 50 Cent.
While the bottom 80% is making no more than $118,000 a year, which is the 80th percentile, and have a median annual income of $48,000. The 1% makes up of around 750,000 of the 150 million families in the United States. Therefor the one percent ends up taking of 25% of all income generated by the United States economy. That is an increase of three times since the Ronald Reagan Era when the one percent only received 8% of the total income in 1979. The last time the one percent owned this much of the income total was in 1928, which was right around the time of the great
Park Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of New York City, home to the ultra rich, the top tier of the American upper class, the 1% (Park Avenue). Those who reside in Park Avenue not only have vast amounts of wealth, but an immense amount of influence that has turned the tables in their favor. But, if you go a couple of miles North of Park Avenue and cross the Harlem river, you arrive at the other side of Park Avenue or otherwise known as the Bronx, one of the poorest districts in all of New York (Park Avenue). Here you see the real hardships average Americans must voyage through in order to put food on the table and provide shelter for their families. 40% of the 700,000 residents who live in the Bronx live in poverty making less than $40 a day (Park Avenue). Some of those residents have lost their jobs due to the economic recession, created by the bankers on the other side of the river (Park Avenue). The wages of these poor citizens has dropped in the past thirty years, while prices have sky rocketed. Even though economic and social hardships have struck these innocent citizens, they still have a chance at achieving the American dream, right? After all, this is America, the land of opportunity, the place where dreams are born and bred. However, America is not what it once was fifty years ago. In today's society, the American dream is hindered by issues involving gender discrimination, racial discrimination, and weak economic mobility. The influence of money has broadened among our society creating an elite group of winners, and leaving the rest as losers. Our government has been intoxicated under the influences of those holding a paper with a handful of zeros scrawled on it....
The past few years, the United States has seen some rough economic times. The unemployment rate is extremely high and many people have lost their homes and businesses. Because there are so many factors in an economy, it is hard to find the right people to blame. The protest group “Occupy Wall Street” has come to the conclusion that corporations are making us poor by taking advantage of us and the governmental system. The share of income going to the top one percent of Americans has increased dramatically over the past few years and “Occupy Wall Street” is outraged.
In response to a protest at the McCormick Harvester factory in Chicago where the police reportedly killed six workers, local radicals led by Albert Parsons organized a meeting at Haymarket Square in downtown Chicago. Several thousand showed up to hear the speakers. The speakers were very careful to not incite violence in the already agitated crowd. After the speeches had been given large numbers of people left, however those who remained behind would be forever remembered in our history books. An army of police descended on the crowd and gave them an order to disperse. During the confusion, an unknown person threw a bomb into the crowd of police, killing one officer. Police began to fire on the crowd; the agitated strikers retaliated with a hail of bullets as well. A riot broke out in which one worker was killed and twelve were wounded, one policeman wa...
...h. While the occupy movement is able to draw attention to the problem of wealth inequality, more change is required if wealth inequality is to shrink within Canadian society.
Cheh, M. "Are lawsuits an answer to police brutality." Police violence: Understanding and controlling police abuse of force (1996): 247-72.
The working class, faced with all the struggles that capitalism puts it through, is bound to revolt against the ruling class. During the 19th century, Marx states that “the workers begin to form combinations (Trades’ Unions) against the bourgeois; they club together in order to keep up the rate of wages; they found permanent associations in order to make provision beforehand for these occasional revolts. Here and there, the contest breaks out into riots.” Today, the working class hosts manifestations and form multiple organizations to help them through their struggles. In New York, the Occupy Wall Street movement organizes marches to demand fairer laws, such as universal health
According to the National Police Academy, in the past year, there have been over 7,000 reports of police misconduct; fatalities have been linked to more than 400 of these cases (Gul). Police brutality is often triggered by disrespect towards the police officer. The most noticeable form of brutality is physical, where Chemical gas, batons, tasers, and guns, can be used for physical intimidation or to actually hurt people. Police brutality can also take the form of verbal abuse or psychological intimidation. It seems reasonable to understand that sometimes the police are put into situations where excessive force may be needed. But, because some officers use these extreme actions in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed and looked into by both the police and the public. For instance, a police officer who beats a nonviolent protester with a baton would probably be accused of excessive use of force, under the argument that the police officer probably could have dealt with the situation less violently.