Grace Notes: No. Occupy Wall Street is not the same as the Civil Rights movement. →
I completely support the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I think they should be allowed to demonstrate. I also agree with all of the reasons people are there. Student loans are horrible, people shouldn’t have to choose between food and medicine, and 1% of the country shouldn’t be allowed to have all of the wealth, and monetary comforts that come with that privilege. Lots of unjust crap happens in our country particularly on a political, and economic level. Racism, sexism, ageism and all the -ism’s that come along with that still exist. It is our right to not only disagree with these things but to speak out against them.
That being said, it is important to remember that the Civil Rights movement is a huge part of the reason we can speak up. I think in a way, placing the two in the same box undermines the importance of the civil rights movement. I do believe Occupy is important, but honestly I do not think it is as important as the civil rights movement. The fact that until the civil rights movement it was legal to separate school, toilets,and sinks to me, falls into a different category of oppression. The fact that before the civil rights movement it was legal to literally sterilize Black American women if they were raped by a White person are the issues that clearly separate the two issues for me. I am not trying to compare evils here Oppression is Oppression but it is important that we recognize the Civil Rights movement is separate from Occupy because the issues are in fact different. I would hate for younger, impressionable minds to hear these comparisons and believe that our country is the same country it was when the Civil Rights movement took place. The fact is hate still exists, and hate is ugly but saying that the Occupy Wall Street Movement is the “New Civil Rights Movement” undermines the progress society has made. Basically, the two issues need to remain separate, not because they aren’t both important but because they are different.
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No, they are not the same. But they are similar. Like the Civil Rights Movement, Occupy Wall Street is a mobilized protest against social inequality and the obstruction of human rights. A woman is sentenced to 3 years for stealing $4,000 in food stamps to feed her family, but stealing *millions* in mortgage fraud can get you less time. We live in a country that promises 1st amendment rights, yet the police rounded up and arrested 100+ war veterans for protesting against the wars in the Middle East. It’s 2011 and public education still does not cater equally to all races. While Occupy may not involve racial discrimination as conspicuously as it did 50 years ago, it should still be acknowledged as part of the cause.
I will also bring up that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not the end of Martin Luther King Jr.’s goals. King understood the systematic constrictions unregulated capitalism placed upon global work forces.The man was on a roll towards making revolutionary changes. Aside from racial equality, King publicly declared the need for redistribution of political and economic power, which, tragically, was probably why he was assassinated. I think Occupy, in a lot of ways, is picking up where he left off. Corporate lobbying is one of the most cancerous issues we have in our government, and it happens around the world.
As for which movement is “more important,” look at it this way. Occupy addresses the worldwide disparity in privilege and political influence between the middle class and the economic elites. This movement does not involve only the United States, but protestors across 5 other continents are standing side-by-side in solidarity. Do we not see people of multiple races in unity over common grievances? It’s beautiful. This is because the movement, while still caused by racial inequality, altogether involves issues amounting to something bigger than race, or, if you see this more fitting, involves the human race. This is a movement against the 16 trillion in bailouts, illegal torture, rise in tuition, going to war over false pretenses, the list goes on. It’s a stand against so much and more. In my humble opinion, this is a struggle between knowledge vs. ignorance, compassion vs. greed, and in a lot of ways good vs. evil. When you recognize the similarities and scales of such movements, why argue that one is more important than the other? They were/are aimed towards many of the same goals. Calling Occupy Wall Street the “New Civil Rights Movement,” in my opinion, does not undermine society’s progression, but instead commemorates it and propels it towards greater universal reform.
