Scott Galindez writes, "In 16 cities around the country, ministers from African-American churches offered a unified set of demands as they served notice that they are joining the Occupy movement. The demonstrations took place at Federal Reserve banks because, as the organizers explained, it was the Fed that bailed out the banks and Wall Street while Main Street was left to suffer."
Occupy the Dream Youth Coordinator Farajii Muhammad speaks in front of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC, 01/16/12. (photo: Scott Galindez/RSN)
Occupy the Dream Pastors Spell Out Demands
17 January 12
Reader Supported News | Report
n 16 cities around the country, ministers from African-American churches offered a unified set of demands as they served notice that they are joining the Occupy movement. The demonstrations took place at Federal Reserve banks because, as the organizers explained, it was the Fed that bailed out the banks and Wall Street while Main Street was left to suffer.
In Washington DC, the Reverend Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore spelled out the demands in front of the Federal Reserve headquarters.
The first demand is campaign finance reform. Rev. Bryant said elections should not be about who can raise the most money, and for any reform to come out of Washington money has to be removed from the equation.
The second demand is to expand Pell Grants so our youth will no longer be burdened by debt from student loans. Rev. Bryant said, "It is a travesty that there is more student loan debt in this country than there is credit card debt. There are more students struggling to pay their debt than people paying off their flat screen TVs."
Many young people participated in the Occupy the Dream rally in front of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC, 01/16/12.
(photo: Scott Galindez/RSN)
Occupy the Dream's third demand is an immediate moratorium on foreclosures. Rev. Bryant said current estimates are that four million families will lose their homes between now and April. The demand is for foreclosures to halt until a plan is put in place to assist the victims of predatory lending.
The fourth demand is for Congress to allocate $100 billion dollars to put people back to work. They are calling for the money to be allocated in three areas: job training, seed money for entrepreneurs, and money to rebuild our infrastructure.
Today's rallies were designed to pick up the mantle of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. Many in Dr. King's family believe that one of the reasons he was killed was that he was planning to Occupy the National Mall until the Viet Nam War ended. Rev. Bryant said this year, instead of "... resting and reflecting on the past, we are honoring Dr. King by making history, and beginning a new push to achieve his dream."
Sgt. Shamar Thomas and Reverend Jamal Bryant lead a picket line in front of the Federal Reserve in Washington DC,
as part of an Occupy the Dream rally, 01/16/12. (photo: Scott Galindez/RSN)
Another focus of the Occupy the Dream movement will be to hit the banks where it will hurt. They are calling for everyone to move their money from the big banks to minority-owned or community banks and credit unions. February 14th will be the day of the initial push. They will then extend the effort to professionals in the African-American community - doctors, lawyers and others. The third push will encourage churches to move their money. Rev. Bryant said the goal was to "Let the banks know that it's our money and they need to treat us with respect."
Rev. Bryant is a national co-chair for the Occupy the Dream movement. The other co-chair is former NAACP Director Dr. Ben Chavis. Dr. Chavis led the Occupy the Dream rally in New York City, where hundreds marched and four were arrested.
Occupy the Dream is also building a National Mobilization to Washington DC, which is scheduled for April 4th - 7th.
Occupy the Dream Kicks Off in DC: "Occupy 2.0"
Scott Galindez was formerly the co-founder of Truthout, and is now the Political Director of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Live Occupy Wall Street Tweets
 14 May 2012
|
 14 May 2012
|
 13 May 2012
|
 14 May 2012
|
 15 May 2012
|
 14 May 2012
|
 16 May 2012
|
 13 May 2012
|
 13 May 2012
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Dr. King lives on in the actions of these foresighted among us who have the podium.
What is the best about this is that they are doing it, they're standing up and shouting loudly, and I'm gonna guess, they're gonna change history.
Thank you!
Inspiring article :-)
We make demands and we will not compromise to corporate, political party payoffs.
Corporate, police state, Dems and Repugs will evaporate.
We will have democracy.
We will have freedom.
You are more important than profit.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Remaki
My point in bringing this up is that Prof. Cornel West was asking about where the prophetic Black voices are right now in our society. The answer is Pastor Jamal Bryant and Ben Chavis. These are two of many out there in the Occupy the Dream movement. We need to support them because they are following in the tradition of MLK.
Prof West challenges all of us by asking what are we willing to sacrifice? Are we willing to be leaders and stand for the truth and even risk our lives as did many in the Civil Rights Movement?
The Occupy the Dream and OWS movements is the new millenium Civil Rights Movement only this time it will be black, white, brown, red and yellow. This economic Depression affects us all and we will be a force to be reckoned with all the way to the Nov 2012 election and beyond! Power to the People!
Nationalize the banks and give the people back their houses!
RSS feed for comments to this post.