By Mansfield Frazier
“…and as the police and military are the instruments by which the rich rob and oppress the poor (on legal and moral principles made for the purpose) it is not possible to be on the side of the poor and the police at the same time.”
–George Bernard Shaw
The expected arrests have begun around the country and now we’ll soon see if the country is on the cusp of real change, or will the movement be crushed to the ground by agents of the establishment. Now the depth of devotion to the cause will be tested and the ideological underpinnings challenged.
And for all of those who are attempting to marginalize the Occupy movement by claiming it’s rudderless and shallow, I have two answers: Chris Hedges and Elizabeth Warren, nominally the godparents of the nascent evolution (no, it’s not a revolution and it won’t turn into one).
Hedges, the journalist, war correspondent and author of many of the most insightful books written in the last couple of decades (his 2009 work, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, is, in my mind, destined to be a classic) knows the sins of these latter day Robber Barons chapter and verse, and has been using the blog Truthdig to expose them for years. More than any other person in the country Hedges’ unapologetically brutal rants and riffs on the ruling class lit the flame of the Molotov cocktails that are being metaphorically thrown at the status quo. Simply because many on the right are not bright enough to comprehend what this brilliant writer has been saying does not mean it hasn’t been said… it has, and these young people have heard him.
And godmother Warren, who was set to head the Consumer Protection Agency (the entity she virtually single-handedly created) until she refused to kiss the rings of Republicans and Democrats alike, will eventually be hailed as the new American prototype of what an elected public servant should look, think and act like: From strong working-class roots, she’s dynamic, brilliant and tough-mindedly brave.
In a recent video, which shows her speaking to a group of supporters in Massachusetts as she makes a run for Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat, she electrified listeners by saying “… there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own, nobody. You build a factory, good for you, but you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for… you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate… you were safe in your factory because of the police and fire forces the rest of us paid for… you didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything in your factory and have to hire someone to protect it because of the work the rest of us did. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea, God bless, keep a big hunk of it, but part of the underlying social contract is that you take another hunk of that and pay forward to the next kid who comes along.” Amen, sister, Amen.
On another note, there’s recently been a spate of articles by various bloggers asking “where are the blacks?” as if the movement is not allowing minorities a seat at the table; but nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, here in Cleveland a couple of “leaders” of the leaderless Occupy movement have reached out to African-Americans (me included) in an effort to find ways of getting more people of color involved. Methinks someone is attempting to play the race card by saying minorities have not been welcomed in an attempt to weaken the efforts of those seeking to bring about change. This tactic of playing blacks against whites has been used time and again by the oligarchs to derail systemic change but we should not allow them to successfully execute this strategy once again.
If young African-Americans are not represented in fair numbers there’s probably a number of reasons for this… some charitable, others not. It could be as simple as they are out looking for jobs; or it could be they are afraid involvement would keep them from getting a job. And it simply could be that not enough young persons of color are politically astute enough to grasp the importance of the protests… or maybe are too cowardly to step up. As one young relative said to me, “The government is videoing everyone involved,” which is true… but so what? This still is America, isn’t it?
Also, while I love the fact successful (and relatively wealthy) people like Michael Moore are stopping past the demonstration in New York to offer encouragement, they could be doing more. How about using some of their wealth to design and construct portable showers and toilets on wheels that could be hauled on-site for the demonstrators to use and then taken off-site to dump? The technology couldn’t be that difficult, and it might increase the number of people willing to stay the course.
Solving these kinds of nuts and bolts housekeeping and logistic issues will go a long way towards seeing the movement through the coming “long winter of discontent.” This is going to be like Washington and his troops during that fateful winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, and the movement should not become one of who can stomach the most misery.
Lastly, those of us not willing or able to camp out on Public Square still have an obligation to help in any way we can. We can simply drive by and honk, or stop and make a five buck donation so they can eat (or, better yet, take them some fresh fruit or a homemade casserole)… but do something to keep these young people encouraged to stay the course; after all they’re fighting our fight for us.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Notes on the Revolution II”
Thomas
Some of your best work, Mansfield!