The Occupy Wall Street movement in New York began on September 17, 2011 and has spread both nationally and globally. The movement is fighting back against the power that the 1% holds. In 2010, households in America with an annual minimum income of $516,633 represented the top 1% of America.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/who-are-the-1-percenters/2011/10/06/gIQAn4JDQL_blog.html)
The world has been watching the movement, many are in solidarity with the movement but cannot participate because they cannot afford to take time off work, cannot afford to travel or, for some, cannot afford to protest against the same companies they work for without risking their jobs.
It has been great to see women, particularly Black women involved in the movement. There has been an emphasis on ensuring diversity and working together as a whole.
(http://www.thenation.com/article/164197/where-are-women-occupy-wall-street-everywhere-and-theyre-not-going-away)
It has been disheartening, however, to read of the sexual violence, abuse and signs of racism, sexism and homophobia. It reminds us that, the Occupy movement may involve like-minded people in some ways, but the 99% out there protesting is a microcosm of the world we live in. A group that diverse will have many schisms and, someone in support of one form of social justice does not necessarily champion that of their neighbor. It goes deeper than that, too. It may not be that they do not champion it; they may be oblivious to it all together. The heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon patriarchy they have lived in has shaped their world-view to the point that they don’t recognize all of the “-isms” that create schisms, or violence.
(http://infrontandcenter.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/the-value-of-a-safe-space/)
The Safer Spaces OWS groups have made it easier for women to become a part of a subgroup in which they feel safe in to be able to be a part of the collective as a whole. The subgroups represent the diversity and the needs of the masses and, taken together, represent the bigger issues that, as a society, we need to work together toward solving.
(http://womenoccupy.tumblr.com/)
