Fwd: A letter from the ground at occupy wall street
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Justin Valone
Nov 21, 2011, 2:12:08 PM11/21/11
to occu...@googlegroups.com
here's a letter from a friend of mine in NYC.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jordan stern <jordan.ba...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 8:53 AM
Subject: A letter from the ground at occupy wall street
To: Justin Valone <cultivate...@gmail.com>, anna salcone <thenaught...@yahoo.com>, aaron wieler <aaron....@gmail.com>, Danni Biondini <danni.b...@gmail.com>, Crystal Hermann <crystal...@hotmail.com>, Chika Okoye <chika...@gmail.com>, Clayton Hartmann <thet...@yahoo.com>, Dominique Piccinino <d.m...@gmail.com>, David Cohen <dcprec...@gmail.com>, Daniel Kim <kimby...@gmail.com>, David Gumbiner <dagum...@gmail.com>, Erin Johnson <ejohn...@gmail.com>, Ellen roggemann <bute...@gmail.com>, Stephanie Elliott <Stephanie...@gmail.com>, Claire Fong <claire...@gmail.com>, Greta Tubbesing <gre...@gmail.com>, Anne Gee <anne.g...@gmail.com>, helen lee <heleny...@gmail.com>, leticia huerta <Leticia...@gmail.com>, mereb habtetsion <mereb.ha...@gmail.com>, Sean Hellfritsch <se...@encyclopediapictura.com>, Jeremy Dalmas <jda...@gmail.com>, kevin...@gmail.com, Kate Bowman <kates...@gmail.com>, monica corbin <mon...@gmail.com>, Kelly Rogala <kroga...@gmail.com>, ted farber <tedl...@gmail.com>, Lyn Williams <lyn...@gmail.com>, Anna Wasiutynski <ania....@gmail.com>, Rachel Wood <rache...@gmail.com>, beth wacks <beth...@gmail.com>, summer....@gmail.com, nbmendel <nbme...@gmail.com>, sfchalkboard <sfchal...@lists.riseup.net>, Kathy Baxter <km...@msn.com>, Tom Stern <toma...@msn.com>, Hanspeter Helm <he...@uni-freiburg.de>, Monika LUSKY <lu...@transgene.fr>
Hey All,
A lot of intense shit has been going on here in the last few days and I just wanted to share with you some thoughts from whats going on down here on the ground. The following is a report from what I've witnessed and what my friends have witnessed in the last few days.
They raided the shit out of our park at 1 am on Tuesday morning. They were slashing our tents and throwing our stuff in trash compactors while they told us that would could reclaim our stuff the following day. People got the shit beat out of them by cops. Some occupiers locked themselves by their necks to each other and to trees in the park, and they were pulled by their feet and choked. A man trying to cross the street walk punched in the face by a police captain. We were allowed back in the park at about 2 or 3 on Tuesday, one at a time while having our bags searched.
Yesterday was the big day of action to shut down wall street and the stock exchange opened 40 minutes late! Again, people were brutalized by police. My friend was choked, as in hand to neck, by a cop in a phone booth yesterday. Another friend took a billy club to the head several times for standing in the street amongst demonstrators and not moving when the police told them too. Alot of people here have new bracelets--cuts from zip tie hand cuffs cinched down so tight your hands turn blue.
As a line of police were pushing people down the sidewalk, an older black man kept falling down because he had a sprained ankle or something and couldn't walk. The cops only told him to walk faster.
Its humiliating and agitating and infuriating. For those of us who don't get attacked, we get the secondary trauma of seeing people we love get hurt and thrown in cages for expressing themselves in public.
Despite all this mess, we're keeping our heads up and are by no means deterred! Bloomberg and the NYPD can fuck off--they won't stop us from keeping these beautiful shitstorm called "Ocucpy Wall Street" from continuing. We are really inspired by the words and thoughts that you all share with us and by the stuff you are all doing in the bay area and in your communities elsewhere.
On behalf of me and my friends here:
We appreciate the concern among all of you who have asked us to be safe and to protect ourselves. But we're not the people who are swinging the billy clubs, or slamming people into the pavement.
The only way we will be safe is if all of us stand up to this bullshit. It doesn't have be at occupy wall street--this is the latest in a long line of anti authority movements--but it does have to be somewhere.
Love!!!
Jordan
From: jordan stern <jordan.ba...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 8:53 AM
Subject: A letter from the ground at occupy wall street
To: Justin Valone <cultivate...@gmail.com>, anna salcone <thenaught...@yahoo.com>, aaron wieler <aaron....@gmail.com>, Danni Biondini <danni.b...@gmail.com>, Crystal Hermann <crystal...@hotmail.com>, Chika Okoye <chika...@gmail.com>, Clayton Hartmann <thet...@yahoo.com>, Dominique Piccinino <d.m...@gmail.com>, David Cohen <dcprec...@gmail.com>, Daniel Kim <kimby...@gmail.com>, David Gumbiner <dagum...@gmail.com>, Erin Johnson <ejohn...@gmail.com>, Ellen roggemann <bute...@gmail.com>, Stephanie Elliott <Stephanie...@gmail.com>, Claire Fong <claire...@gmail.com>, Greta Tubbesing <gre...@gmail.com>, Anne Gee <anne.g...@gmail.com>, helen lee <heleny...@gmail.com>, leticia huerta <Leticia...@gmail.com>, mereb habtetsion <mereb.ha...@gmail.com>, Sean Hellfritsch <se...@encyclopediapictura.com>, Jeremy Dalmas <jda...@gmail.com>, kevin...@gmail.com, Kate Bowman <kates...@gmail.com>, monica corbin <mon...@gmail.com>, Kelly Rogala <kroga...@gmail.com>, ted farber <tedl...@gmail.com>, Lyn Williams <lyn...@gmail.com>, Anna Wasiutynski <ania....@gmail.com>, Rachel Wood <rache...@gmail.com>, beth wacks <beth...@gmail.com>, summer....@gmail.com, nbmendel <nbme...@gmail.com>, sfchalkboard <sfchal...@lists.riseup.net>, Kathy Baxter <km...@msn.com>, Tom Stern <toma...@msn.com>, Hanspeter Helm <he...@uni-freiburg.de>, Monika LUSKY <lu...@transgene.fr>
Hey All,
A lot of intense shit has been going on here in the last few days and I just wanted to share with you some thoughts from whats going on down here on the ground. The following is a report from what I've witnessed and what my friends have witnessed in the last few days.
They raided the shit out of our park at 1 am on Tuesday morning. They were slashing our tents and throwing our stuff in trash compactors while they told us that would could reclaim our stuff the following day. People got the shit beat out of them by cops. Some occupiers locked themselves by their necks to each other and to trees in the park, and they were pulled by their feet and choked. A man trying to cross the street walk punched in the face by a police captain. We were allowed back in the park at about 2 or 3 on Tuesday, one at a time while having our bags searched.
Yesterday was the big day of action to shut down wall street and the stock exchange opened 40 minutes late! Again, people were brutalized by police. My friend was choked, as in hand to neck, by a cop in a phone booth yesterday. Another friend took a billy club to the head several times for standing in the street amongst demonstrators and not moving when the police told them too. Alot of people here have new bracelets--cuts from zip tie hand cuffs cinched down so tight your hands turn blue.
As a line of police were pushing people down the sidewalk, an older black man kept falling down because he had a sprained ankle or something and couldn't walk. The cops only told him to walk faster.
Its humiliating and agitating and infuriating. For those of us who don't get attacked, we get the secondary trauma of seeing people we love get hurt and thrown in cages for expressing themselves in public.
Despite all this mess, we're keeping our heads up and are by no means deterred! Bloomberg and the NYPD can fuck off--they won't stop us from keeping these beautiful shitstorm called "Ocucpy Wall Street" from continuing. We are really inspired by the words and thoughts that you all share with us and by the stuff you are all doing in the bay area and in your communities elsewhere.
On behalf of me and my friends here:
We appreciate the concern among all of you who have asked us to be safe and to protect ourselves. But we're not the people who are swinging the billy clubs, or slamming people into the pavement.
The only way we will be safe is if all of us stand up to this bullshit. It doesn't have be at occupy wall street--this is the latest in a long line of anti authority movements--but it does have to be somewhere.
Love!!!
Jordan
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