Name: Stephan Rhoden Grade: Grade 9 Language A Educator's Name: Ms Jones Assignment Topic: Expository Essay Word Count:

1,891 word

On September seventeenth of 2011, the 99% began their fight against the 1% in Liberty Square in Manhattan's Financial District. The Occupy Wall Street movement has moved to over one-hundred cities in the United States, and over 1,500 cities globally. The movement was created to expose the foul play that Wall Street continues to use, and how their reckless spending tactics played a big part in the financial recession. The occupy wall street movement was inspired by the famous protests in Egypt and Tunisia that happened earlier this year. Hundreds of people join each other daily in many cities for these protests. The occupy wall street movement shows that people are taking action to expose the foul play of large corporations. Using rallies and protests to promote their cause, the movement has moved from its origin in New York City across the United States. Although the movement is progressive, and in no way violent, police have used very brutal and unnecessary tactics to discontinue the protests.

The occupy wall street movement is positive, it allows people to persecute large businesses and banks who are responsible for the financial crisis. During the most recent recession banks and large corporations obtained loans from the United states government. "Occupiers" as the protesters call themselves, believe that this greedy and reckless behavior was the largest contributor for the lack of jobs, and amount of residential foreclosures in the United States. The occupiers have also brought an enormous amount of attention to the scams that have plagued Wall Street over the years, such as the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme, in which fifty billion dollars was stolen from clients including charities and foundations. The scheme affected one hundred and twenty-eight large companies and investors, causing many to have to file for bankruptcy. The fact

that hundreds of people join to create these rallies daily to raise awareness and try to stop these issues, shows that people across the world care about the financial state of others and they notice and understand the injustice that is being forced upon them. Rallies and protests in major cities all over the United states have been conducted to show their support. Cities such as: New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Boston, and San Diego in the United States, and Anchorage and Vancouver in Canada, all have created protest groups to help the fight against the tyranny of some of the Business owners on Wall Street, who have put other people at financial disadvantage. Many individuals that support the movement, have anonymously given their thoughts on why the movement, and what is stands for is important. These people have anonymously shared it with the public. In one case, an anonymous writer posts,

I was almost debt free when I was struck by a major medical crisis at the age of thirty-seven. After a long recovery, I am back to work. My paycheck now supports seven people - None of whom are my partner, spouse, or children. My once modest debt has now grown exponentially. I fear for my health and have no idea how I will pay debt, save, and retire. I am the 99%."

In this young mans case he shows that he feels that the business that he works for is not giving him the proper care that he deserves, and he is upset that his government is not doing anything about this. Another instance where a young person feels similarly towards their financial state is: My parents and grandma escaped the war in Bosnia in the 90s. Both of my parents work full-time. We recently found out that our

mortgage is FRAUDULENT. Bank of America tried to ILLEGALLY FORECLOSE on us a couple years ago. We havent paid our mortgage since January, when we found out that it is FRAUD. There are over 36,000 FRAUDULENT BANK DOCUMENTS in my county alone. BofA knows that we know they tried to scam us. Since stopping our payments, we havent received a foreclosure notice. We refuse to pay for fraud & corruption.

Corporations that outsource our jobs get tax breaks; 2/3 of corporations dont pay taxes, but wed go to jail if we didnt pay ours; people die because they dont have health insurance; banks drive people to homelessness & suicide by ILLEGALLY FORECLOSING. Im the 99%, Im sick of the elite RUINING PEOPLES LIVES. In this example, you can see that the writer is also unhappy with the injustice that large corporations have brought upon them, and the lack of response from the United States Government. It is easy to understand that people everywhere are upset with the fact that it is somehow expectable for corporations to cheat and steal from people.

The occupy wall street movement is a very progressive movement, however police departments all over the United States beg to differ, and for this reason, the movement has sparked a few cases of police brutality. The only problems that come along with the protests on behalf of the protestors, is obstructing roads, and crowding of sidewalks and parks. The occupiers themselves have not conducted any violent or destructive protests thus far, and although a lot of the police officers who are sent by their departments to monitor the protests and rallies to make sure that they do not get out of hand, which is their job, are doing so in a respectful and peaceful manner. Some offi-

cers have decided to take another approach and use unnecessary force to try and discourage protestors.

In all of the major cities in the United States, where occupy wall street protests are being conducted, protesters have been evicted from those areas. In Zucotti Park, in New York, protestors have decided that camping out in the park at night, and protesting through the day is the best way to get the results that they desire. However the New York Police Department is not pleased with this tactic, and just like in other big cities that the protests are in, people are being evicted from the park daily. Similar occasions have happened in Oakland and Los Angeles especially.

The evictions are justified, people are not allowed to sleep in a public area such as these parks, but apart from the evictions, police are using unfavorable tactics to oppress protestors. Many videos have been posted on the internet of instances during which police officers have singled out protestors and proceeded to throw them to the ground or police barriers, this is very unnecessary, inconsiderable, and dangerous. In one video, a young man with a professional video camera was recording a rally that was being conducted in Philadelphia, the young man was grabbed by a police officer who through him against the hood of a car, this caused the young man to fall, and his camera to break. The young man was then arrested, even though in the United States it is legal to film police activity. Another largely controversial tactic that police are using, is the use of large amounts of pepper against protestors. In many instances college students have been pepper sprayed directly in the face by police officers for protesting. Countless videos of these instances can be seen on the internet. This is unacceptable

behavior on behalf of police officers, because in no way are these people violating any United States law.

Should the occupy wall street movement be stopped? Should big banks and business be persecuted on a larger scale such as being forced to pay back the United States government to try and better the economy? The fact of the matter is, that so many people and protests show such dissatisfaction with this topic, which means that Wall Street must be at some fault. These occupy wall street protestors have shown that they care a lot about their cause through their persistency. After every eviction that protestors have suffered, they always reorganize. Through an internet blog, organizers can broadcast locations and times for protestors to obtain news on current and upcoming rallies. In a way, Wall Street finances America. Large corporations on wall street finance a lot of the smaller businesses, for example: JP Morgan owns five U.S banks along with Chase Bank and Custodial Trust. Charities, and foundations in the United States, so if these Wall Street companies suffered financially, then these smaller organizations that they fund, would also suffer. Wall Street cannot just change their spending habits, what they can and must change, is their recklessness, and scams, which is what the occupy wall street movement is attempting to put a stop to.

The occupy wall street movement is positive, because it allows people to show how they feel about the state of the economy, and who they believe as to blame for it. The occupy wall street movement is negative because it causes some turmoil within cities. Occupy wall street, a very large movement with protests in a lot of major cities, this means that if you wanted to help the cause, you could find a protest near you and

join. If you had the opportunity to participate in one of these events, would you? I believe that if you do agree with the beliefs of the occupy wall street movement or others like it, then you should join in and take action.

Citations:

Anonymous. "I Am the 99%." We Are the 99 Percent. OccupyWallStreet.org, Nov.-Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/>.

Bernard Madoff $50M Ponzi Scheme Scam Scandal: Madoff Will Get "BIG BIG Jail Time, but in Terms of Restitution, No One Should Get Their Hopes ... Youtube. GettingtotheTruth2/CNN, 17 Dec. 2008. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=K5bzLbIcIxw> Flegenheimer, Matt. "After an Eviction, Digging Through a Surplus of Donations." Weblog post. City Room. The New York Times, 22 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/ows-storage/?scp=30&sq=occupy%20wall %20street&st=cse>. Melker, Saskia De. "Around the Nation: The Occupy Movement." Weblog post. PBS Newshour. PBS, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/around-the-nation-the-occupymovement.html>. "MSNBC on NYPD Police Brutality during Occupy Wall Street Lawrence O'donnell with "The Last Word"" YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. BYarlboro, 26 Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/>.

News Desk. "Hundreds Arrested Worldwide in Latest 'Occupy Wall Street' Protests." Weblog post. PBS Newshour. PBS, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/hundreds-arrested-in-latest-occupy-wall-streetprotests.html>. Occupy Wall St - The Revolution Is Love. Youtube - Broadcast Yourself. Fiercelightfilms, 18 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri= %2F&gl=US#/watch?v=BRtc-k6dhgs>.

Slosson, Mary. "Police Take down Occupy LA Camp, Arrest Nearly 300." Weblog post. Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/30/us-usa-protests-idUSTRE7AT0FO20111130>.