I heard from @OccupySD99 that the Occupiers were over at the Federal Building so I made my way over there quickly after work. I heard the unmistakable sound of Fired Up Occupiers as I approached, and I saw that they were set in motion to march. Perfect timing! I quickly caught up to them, and started filming the activity for the People’s Stream. I had no idea where we were going but I quickly joined the rank and file and began chanting along with the crowd, feeling the drum beat that was keeping us all together in rhythm.
We passed through Horton Plaza as the rest of the 99% took a break from shopping to watch us. We then stopped at some intersections to take a lap or two around the crosswalks in OccupYrCorner-like fashion (with a little less attention to the traffic lights). Cars honked their horns in approval as we moved on (realistically also probably some alleviating their road rage). A few brave veterans and other occupiers stood by to ensure that traffic was stopped for the rest of us on the march. 24/7 Occupier Michael and others were up front directing the march smoothly as to keep us all together.
Somewhere along the way, I ran into my friend Anoki from OccupyYrCorner holding up one of his famous folding signs (print your own!) talking to the 99% passing by. Fortunately he had an extra sign that read “Did you know your rights are being fought for tonight?” and hooked a brotha' up!
Now that I was equipped with a sign, I started mixing it up with some of the 99% as we continued our march. I got a lot of thumbs up and high fives, especially after reassuring some people that we no we are not an angry mob and that we were in fact fighting for their rights and freedoms. One young man that we passed had a slightly different viewpoint on what were about.
He approached me as we were passing and said something along the lines of “Fuck Occupy! I fought in this country for you and you are all a bunch of ungrateful hippies.” I responded as calmly as I could, “We have all kinds of veterans down at Occupy and we are fighting for you as...“. He cut me off and got uncomfortably close to me and made it clear to me that I should refrain from “FUCKING TALK ABOUT THE VETERANS!!” It was then that I decided it was probably best to move on and so I thanked him for his service to our country and rejoined the crowd. That was probably my first semi-sketch moment in talking to people on the streets, but it was pretty easily diffused with a timely exit and a nice word to my potential assailant.
The highlight of my OYC March Mission was when we passed by a group of retired 99%ers I stopped and told them that we are fighting for more affordable medicine and health insurance for them. I talked to a few of them individually for a quick minute and I felt like in such a short interaction we had just gained just a little more support from the 99%.
Spirits were high as we re-entered Freedom Square, formally known as Civic Center. We let out a resounding yell throughout the plaza that this movement of the 99% isn’t going anywhere and we are gaining support from more of the 99% every day. We will continue until the entire 99% is marching along with us.
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