Hoods participating in: Occupy Wall Street protests
Posted on: October 9, 2011
Hoods participating in: Occupy Wall Street protests
Andrew Bossone sent me this link on Facebook.com:
Darren Sands published “ Black ‘Occupy’ Protesters Start ‘Occupy The Hood” (I edited slightly and abridged the article)
“Occupy Wall Street protests” encourages openness and inclusion. So far, it seems that it attracted almost exclusively white citizen. Maybe not longer: A growing number volunteers calling themselves “Occupy The Hood” are stepping in.
Founded by Malik Rhasaan, 39 of Queens, N.Y., and Ife Johari Uhuru, 35, based in Detroit, @OccupyTheHood has close to 3,500 followers on Twitter. Support of notable figures and a cadre of volunteers are devoted to getting the word out about the cause of the protests to African Americans and Latinos.
Rhasaan told Loop 21, Occupy The Hood has six core volunteers, but he’s already seen “Occupy The Hood” carried by people he’s never met. Like many others, he was initially just curious about the protests.
“It was a news story and I’ve always been interested in what’s going on in our country,” Rhassan said via phone from the protests, “I was just going down and really, just being nosy to see how honest it was. I realized there was a solid movement, but that there weren’t enough black and Latinos. A police officer asked me to move along.”
He got on Facebook to ask his friends why they weren’t out getting involved. “This really was about me and my friends starting a dialogue about what was going on. I really never thought this would happen.” Having never used Twitter, he created @OccupyTheHood.
The buzz caught the attention of Ife Johari Uhuru, who was browsing the internet at 2 a.m from her home in Detroit. She reached out to Rhasaan on Twitter and they spoke on the phone minutes later. She offered her crack social media and internet skills to complement Rhassan’s aggressive street-organizing. A partnership was born.
Ife Johari Uhuru said the onus of awareness to new communities does not fall solely on the shoulders of Occupy The Hood. “They’re gonna have a problem with people of color [getting involved] if they don’t connect (cause)/effects of capitalism to racism,” said Ife Johari.
In the meantime, Occupy The Hood says it need volunteers. It is also working on a website. Rhasaan has spoken with Cornel West, who gave him some insight and lauded their efforts. Occupy The Hood also received a phone call from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif), Ife Johari Uhuru said.
Though he does not want to take away from the core efforts of Occupy Wall Street, Rhasaan foresees “using this (objective) as an springboard to address other things, whether it be crime or health issues in our communities. But we, in the inner-city, doesn’t know how this pertains to us. We don’t tie our issues to Wall Street. Maybe if we did, we’d have less time to be beefing with each other.”
To volunteer or learn more about Occupy The Hood e-mail them at occupythehood@gmail.com.”
On Occupy Charlotte, Kumi Naidoo said: “This planet has enough to meet all of humanity’s need, but not all of humanity’s greed.” -Kumi Naidoo @Dina Badawy
Note: You may read https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/occupy-wall-street-is-statement-official/
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