We are solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and all of its international cousins, including Occupy Albany. I was able to participate directly for the first time last night, attending the People of Color Working Group Meeting. The power of it for me is in the coalition building. To sit in a cold tent on some tarps and blankets closely packed in with Black, Latino, Asian, Native, and Mixed Heritage activists of all ages and shades is incredible. We get to be together, hear one another’s stories, and support one another’s work in the world.
I struggled a bit last week deciding whether to head straight from a 2-day job in NYC to Occupy or whether to go home and read to my children. This begged the larger question, “What is the place of a parent, farmer, teacher in this movement? To sleep on the ground? Facilitate strategy sessions?” Jonah and I came to the answer independently and simultaneously. “We’ll feed the movement.” Below is a picture of our first vegetable delivery to the Occupy Albany kitchen. Yesterday, we were able to provide shelter as well, donating the tent that will remain standing as the safe space for People of Color. Food and shelter. Yeah!
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable … It comes only through the tireless efforts and passionate concern of dedicated individuals … This is no time for apathy nor complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1958)