Occupy Detroit Sets Date for Action

The first Detroit General Assembly held at the Spirit of Hope Church. Over 1,000 people attended the meeting., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Occupy Detroit sets date for occupation

Organizers estimate that about 1,000 people attended planning meeting

By EMILY MORMAN
The South End

Hundreds of people crowded into Spirit of Hope Church Oct. 10 to plan the upcoming Occupy Detroit movement modeled after the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City that has caught national attention.

Event organizers estimated that about 1,000 people attended the meeting. Shortly after the 7 p.m. start time, the group moved out of the church and onto a playground next door to accommodate the overflow of people coming in.

At the meeting, Oct. 14 was set as the start date of the occupation. The group will meet at Spirit of Detroit statue in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center at 4 p.m. and start its march at 6 p.m. They’ll march down Woodward Avenue through the financial district to Grand Circus Park, where they will stage their protest.

Similar to Occupy Wall Street, the group will be protesting what they see as unfair social, financial and political practices that take advantage of the middle and lower class.

Occupy Wall Street has been going on since mid-September but only recently attracted mainstream media attention. People from all over the country have traveled to join the protest, which has become both a national and international movement.

Some people came with a specific social issue in mind that they want to protest.

“I am a midwife, and I would like to see women who are uninsured be able to get breast screenings and Pap smears,” said Helen Stockton of Ypsilanti. “I’m also in support of trying to reform our nation’s policy for how corporations operate and would like to see free health care for everybody in America.”

She said she first heard about the Wall Street protest, then heard talk of a similar movement in Detroit.

“I searched for it until it popped up on Facebook, basically, and then kind of just joined in,” she said.

Others came out of sheer curiosity.

“I guess I just wanted to see what was going to happen here and what the turnout would be and how it would be organized,” said Siri Gossman of Hamtramck.

Event organizer Diana Carolina said she has had experience participating in multiple protests in New York City during the spring and summer. As part of a working-class immigrant family, she has personal ties to the causes represented during Occupy Wall Street.

“I went to City College for my undergrad…and there were primarily black people, people of color, and I could see the massive attacks on public education,” she said. “But the reason why I want to participate in this specifically is (that) I think this is a real opportunity to build a broad…social movement.”

She said she was excited to be part of something where “the most oppressed sectors, their demands, their experiences and their visions are really guiding the movement.”

During the introduction inside the church, speaker Abayomi Azikiwe started a dialogue with the crowd that fired up the people.

“Are we tired of unemployment?” he asked.

“Yes!” the crowd responded.

“Are we tired of being robbed by banks?”

“Yes!”

“Are we tired of being forced out of our homes?”

“Yes!”

“Are we ready to draw the line?”

“Yes!”

“The Occupy Wall Street movement is growing. It’s developing. It’s diversifying,” Azikiwe said, “and if they can do it in New York, I know damn well we can do it in Detroit.”