Story by Sherry Mazzocchi, Debralee Santos and Gloria Pazmino
Video by Sherry Mazzocchi
Local uptown community leaders and residents from Washington Heights and the Bronx have decided to elevate the “Occupy Wall Street” (“OWS”) dialogue – and have brought the cause uptown – and bring their issues downtown.
As a result, the faces of protest have changed – and so has the language and music used to manifest discontent.
This past week, as the “OWS” movement spread far beyond Zuccotti Park, and reached into Washington Heights and the Bronx, local residents joined together to give voice to many of the same concerns their counterparts downtown have championed.
They did so in English and in Spanish, with placards and chants.
They used drums – and guiros.
On Mon., Oct. 10th, nearly 100 people occupied the sidewalk just before the northern Manhattan side of the 181st Street bridge that leads directly into the Bronx.
As cars and trucks whizzed by, they chanted, “¡Obama, escucha, estamos en la lucha!” (“Obama, listen, we are in the fight!”) and railed against a lack of jobs and corporate greed.
Cara Noel, spokesperson for UnitedNY, one of the organizations that helped coordinate the protest, said that the 181st Street Bridge is an example of crumbling infrastructure in need of repair. The American Jobs act, unofficially known as President Obama’s jobs bill, could fund the repair of this and approximately 2,100 other bridge and roadways across the state, she said.
“This is an example of a way we could put people back to work. And put them back to work doing good jobs, and…quickly,” she said.
New York City Councilmember Ydanis Rodríguez also lent his support to the demonstration. “It is time for us to send a message nationwide that the Republicans should support Obama’s initiative to create jobs,” he said at the protest.
On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate blocked the bill from consideration. The Obama administration said they intend to salvage parts of the bill by submitting pieces of it for another vote in the near future.
While UnitedNY’s focus was primarily on the jobs bill, others who joined the 181st Street rally were taking aim at Wall Street and simultaneously denouncing the economic and social ills that are pervasive in northern Manhattan and Bronx neighborhoods.
People carried placards reading, “El 99% que sufre las consecuencias del 1% estamos indignado (The 99% who suffer the consequences of the 1% are outraged).” Cars and trucks driving by honked.
Carlos Montesdeoca of the Bronx said that Wall Street has corrupted the country.
“Now we have no food, no jobs and we don’t know what’s happening in the future.
Many protestors uptown, from Washington Heights, Inwood and the Bronx, also traveled downtown to Zuccotti Park this past Saturday to lend support. “If we don’t say, ‘Presente!’, it’s like we’re not here, and change will never come,” explained Miriam Mejia.
Others expressed a deep resonance with the downtown protesters. Rosita Romero, Executive Director of the Dominican Women’s Development Center, said the 181st Street rally was meant to bring the spirit of that protest uptown.
“In our communities, we also have a lot of problems. We believe it is time that we have a better distribution of wealth.” She added that money is needed for housing, day care and reducing the growing number of people – particularly women and children – who don’t have enough money for food.
Former union organizer Marisol Alcantara, said that the uptown protest was the culmination of many frustrations that would not easily go away because of high unemployment rates, particularly for African Americans and Latinos.
“I think this is a great beginning to get more communities of color involved in the process,” she said.
The movement has continued to spread.
This past Sat., Oct. 17th, a contingent of over 100 Bronx residents participated in a gathering its organizers called “Occupy the Bronx,” to show solidarity with the protestors downtown. It was also part of the “Global Day of Action,” demonstrations that saw rallies in hundreds of cities worldwide that were intended to mark the one-month anniversary of the protests begun in Zuccotti Park. One of the “Occupy the Bronx’s” chief proponents and organizers was New York State Assemblyman José Rivera, who also opened up the doors of his district office for those who gathered at Fordham Plaza.
“I stand in complete solidarity with the ‘Occupy Wall Street’, and now the new ‘Occupy the Bronx’ movement…I too am part of the 99%,” said Rivera.
The Bronx residents who gathered were peaceful – and spirited. Many sported clothing, caps or emblems with colorful Puerto Rican and Dominican flags. They shouted out in Spanish, lending a decidedly Latino sensibility to a protest some have said has been portrayed as the domain of young, white students.
“¡Basta!” shouted an older woman as she walked past, waving her fist in support.
And in northern Manhattan, the scene on Saturday morning was similar outside of the Chase Bank branch on West 181st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.
“Los bancos roban, la gente se ahoga [Banks rob; people drown],” was the chant of the crowd gathered. They demanded a halt to tax cuts for millionaires, the creation of jobs, and the restoring of budget cuts that have affected the community in recent months.
Wearing a construction hard hat with the words “Capitalism is the Problem,” Simon Morel, resident of Washington Heights, said he joined the group because he believes that it was important for the community to connect with ‘OWS.’
“It’s necessary for this community…to let everyone know that we too are indignant. We feel the same things; we are living in a system that oppresses us,” said Morel.
After protesting in front of the bank, the group walked a few blocks west to catch the A train and head down to Zuccotti Park. Once there, they entered the crowd, paint buckets and guiros in hand, and began to chant.
“We’re here because we acknowledge that there is a disconnect between the OWS movement, and the ‘hood. To move forward, people of color, including Latinos, Asians, Arabs, and Africans, need to be here…participating in decision making,” explained Claudia de la Cruz, an uptown community organizer.
“Take back the Heights and Occupy Wall Street,” was the call.
Using the “people’s mic,” Claudia de la Cruz, community organizer, stood at the top of the park’s stairs, and addressed the crowd, led by the sound of African drums.
“We’re here because we acknowledge that there is a disconnect between the OWS movement, and the ‘hood. To move forward, people of color, including Latinos, Asians, Arabs, and Africans, need to be here not as tokens but participating in decision making,” she shouted.
With each shout, each repetition, and each cheer, the crowd around uptown protestors, who held up signs in Spanish, grew larger.
“There is a need to link Occupy Wall Street with taking back our ‘hoods, so the Heights is here to say, ‘Take back the Heights and Occupy Wall Street,’” said De la Cruz, as the crowd erupted into a cheer of support.
Miriam Mejia, a Washington Heights resident and life-long advocate, reflected on her experience that day.
“We have a commitment that compels us, especially us, the minority,” said Mejia, “If we don’t say, ‘Presente!’, it’s like we’re not here, and change will never come.”
