Like many people, you’re asking “What is Occupy Brooklyn?” You wanna know what this is all about before you put your time and energy into it.
The truth is, you are Occupy Brooklyn; we are Occupy Brooklyn. Through direct democracy, we’re defining what this group is, how it makes decisions, and how it can best fight for economic justice in our neighborhoods.
The best answer I’ve come to is this:
Occupy Brooklyn is a movement of Brooklynites organizing themselves in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. From Canarsie to Cobble Hill, Bay Ridge to Brownsville, the 99% are uniting against greed and corruption in our nation & neighborhoods.
“Why does Occupy Brooklyn exist?” is an easier question to answer. A huge proportion of NYC’s 99% live outside of Manhattan, with Brooklyn home to more New Yorkers than any other borough. Almost no part of Brooklyn life has gone unaffected by political corruption and corporate greed:
- According to the comptroller, Brooklyn’s unemployment rate is near 11.2%, before race or education are taken into account.
- 21.7% of Brooklynites live in poverty according to census data. That’s nearly 544,000 people.
- From 2008-2010, more than 18,000 foreclosure notices were issued in Brooklyn.
And those are just the numbers. The effects of economic injustice that we see in the daily life of our communities — in the broken systems of education, law enforcement, housing, immigration, etc. — are even more astounding.
Only by gathering together to discuss these issues and to take direct action against these injustices will we define what Occupy Brooklyn really is, and only together can we rebuild communities that put people before profits.
-TB