Occupy D.C. Protesters March Through Washington Demanding Jobs
EmailThe mantra of the Occupy DC protests rang out loudly and clearly through downtown Washington Thursday afternoon.
“Where are the jobs?” protesters yelled outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“We need jobs” they shouted in front of the White House.
“Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” they chanted while marching down K Street.
The group plans to “occupy,” or camp out in, Washington’s Freedom plaza until the government creates a serious jobs program, adds an amendment to the Constitution to take “big money” out of elections by repealing the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and investigates Wall Street bankers that were involved in the financial crisis, said protestor Peter Burr, 64.
“There are very, very few people in the United States who are not being impacted by this, and I don’t know if it will take weeks or months but gradually they are all going to speak up,” said Burr, who drove from Nashville, Tenn., to participate in Thursday’s event.
Occupy D.C. is an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has taken up residence in downtown New York City for the past three weeks. Both the president and vice president spoke out in solidarity with the “occupy” protestors today.
“What is the core of that protest?” asked Vice President Joe Biden at the Washington Ideas Forum. “The core is: The bargain has been breached. The core is the American people do not think the system is fair or on the level. That is the core is what you’re seeing with Wall Street.”
At a White House press conference, President Obama said the Wall Street protest “expresses the frustrations that the American people feel.”
“We had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street,” Obama said. “And yet you’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place.”
As about 600 citizens marched through the streets of downtown Washington they chanted, “We are 99 percent,” as in the 99 percent of Americans who share the same amount of wealth as the top 1 percent.
“Everyone in the United States is going to wake up and realize they’re speaking about me: I don’t have a job, I don’t have health insurance, my house is in foreclosure,” said Allison Johnson, a protestor who lives in D.C. “People are going to realize ’99 percent’ is us.”
Tom Bias of Sparta, N.J., who spent two days occupying Wall Street, said the goals of both the New York and D.C. protests are the same.
“We want jobs, we want peace, we want the war money brought home, we want Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid left alone,” Bias said.
Bias is unemployed after being laid off four months shy of being able to retire and is now at risk of losing his house.
“I’m bankrupt,” he said. “And it’s not fair that I worked for 40 years and my family is now facing homelessness.”
Before heading out on the march, Jo Siepier-Gora, 71, lamented that America is “rapidly declining” and that the government is no longer meeting the needs of the people.
“Our country has been better than it is now, Siepier-Gora said. “It’s been kidnapped by the wealthy with the collusion of the government. I am here to try and change that for my children and grandchildren because the American dream is broken.”
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Where are the jobs? Maybe they should ask, “Where are the job creators?” Maybe they should also ask, “What is NAFTA?”, and “What is Glass-Steagall and why is it important?”
Posted by: Woody | October 6, 2011, 7:59 pm 7:59 pm
It is sad all those without work. Have hope. We will get a president who cares about creating jobs in 2012. It won’t be obama, needless to say.
Posted by: jonny | October 6, 2011, 8:12 pm 8:12 pm
VIVA LA REVOLUTION ! Where are the JOBS ? WHERE DID THE STIMULUS MONEY GO ? We the people for the people, we want Congressional hearings to get to the bottom of it. We do not care if you are a right wing nut job or the left wing nut job, WE WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE STIMULUS MONEY WAS SPENT ON !!!!!!
Posted by: acdc2012 | October 6, 2011, 8:30 pm 8:30 pm
“We need jobs” they shouted in front of the White House.
Interesting…
Posted by: Creel | October 6, 2011, 9:18 pm 9:18 pm
Creel, it’s very interesting. The irony is the guy who yells FIRE the loudest is the same guy who blocks the exit door. In layman term , the guy who screams “pass it now” is the same guy who designs his job bill to be DOA.
Posted by: acdc2012 | October 6, 2011, 9:35 pm 9:35 pm
The Republican spin doctors will not be able to turn this one in their favor and this will cause the Democrats to stop going half way in an effort to keep their financial backers :). Looks like the Tea Party is yesterday’s news!
Posted by: focusonjobs1 | October 6, 2011, 9:58 pm 9:58 pm
who’s going to investigate government’s role?
Posted by: grumpopolis | October 6, 2011, 10:07 pm 10:07 pm
Interesting how Democrats say all the right things, pretend they are “listening”, slobbering all over themselves to appear sympathetic to the “frustrations” of the people while trying to shove another same old tax and spend bill through Congress to pay off all their special interests and donors. What phonies, when Democrats’ Wall Street buddies profited big time from the Crash of ’09. George Soros made BILLIONS. He claimed it as the crowning achievement of his career. Well, he needs a lot of money to fund all of his Democrat political manipulators like MoveOn.
Posted by: pam | October 6, 2011, 10:58 pm 10:58 pm
Forget Obama or Mitt Romney. They’ve both been bought out by corporations. Almost ALL politicians, with very few exceptions, have been bought by corporate lobbyists. It makes no difference if they are Democrat or Republican. This is why the public option for health insurance didn’t make it into the mix: everyone was in bed with healthcare lobbyists. They’re in bed with pharmaceutical companies, HMO’s, defense contractors (why do you think we spend so much on war??), Monsanto, big oil, coal companies…you wonder why this country’s gone to hell in a handbasket and no politician will make a fuss about it. They don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. It’s time we cut that (metaphorical) hand off and sent the lobbyists and the vast majority of politicians packing. We need a whole new Congress and a new Executive Branch (Shame we can’t do anything about the SC). Hopefully an Independent will win the White House in 2012, cuz I’m not voting for Mitt OR Barack.
Posted by: katia04 | October 7, 2011, 12:33 am 12:33 am
(I should say, “the Republican candidate” but everyone knows it’ll be Romney…if not, I’m still not voting Republican…sorry about that)
Posted by: katia04 | October 7, 2011, 12:35 am 12:35 am
It is better to die standing than live on your knees— Emiliano Zapata 1915
IKE said this on January 17th, 1961
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. Forget about Wall Street our real enemy is WIC. They see our lives as collateral damage, They destroy innocent kids on daily basis. You want a real cause to fight for. Remember Father Flannigans words a year before he died. WAR FOR THE CHILDREN!!!!! This is the only true cause. Don’t fight for anything else or you will be sucked in. Religion, king, isms, flag, land, country, queen, gold, glory it is all BS. Fight for the kids!!!! That is the only true cause!!! Good Luck. Remember nonviolence is the only way. Listen to Silent Running and prepare yourself to stand up for the kids.
Posted by: cony007 | October 7, 2011, 4:30 am 4:30 am
Oh for heavens sakes. I could have swore all the liberals thought the president made jobs. You really believe businesses can hire when there isnt any work. Or are these protests because the protesters are just jealous and want those huge bonuses? Well get the hll over it because that kinda job you earn you dont demand, These people are moron and I hope they all go to jail
Posted by: SlowDown | October 7, 2011, 7:26 am 7:26 am
For those of you who believe that #Occupy or #OWS is about elections, independents, republicans or democrats, you are not paying attention. We have given the 2-party system time to solve the inequities rampant in America, we have given the government time to preserve our middle class, and they have failed the people. We are out of time. We are on a fast course to 3rd world oblivion and only those willing to take on the mighty powers can save us now. We were warned by many before, but no one listened. No one paid attention while the plutocracy took hold. We have now arrived at ‘do or die’. Occupy!!
Posted by: Patt Reid | October 8, 2011, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm
Outside of Public Sector jobs these protesters are only qualified as “Community Organizers”! We need less complainers and more job creators.
Posted by: Common _ Sense | October 20, 2011, 1:40 pm 1:40 pm
Listen very carefully….to everyone
Posted by: Robert Woodall | October 20, 2011, 3:17 pm 3:17 pm
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