Occupy Wall Street; a High School Speech

There is a movement going on around us. It started months ago, on a street in New York City. People of all ages, races, and religious affiliation, stood together with signs protesting the Big Business that have gained control of our nation. There's nothing special about these people, except for the fact that they recognized a problem that needed to be fixed. The longer the first protesters stood there and preached what they stood for, the more followers they gained. This group of individuals didn't know what they were starting. They had no idea that their act of peaceful protest would spark a movement that cities all over the world would follow. This movement was, the Occupy Movement. ​​Occupy Wall Street started with the beliefs that the big business were doing more harm than good to our nation. They gave the New York citizens these facts on why they all gathered on Wall Street: ​They have taken our houses through illegal foreclosure processes, bailouts from taxpayers, perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace, poisoned food supplies through negligence, and profited off of the torture and confinement of animals.  The "facts" I just stated are only a few of many said by the original occupiers. Unfortunately as the idea of Occupy Wall Street spread, the ideals did not. From branches like Occupy LA to Occupy Harlem, the Movement got a very bad name, and lost the public's support. ​ After the more neutral onlookers started to dislike these protesters, the police started reacting harshly. A pedestrian out on a shopping spree could get arrested for standing too close to the Occupiers. Police brutality was unstoppable. Peaceful protesters were corralled and pepper sprayed with no real cause, and citizen journalists were arrested in masses. Then the media took their first offensive blow. Major news stations reported that the Occupiers made messes of parks with their camps. Some went as far to say the Occupiers just smoked all day. This lead to politicians trying to kick the make-shift camps out of the parks and off the streets.  Most of the occupy movement has been heavy affected by media. Twitter has been the main site, with groups representing all the Occupied cities. Blogs have held the tales of abused Occupiers, and of people who want to support, but only know how thought the Internet. It wasn't until a group of women were mercilessly pepper sprayed for no reason, that people took ​note of the police brutality. The media projected the NYPD in the light that they Occupiers saw them. But that didn't get the NYPD to stop. Reports of elderly and pregnant women getting pepper sprayed filled blogs. ​ The most popular of the blogs, is popular group known at Anonymous. Anonymous is a non profit group, fighting a silent, and electronic fight against the big corporations that gained control of the government. The group gave Occupy Wall Street a new air about it. These protesters weren't just college kids, they were people who had a right to protest. ​ Every day people lose their homes to banks, and lose their jobs to "down sizing". These people are honest, hardworking Americans. They aren't the typical high school drop outs that we imagine jobless people to be. Most have degrees, some higher than others, and they still don't have jobs, or get payed enough to survive on. These are the people Occupiers refer to as the "99%". The 99% is used to describe all the middle and lower class citizens, while the "1%" are the higher powers who hold the majority of the worlds money. Most realize that success isn't always about what you do, it's where you came from and who you know.  ​ This gap between the classes became more and more evident as the economy got worse and worse. Fewer middle class Americans had the means to support their small businesses, and getting loans just added to the problem. The government was helping bail out GMC, but not the Mom and Pop restaurant up the street. ​ These circumstances lead to the Occupy Movement spreading out of the United States of America, and to Britain, Japan, and Egypt. Egypt, especially, went through the hardships that the Occupiers on Wall Street were feeling. The police brutality was equal, if not worse to that of the American Occupiers. Our government, noticing what was happening in Egypt, told the Egyptian authorities that what they were doing to their citizens was wrong and unlawful. They failed, however, to see the plank in their eye. If Egypt is getting backed up by American government, why can't our Occupiers be helped? The abuse felt by the Egyptian Occupiers cause a increase in citizen journalists and bloggers, telling the stories of Occupiers. More and more of the citizens arrested without cause came out against the police who did them wrong. These people didn't do this for personal fame, but for coverage that benefited the Movement. It was then that people started to realize that this was a peaceful protest. Only in certain camps, like Occupy Harlem, and Occupy Portland, did the Occupiers show any violence to the policemen, or vandalize the cities they stayed in. The police didn't have anything to hide behind. Big business owners started supporting the very same protest that was against them. Celebrities went to occupy camps and talked with the protestors. One of these celebrities is a personal favorite, George Takei. He, and others like Kanye, Jay-Z,and Erin Burnett, all came out to support the Occupiers. I learned about Occupy Wall Street sometime around the fall of 2011. The first story I came upon, was that of a citizen journalist, who had been arrested with his friend. After wards, I became emotionally connected with these modern revolutionist. This connection only grew stronger when I met members of Occupy Columbia. The Occupiers that I had the pleasure of meeting, and helping move their tents on the state grounds were no different than me. Two were teenagers, that I now have the privilege to consider friends, gave me a new outlook on the Movement. They were the first to tell me exactly why they felt they should protest. As someone who was told the real purpose of Occupy, I consider it part of my job to spread the word. Whether though twitter, my blog, or this speech. These people are protesting for your families, for your friends, and for you. It wont be long till you're in their shoes. I respect these Occupiers. I respect what they are doing, and that's all they ask for. They ask that we as a nation see what these businesses are doing to our generation, and they want us to fight back, peacefully. The police can hold back the people, but not the idea.