The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents. <\/em><\/p>\nAfter spending the last year covering undercovered activism, it\u2019s heartening to see the Occupy Wall Street movement gain so much momentum.<\/p>\n
While the movement is getting the coverage it deserves in the national media, several talking heads still can\u2019t seem to figure out what the people want. They\u2019re either really good actors or even more disconnected than I thought. <\/p>\n
All they have to do is venture out and ask questions.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, I spent three hours at Occupy Santa Rosa in Northern California. Santa Rosa is about an hour north of San Francisco. It was the largest rally the city has ever seen. As the hours went by, the crowds grew.<\/p>\n
I first met Kira Findling, a 14-year-old freshman who goes to Santa Rosa High. Her school has just four counselors for 2400 students, no full-time librarian, and just two janitors. She says the bathrooms are often closed because there aren\u2019t enough janitors to keep them clean. <\/p>\n
Kaiwie Fastwolf is a nurse who is seeing more and more patients go to the emergency room because they are losing their healthcare. A number of nurses were at the rally calling for a financial transaction tax. A 0.5 percent Wall Street tax could raise up to $175 billion a year in revenue.<\/p>\n
Chris, a 50-something self-employed construction worker held a homemade sign saying: \u201cWe are the 99%. We demand our government, jobs, homes, and money back from the 1% that stole them.\u2019 Chris can\u2019t find work and is on the verge of losing his home. Occupy Santa Rosa was the first rally he\u2019s ever attended. So what caused him to get involved? \u201cI don\u2019t know what else to do,\u201d he told me. \u201cThey took it all.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mary Mathews, a social worker, stumbled upon the rally on her way to a movie. She told me she\u2019s been waiting for something like this movement to happen. Economic stress is causing her clients to get divorced and many are turning to drugs and alcohol. <\/p>\n
Mateo Swaim-Brouwer, a 17-year-old, held a sign saying: \u201cYour 1-Year Bonus = 200 Years of My Youth Program.\u201d Mateo works with an LGBTQ organization — one of the only safe places in the area. Its budget is about $100,000 a year and it\u2019s all based on donations. He\u2019s concerned about future funding. <\/p>\n
Twenty-three year-old Sasha La-Rochelle held a sign saying: \u201cI\u2019ve Been Homeless Since January. All I want is to eat every day and have shelter.\u201d Sasha has been sleeping in her truck and on friends\u2019 couches since January. She didn\u2019t eat for a week in December. She recently found a $9 an hour job at the mall, but can\u2019t get more than 20 hours a week. She\u2019s currently looking for another job so she can rent a room.<\/p>\n
John Sutter, a building contractor, held a professional looking \u2018Top 10 Demands sign.\u2019 It said: \u201cJail the banksters; Help folks stay in their homes; Stop the buying of politicians; Corporations are not people; Support public education; Put the unemployed to work; Assist the less fortunate; Health care for all; Stop the wars; and Love our mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I found these people in less than three hours at one rally. Are you listening media? If you can\u2019t figure out what the people want, you might want to look into another line of work. <\/p>\n
The demands are clear. People are struggling. They want jobs. They want equality. And they want us to debate the real issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents. <\/em><\/p>\n