Occupy Oakland -- Re-Occupying Oscar Grant a.k.a. Frank Ogawa Plaza

Occupy Oakland announces the plan for re-taking the Oscar Grant Plaza by vigil. The vigil begins at noon on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011.


On Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at noon, Occupy Oakland will re-take the Oscar Grant a.k.a. Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland (14th and Broadway) by a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week vigil. Occupiers hope to create a new wave of Occupation throughout the United States.

By vigil, Occupiers will continue asserting rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution to assemble, speak,, and petition government for redress of grievances. The vigil is NOT the product of a bargain with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, nor is it negotiated with law enforcement.

A teepee will remind the public of the former Occupy camp (pictured in its former condition; now a swamp--thanks to Quan) and historic struggles of the Sioux Indians on the Plains of the U.S., homeless workers in Hoovervilles during the Great Depression, the "Bonus March" in Washington D.C. by unpaid and unemployed veterans in 1932, Resurrection City following the assassination of Martin Luther King, the AIDS vigil of 1980s San Francisco, and the redwood occupations of Judi Bari and Running Wolf.

Occupy Oakland continues its occupation because people are still fighting for food, shelter, medical care, school, childcare, and other necessities. The 1%-ers enjoy 40% of U.S. wealth and 50% of Wall Street stocks and bonds. The bottom 80% split 7% of the former and just 5% of the latter. The average 35-year-old 99%-er has a net worth less than $3,000.00. Occupiers ask the public to consider, "How long does it take an unpaid 99%-er to go through $3,000.00 and become homeless?"

Occupy Oakland's vigil declares, "If the 1% won't share voluntarily through a sense of morality and concern for the well-being of all, then through protest and direct action, we will force change! Occupy the Plaza! De-colonize the 99%!"

Occupy Oakland will have sign-up sheets starting Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Plaza (in front of City Hall), but sign-up is not a pre-requisite. The Plaza is fully accessible to the differently abled.