Congressman John Lewis Visits Occupy Atlanta

Run time: 00:48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XCLBNkBvL0   Posted on YouTube: October 08, 2011 By YouTube Member: occupyatlanta Views on YouTube: 306   Posted on DU: October 09, 2011 By DU Member: cal04 Views on DU: 1828

 
Congressman John Lewis came out to Occupy Atlanta on Friday, October 7th in Woodruff Park. He even commented on the Atlanta General Assembly's group consensus process saying "this is not something strange or out of the ordinary for me," and he was "not at all" disappointed he wasn't able to adress the Assembly. Video Colby Blunt

we marched on the state capitol and occupied one of the chambers of state government. the march was planned, but the occupation wasn't. it turned into a fiasco where people tried to vote for a statement to the media on why we were occupying the building and there were people arguing over including statements about hemp legalization and it just seemed like a mixture of some real power trippers playing games by having the crowd playing out a mock legislative body with them in control. the small group with the bullhorn and blocking Lewis really looked like that to me. people playing power games in the name of democratic equality. most of the people eventually drifted off and left the protest out of frustration with the process that was going nowhere.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x623170

If John Lewis wanted to speak, he could have sat down on the grass & joined the assembly. He choose to walk away instead.

need to be able to make exceptions when you have certain important speakers on tight schedules. It was obvious a majority wanted to give him a couple minutes to speak. I'm sure Lewis would have been very brief. He wasn't going to stand around waiting for them to fuckdiddle around all day long. This runs counter to common sense, and they just made themselves look like a bunch of fools with no common sense. They need to get real. What a silly fiasco. They just pissed off a WHOLE bunch of people who might be willing to get involved, especally African Americans, and they made themselves look just STUPID. No other way to describe it. Sad.

They'd set aside time at the end of their agenda for members of the Assembly to make statements. If he wanted to show respect & support of the Assembly he could have sat down, joined them & made his statement then.

If they stopped everything they're trying to accomplish every time some random celebrity or politician deigned to offer the huddled masses of the Assembly their valuable pearls of wisdom :sarcasm: A) they'd get nothing done, B) they'd be seen as being co-opted by the Democratic Party and the "professional Left" instead of influencing them and C) they'd piss off a whole bunch of people THAT ARE THERE AND ACTUALLY HAVE GOT INVOLVED in order to beg the favor of people who have so far chosen to remain on the sidelines, silent & uninvolved.

"If they stopped everything they're trying to accomplish every time some random celebrity or politician deigned to offer the huddled masses of the Assembly their valuable pearls of wisdom :sarcasm: A) they'd get nothing done,"

How many congressmen do you really think are going to drop by? There is a big difference between "some random celebrity" and the congressman who represents Atlanta showing his support of protesters in that city.