Dear Mayor Reed:
A couple of weeks ago I wrote you to ask that you not force the Occupy Atlanta movement out of Woodruff Park. As I mentioned in that post, I have been a voting citizen of Atlanta for over 30 years, nearly all of my adult life.
Thus, I was overjoyed when you announced that you were going to let the Occupy Atlanta people (who represent great majority of all Atlantans and indeed of the people of the U.S., according to the polls) stay for at least three weeks. I was proud of Atlanta for taking a more supportive position than many cities have taken.
That is why I am very saddened by your changed policies toward the movement which represents the views of most of your constituents. I don't know every detail of the dispute concerning licensing, or a generator, etc., but the last-minute changes of plan seemed like "gotcha" maneuvering targeted at the people of the movement.
Mayor Reed, I can see no real practical reason for the city doing this. The hip hop concert was an artistic celebration of our movement and all that it stands for. And as far as I know (I wasn't there personally but heard from witnesses) it wasn't "bling bling" ganster rap, it was conscious old-school hip hop, judging by the presence of elders such as Afrika Bambataa. It posed no security or cleanliness threat. Now Mayor Reed, you are younger than I, but both of us are old enough to remember when hip hop was a force of positivity. (I know something about this; from 1997 thru 2002, I was DJ "Pablo G" on WRFG 89.3 -- Atlanta's community supported radio station as I'm sure you know -- and had several shows where I played mainly hip hop, reggae and Latin music.)
Mayor Reed, you are blessed to be mayor of the spiritual capital of the Civil Rights Movement, a movement which was started by people simply from the grass roots -- as indeed the "Occupy" movement was started. It was a nonviolent movement, not put into being by institutions with a prior agenda, but rather it sprung up from grass roots people who were sick of existing unfairness, dehumanization and oppression entrenched within the sociopolitical system. The only way they could get their voices heard and their legitimate concerns acted on was civil disobedience, and brave standing up -- sometimes to the point of giving up their lives.
Today we still face oppression and it is at the core economic. Mayor Reed, I'm sure you sometimes get sick of right-wing politicians yelling about "big government" as the supposed cause of the fix we are in today. Though there are many viewpoints in the "Occupy" movement I do think the common unifying thread is the realization that it is "Big Business" (speaking broadly) that is at the root cause of the problem. (I am not at all opposed to private enterprize or running a business, I have one myself, I am speaking in general. Certainly among corporate executives, etc., there are exceptions, e.g., Warren Buffet, George Soros)
Government -- big or small -- becomes a problem when it fails to protect us from the dehumanizing predation of the current corporate system as a whole. People are tired of being mere economic resources to be exploited and/or cast aside by super-rich corporations, and the government officials we elect need to help protect us from these immoral predations.
Mayor Reed, as one of your constituents, who voted for you and urged others to do so, I implore you not to try to quash this movement. Please do not be one in spirit with cities that are violently suppressing the movement (The scenes from Oakland CA were a bit reminiscent of Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma AL, or Tienimin Sq. in Beijing -- God help us!) Mayor Reed, please don't follow in the path of people like "Bull" Connor of 1960's Birmingham! Rather, in the spirit of Dr. King and all who were part of the great movement for freedom of the 60s, I would indeed suggest that you become a part of the movement -- AND PERHAPS EVEN JOIN THE PEOPLE IN THE PARK! What a beautiful and powerful witness that would be, and how worthy of the great Movement tradition of the city of which you are the mayor!
In love
from one of your constituents,
Malik (Pablo G.) Grohsé
27 October 2011
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