Dispatches from Indigenous People’s Day: Part 2

By Saara Azadi

I had spent Monday afternoon at Occupy Wall Street at a working group meeting.  Wandering with a friend, we heard the conch shell call and drums from a Mixeca group of dancers that had assembled in a corner of the park.  As the dancers began to offer blessings and tributes to our ancestors and the earth, a circle of onlookers formed around them. Some were taking photos, others were ensuring that a safe space was created around the dancers.  Wary of the police and potential disrupters, the dancers had sent an email to the People of Color Working Group earlier that day, asking us to come and “protect and support our danza circle tonight. Many of our folks… would feel safer knowing that there’s an outer circle having our backs during the ceremony.”  A young curly-haired woman of color nosed in between myself and my friend and said, “Wow, the energy feels really good here.”  As we linked arms – strangers, friends, family – you could feel the energy and spirit created by the dancers, the drumming, and our collective power.

While we ‘occupied’ the area under the Red Sculpture, the General Assembly (GA) was well underway in the area by the library.  The dancers continued – one explained that this was not a performance – that they were here to offer blessings to our ancestors, the earth, the elements, and to this movement and the many indigenous and global communities in resistance.  She went on to declare that they would finish when they were done.  I didn’t quite know what she meant; the dancing, drumming, and prayers continued….

Photo by Marina Ortiz

Dispatches from Indigenous People’s Day: Part 1

–By Thanu Yakupitiyage

[Above]: Flipcam video footage I edited of the Mexica danza group’s ritual in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 10th, at Zuccotti Park/Liberty Square

I’ve been going to Occupy Wall Street almost every other day now. I can’t help it. I think this is an important moment, and as much as I have criticisms, I do think that the kind of space that has been created at Liberty Square (Zucotti Park) has opened a multitude of possibilities for public education, democratic processes, and for people to learn from each other about the kind of world we want to live in and what our alternatives are. That’s why I go and that’s why I have become invested.

Organizing with people of color to grow our presence at Occupy Wall Street and have our communities be heard in regards to our histories and the specific impact of the economic crisis, of globalization, of the greed of the financiers, of colonization, has become a specific priority of mine and many friends who have made it a ritual to head down to Wall Street in the afternoons and evenings, when we can. We cannot march and chant, “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out” without for example noting that it was largely urban communities of color in New York and across the country that were devastated by foreclosures and the housing crisis. We cannot yell, “We are the 99%” without considering the often invisible labor of immigrant workers, constantly scapegoated for a bad economy, who are being deported in outrageous numbers, while the private prison industry profits from their detention. And we certainly cannot presume that this public outrage that has boiled over is new; this frustration has been felt for decades (centuries even) by oppressed people. As this movement continues to grow, it is critical that we insert these realities and histories. This movement means nothing without it. It is limited without it.