Detroit Research Volume 1

113
Acoustic Device 100X (LRAD), a hand held
sound canon with an output of 137 decibels.
About twenty of us stayed, determined to
sleep in the park if we could. The police swept
the park and gave us our warning. When it
became apparent that the protesters were not
going to listen to the initial warnings, Officer
Don Johnson, the policeman charged with
overseeing the Occupy protests in Detroit, approached
us and pleaded that we go home.
Which, thanks to Erik, an Occupy Detroit veteran
and video journalist, we left. Erik probably
single handedly prevented the arrests
of our entire group. Recently fi les were released
showing that the FBI enacted a coordinated
strategic plan with state and local police
around the country during the duaration
of the Occupy Movement, demonstrating that
the mass arrests in New York and California
in early Occupy months were an intentional
scare tactic for Occupy Movements everywhere.
Thousands of people were arrested
and made examples of in order to keep the
movement from growing in popularity. In Detroit
we saw the scare tactics in action on May
Day with the mass response the Detroit Police
Department had to twenty people in a park
for one night. Technology sometimes serves
us well – we see all the new, top of the line
products that make our lives easier. What we
don’t see every day is the technology used
for devices such as the Long Range Acoustic
Device, something that can be turned on and
used against small, peaceful groups of demonstrators
to intimidate and injure.
Over the past year I have marched, participated
in non-violent direct actions, worked as
both a volunteer and a professional organizer,
and have travelled all over our country to assist
in building long distance coalitions. I was
in St. Louis when the police batoned several
Occupy demonstrators bloody; in Charlotte,
North Carolina, as a shareholder attending the
Bank of America shareholder meeting; and in
Lansing when our Governor and State Legislature
showed contempt for the working men
and women who pay their bills by making our
state a Right to Work for Less state. I’ve stood
with families in driveways, preventing evictions
from moving forward, and cried with undocumented
immigrants, who fought the order
to be separated from their family and leave our
country. I’ve sung union hymns and new anthems
with the Occupy Choir, participated in
teach-ins and lectures. You can’t participate in
these things and not be changed, fi rmly, and
forever.
Today, a little over a year later, Occupy no
longer is featured in the headlines; we are the
99% has become part of our lexicon, but many
have written the movement off as dead. Do not
be so foolish. Those of us who experienced
Occupy in its fullest forms will never again be
who we were, and Occupy exists within the
solid, determined hearts of those who work on
the Occupy Detroit Eviction Defense committee
– a very active group that has been successful
on every eviction defense which they
have taken on. Occupy veterans have created
new organization such as This Hood of Ours,
Plan it for Planet, the Occupied Detroit Free
Press, and Free Detroit. While 5900 Michigan
Avenue, once known as the 5900 Activist Center,
holds only ghosts of the Occupy Midwest
Regional Conference, and the many other activities
that were held there, Occupy Detroit
still holds regular General Assemblies (GA) at
the 1515 Broadway Café, and while the group
is smaller than a year ago, they are just as
committed.
Technology and Occupy are tied together. Occupy
swept the nation because of the Internet
and social media. Most power relationships we
interact with daily are top down, meaning those
at the top benefi t from those at the bottom.
However, the Internet doesn’t have much of a
boss - yet. The Internet gives this generation