LandfallVoyages

Eli is being home schooled so we always look for experiences to educate him. Today as we were driving through Oakland after a Doctor’s appointment, right past the encampment, Eli voiced some real interest in what was going on. We decided to park and have a look.
We walked around through the group of protesters for a couple of hours looking at what they had to say and who they were and then we joined the march to go and close the banks. It sure was gratifying to see Chase Bank closed up tight. They had hung signs all over the bank protesting their practices and asking customers to only withdraw but no longer deposit any money with them. Their security guard, locked inside, was the definition of nervous. This is the bank that auctioned off our house while Eli was in the hospital three days after they had assured us that our loan modification had been approved and that all was well. These are the guys that evicted us when Eli had eight 3″ stainless steel screws sticking out of his legs. These guys put us out on the streets with our son in a wheelchair and we had to live in our RV in a dirt lot that we couldn’t roll the chair through when it rained. It was really gratifying to see them suffer a little bit.
The protesters aren’t who the news is telling you that they are and there are a lot more of them than they say. The news today said that there were about 400 people out there but I’m telling you that there were about 400 just in the food line. There were at least 5000 more people in the streets and the park. The line of people that we marched up the street with was a column 3 blocks long and 5 lanes of traffic wide, and they weren’t all dirty hippies. They looked like your neighbors mostly. I saw teachers and healthcare workers, baristas and auto repair men, and college students and dock workers.
I didn’t have my camera, I’m sorry, but you can google it and see how it was. The streets were filled with angry people but nothing got damaged.
It bothers me that I had to warn my family to protect themselves. Not from the angry protesters, they were fine. The cops. Those were the scary people out to do some harm.