CHICAGO- Demonstrators protesting corporate greed spent an 11th day camped outside the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on Monday, waving signs and beating drums to show solidarity with similar protests across the country.
Occupy Chicago protesters have modeled their round-the-clock demonstration after Occupy Wall Street, a New York protest against financial inequality that has spread to other cities across the nation.
Monday’s demonstration on LaSalle Streetgrew slowly through the morning, increasing from a handful of people at the morning rush hour to a few dozen by late morning. It hardly resembled the massive spectacle unfolding in New York, where police arrested hundreds of protesters Saturday alone, but Chicago’s demonstrators said they felt optimistic.
“It’s going to blow up,” press liaison Micah Philbrook said, expressing his hopes for this week’s demonstrations. “I feel people are going to come out in droves.”
Solidarity protests gained media attention on Monday, as groups gathered in cities from Boston to Los Angeles and from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oreg. Demonstrations have also spread to several Canadian cities.
But given the widespread attention the movement is getting, some passersby on Monday said they were surprised at the modest size of Occupy Chicago’s demonstration.
“I could get more people at a barbecue,” said Anthonio Latham, a school bus driver who walked over for a look after dropping students off at a nearby museum.
Like Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Chicago has no official leader. And like the other protests unfolding across the country, its members speak passionately about a wide variety of issues. An informal sampling on Monday, for instance, revealed a sweeping wish-list of changes: more jobs, higher taxes for the rich, homes for the homeless, lower tuition and cheaper health care.
Already, agreeing on priorities has proved challenging for the protestors.
At a daily meeting Friday, members spent hours discussing four grievances adopted by Occupy Wall Street. Only one of the grievances achieved the necessary nine-tenths vote threshold for official approval.
The sole adopted grievance calls for campaign finance reform, an issued raised by several demonstrators on Monday.
One such resident was Bethany Cordova, who held a sign carrying the message: “THE ONLY THING THAT TRICKLED DOWN WAS YOUR BULLSH*T.” Cordova said she wanted to see a reversal of the landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling, in which the Supreme Court ruled caps on campaign spending by corporations violate free speech protections.
Sitting by a camera providing a live feed of the demonstration, Peter Diebold, 23, said his frustrating job search convinced him to join the protests.
Diebold studied molecular and cellular biology at the University of Illinois, but his search for temporary work before graduate school has yielded one interview for a dish-washing job – and no offers.
“If someone like me that’s educated, that has a good degree and a fair amount of work experience, can’t get a job at McDonald’s or anything – that’s scary and tells you something’s really wrong,” Diebold said.
Responding to a wish list of supplies tweeted by organizers, Jeff Pinzino, 39, stopped by to drop off garbage bags, feminine hygiene products, medical tape and lip gloss.
Pinzino, who lives in Beverly and works for a national community organizing network, told demonstrators gathered by the drum circle the network was interested in helping out.
“Wall Street essentially crashed our economy,” he said. “I think it’s about time that people stood up to hold them accountable for it.”
Not everyone who walked by was impressed by the protesters, however.
Pete, who declined to give his last name but said he worked in financial services, said the protesters’ message seemed unclear, adding that he doubted the size of their support base.
“If you go up in one of those windows and look down, it’s a pretty small group of people,” he said.
In New York, tensions between protesters and police flared Saturday when police arrested about 800 demonstrators trying to take over part of the Brooklyn Bridge.
The arrests came days after a video surfaced of a police officer apparently using pepper spray on peaceful demonstrators.
In Chicago, meanwhile, demonstrators say they’ve established a positive relationship with local police.
A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, Officer Darryl Baety, said Monday evening he knew of no arrests related to the protest.
Although the protest may lack the confrontations of its inspirations in New York and the Middle East, demonstrators like lifelong Chicago resident Darell Willis said they plan on staying until they see change.
Sporting an American flag tucked into a button that read “We are the 99%,” Willis said that as a child he had to cut grass, shovel snow and even steal meat once from a grocery store to help feed his family.
Nowadays, Willis gets by on painting and landscaping jobs as he looks for a full-time job to replace the one he lost almost two years ago. He’s also outraged to see so many homeless people in a city that also has many foreclosed homes and abandoned properties.
Those are some of the reasons – the list goes on – Willis says he’ll keep drumming on LaSalle for the forseeable future.
“Somebody said, ‘What about when it gets cold?'” Willis said. “We’re not worried about that. It was rainy and cold last week and people were here. We’re here, man. We’re not going anywhere.”
