Show Me What Democracy Looks Like

I wrote this article for the United Methodist Conference Nebraska to inform and inspire members of local Nebraska churches.

A park in downtown Manhattan has become a shantytown of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people, participating in “Occupy Wall Street”, an effort to bring the greed and corruption of our financial system and government into the eyes of the public. They chant “We are the 99%”, “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!”, “Show me what democracy looks like: this is what democracy looks like!”. I had the privilege of joining the demonstration for several days, their occupation of the space now exceeding a month in duration.

They live without access to a public toilet, without shelter, sleeping on tarps laid on concrete and they have managed to build an operating village. The park has safety, sanitation, wi-fi, 24-hour live stream, a spiritual space, free food, medical aid, sleeping bags and clothes, and a library, all provided by volunteer labor and donations. They also hold countless marches, “teach-ins”, “working groups”, and the famous “General Assemblies” in which amazing demonstrations of direct democracy take place.

Why do I care? I am a demi-adult now, recently graduated from college with no real job prospects. I’m not excessively saddled with student loans, but I can’t afford health insurance. And when I heard about Occupy Wall Street, I couldn’t sleep at night and bought a plane ticket almost immediately.

I recently left Nebraska, my adored home state, to seek adventures in the wider world. And the past six years of my life have been spent broadening myself and my faith. I have learned through my home church, the big “c” Church, my community, and my own reflection how much Jesus cared about the poor, suffering, and oppressed. If God is love, that is a personal revelation in how I interact with every single person, and it compels me to fight for their dignity and rights.

There have been many questions and plenty of confusion about these occupations now popping up all over the country and world. Why are they there? What do they want? The people at the demonstrations come from many walks of life, and they hold many different opinions. Their concerns closely echo the sentiments of the Tea Party movement, as well as every-day Americans. They want education for themselves and their children. They want affordable health care for their families. They want fulfilling work that pays a living wage. They want to participate in a democracy they have been promised from birth.

The people I met are diverse, they are young and old, well-off and homeless, anarchists, socialists, libertarians, republicans, democrats, men and women, citizens and non-citizens, all different races. I spoke to a man there from day one, who had his mother and daughter accidentally killed by the police, and later was laid-off and found himself homeless. I had people look into my face with tears of joy for just being there. I saw the spokeswomen of the United Methodist Women talk about Jesus and the 99% on camera at the occupation and celebrated my heritage!

We’re all familiar with Jesus’ tireless demands of clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, welcoming the stranger, healing the sick. Our nation houses 23% of all the world’s prisoners. It is home-away-from-home to millions of immigrants without basic rights. 22% of our children live in poverty. 45,000 people die in our country every year because they can’t afford adequate health care. These are issues not fixed by food drives, spaghetti fundraisers, and Good Will stores. And anymore they seem to be issues not fixed by our government.

The people in our government currently get elected through massive campaign contributions from corporations. These same corporations have extraordinary amounts of money to lobby our Congresspeople, and in some cases are actually involved in writing laws. This leads to a certain obligation for our members of Congress to be heavily influenced by corporate interest, and do things like bail them out, lower their taxes, not hold them accountable, pass laws that are not in the interest of the American people, and maintain the status quo. They are thus able to become richer and richer and more and more powerful in our government, in a neat little feedback loop. All this means that our representatives no longer represent us. It is up to every one of us to stand up and speak out, in our homes, in our work places, in our public spaces, and in the halls of our government.

We will disagree on how to address these issues. That’s okay! To fret over the lack of “demands” from Occupy Wall Street is to miss the point. The real beauty of this movement is the conversations. If I would offer a suggestion as a conclusion, a way to move forward, it would be this: have the courage to talk about the things that are important, and talk about them in a meaningful, thoughtful way. Everyone wants their concerns to be heard, and to listen to others, and brainstorm and argue and love each other. Shouldn’t this be what churches are? Places for listening, for compassion and care? I’ve spent time bringing up controversial issues in local churches all across Nebraska. Pastors are scared, parishioners are critical, it is hard work! Someone may get offended. But it is worth it. Our faith doesn’t happen in a vacuum; we are participants of vibrant faith communities, the body of Christ.