Liberty & Division

Like the population at large, The Occupy movement has people from all different walks & segments of life. They cannot be fairly judged by a casual overheard statement. Perfection is a facade.

That said, Liberty Plaza has long been a locus for indigent & drug addicted persons. So, such a statement isn’t surprising.

but that isn’t what it’s about (drug dealing) and shouldn’t be held up as an example. Even as an observation, I cannot help but wonder what the point or purpose of that observation, publicly aired is meant for. Just curious. Do not construe this as an admonition, only as an honest question, which it is.

I was in the military, which has people from all walks of life, some honorable, some not so much. I would never say that someone is beyond reproach because they were in the service, nor would I say that all servicemen are bad. The truth is that it is a cross section of our society as a whole and to be taken as such. Just like this observation.

I love a lot of your contributions to the A2 Chronicle, Mary. Just so’s ya know.

Hmm…I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure who those folks were, but my guess is they were not with Occupy Ann Arbor. I spend a fair bit of time at the camp talking to people, and none of the people I’ve met there strike me as the percocet-selling variety. There is, of course, a pre-existing crowd that has used Liberty Plaza since long before the Occupiers decided it was a highly visible location to build their camp.

The camp may look smaller because they’ve recently replaced the original makeshift structure with actual camping tents that were donated for use by the campers. Makes everything look much neater.

As a lifelong resident of Ann Arbor, I can confidently say that the presence of a homeless person, a drug or alcohol abuser, or truant/runaway teens is more the norm for Liberty Plaza than the exception. If you have a problem with that, you really should have taken it up with the police decades ago.

I’ve personally spent a lot of time talking to the three individuals that are the most consistent “occupiers”, and can assure you that they’re good people, supporting what they believe is a good cause. And if anything, their presence has probably in fact *mitigated* any illegal behavior that may occur at Liberty Plaza. Maybe you should take a little time to actually talk to them rather than engaging in little whisper campaigns on AnnArborChronicle.com.

By the way, I generally otherwise admire what AnnArborChronicle.com brings to the community, especially since the demise of print news over the last decade. Keep up the great work!

Re.: “Like the population at large, The Occupy movement has people from all different walks & segments of life. They cannot be fairly judged by a casual overheard statement. ”

I tried – unsuccessfully, it seems – to indicate that a definitive conclusion that they were affiliated with Occupy Ann Arbor would be unwarranted. As you note, Liberty Plaza is a hangout for all sorts of people, Percocet peddlers and otherwise. Like most of the Stopped.Watched items, this one was a random overheard encounter, a slice of time and place that I observed and shared. I didn’t intend to hold it up as an example of anything, other than it was one of the more unusual statements I’d heard that day. I agree with your conclusion: With any movement or profession or institution, a cross section of society is represented. That’s no doubt true for Occupy Ann Arbor, as it is for these Stopped.Watched observations as well.

We do appreciate your observations, Mary. It’s important to observe what you see and that shouldn’t be hampered by worrying about anyone’s opinions.

I think people may be just a bit on edge about this topic because there IS a lot of rhetoric going around about “see, the Occupy movement is all just druggies and homeless people.” Anyone who’s read any news articles on the Occupy movement and then read the comments has probably seen a lot of this. There was even a campaign ad put out recently suggesting that because Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren supports the ideals of Occupy Wall Street, she supports illegal drug use.

I’m guessing this is why this post of yours is getting the response that it is–with all the rhetoric flying around, opponents and supporters alike are probably reading more into it than a simple observation. Thanks for posting!

Seems best to refer to these sites as Bushvilles, now, and as often as possible, before Teabaggers can make Obamaville the term du jour.

Mary, I’m sure how it read wasn’t how you intended to present it. You must understand that Occupy has been subjected to a lot of “media spin”. An example would be the shooting the happened *near* the camp in Oakland. Oakland has always been a pretty high crime town, the part of town where the camp was had always had a rep for crime. The only reason that young man’s death got so much media attention was because the camp was there, and the media as well as law enforcement are using the poor boy as a tool to take further action. The fact is that his death had nothing to do with Occupy.

In Ann Arbor, there are a good many vandals and graphiti artists, and they are not part of our camp, but we’ve been blamed for some of the more recent cases of people spray painting empty store fronts. WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Liberty Plaza, West Park and the AATA are some of the best places in town to get drugs, and have been for years. If anything, our 24 hour presence in that park has provided some interruption for that business in that location.

I agree with you Kagi, and Mary, I always appreciate your postings as well. I felt the need to discuss it, so that it might be clarified for the very reasons others here have put forth. Because there is so much rhetoric being tossed about and used against Occupy, even though they aren’t a part of it.

I’m glad to see some good discussion about it on this site. Other sites quickly degrade into ad hominem attacks and rants – usually propagated by those with no real interest in positive communication. It is good to see that those who read this newslog are positive and good people able to interact well with one another.

Thanks for posting, Mary.