Rainbow/PUSH to Occupy Atlanta: Stop bickering with mayor over park
Three days ago, in the aftermath of the forced eviction of Occupy Atlanta from Woodruff Park, longtime civil rights leader Joe Beasley, the Southern director of Rainbow/PUSH, denounced Mayor Kasim Reed as an “unchristian” throwback who ought to be removed from office.
Beasley has befriended the movement, and was among the 52 arrested early Wednesday for refusing to clear out.
But a message just arrived from Rainbow/Push’s headquarters, putting a great deal of distance between the organization and Beasley’s harsh comments.
“Joe was not speaking on behalf of Rainbow or (founder) Jesse Jackson,” said vice-president Janice Mathis in a quick phone interview. “We love and admire and respect Joe. But the positions he was taking with Occupy Atlanta were not our positions.”
Here’s a healthy dose of the her statement, advising Occupy Atlanta not to pick a fight with the mayor:
The Occupy Movement is less than two months old. Its goals – fairer distribution of income, more meaningful regulation of banks and other global corporate interests, fairer criminal and civil justice systems, more consumer protections – are worthy, even noble.
But they won’t come from the mere act of occupying Woodruff Park or any other space. Eventually, those goals will be achieved (if at all) with a focused, peaceful, strategic effort to influence policy makers and others. It is unlikely that financial institutions or the Koch brothers will sui sponte reform the excesses that have up-ended the lives of so many Americans until there is sufficient pressure from consumers, regulators, shareholders or employees.
If the Occupy Movement devolves into name-calling and bickering over where to pitch the tents, they could miss the best opportunity that progressive forces have had in a long time to achieve significant movement toward a more just society.
In a state where both U.S. senators proudly voted against health care reform, where Leonard Drane is facing the death penalty for a murder to which someone else confessed, where homeowners have no right to a hearing prior to foreclosure, the Legislature recently considered authorizing the death penalty on a non-unanimous jury vote, where hard-earned lottery dollars are doled out to the scion of wealthy families, targeting Mayor Reed seems wasteful and naïve.
The Twitter, by the by, declares that Occupy Atlanta intends to return to Woodruff Park for a “general assembly” at 8 p.m. today.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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105 comments Add your comment
BlahBlahBlah
October 28th, 2011
5:33 pm
“hard earned lottery dollars”
huh?
Reed Needs to Come Clean
October 28th, 2011
5:34 pm
Hey Kasim, Man up. Let your fellow Atlantans know you’re gay. That’s why Rainbow is covering your back. Get real
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
5:36 pm
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:29 pm
You really could take some pointers from ole Billy and his last few days….
Be a greasy, morbidly obese shill doing a ton of coke with high priced hookers? Sounds like a conservative fantasy to me.
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:42 pm
Seems like you know a lot about him…which conservative though? Marion Barry? Anthony Weiner? Ted Kennedy? Barney Frank (sorry he just ran a prostitution ring out of his home..or his lover did)? Our own Bill Campbell…aka Vegas Billy? I can keep going if you want….
Shine
October 28th, 2011
5:45 pm
Dear Abe the kook, you dont think creating dollars out of thin air makes the dollars in your pocket worth less? You dont think making sure we get inflation makes your dollars worth less?
The Fed was created by a bunch of fat cats on the Ga Isles, I think Jekyll or St Simons. A real black eye for Ga
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
5:46 pm
Yeah I can use google and Wikipedia too, keep it up man you’re getting the hang of it.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
5:47 pm
I’m pretty sure Abe is a td gimmick btw
Jezel
October 28th, 2011
5:49 pm
Enter your comments here
Shine
October 28th, 2011
5:49 pm
The fed eating the value of the dollar is a conspiracy of theleft? lmao! Yeah, liberals like Ron Paul,Jim DeMint, etc I guess.
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:50 pm
Hey that’s just from memory. Imagine what I could do with your intellect and Wikipedia! Probably sit around all day eating pork rines in an adult diaper ,picking my nose and popping neck zits! Whew…this is too easy!!!
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:51 pm
Shine, get back in your box. The adults are speaking!
Jezel
October 28th, 2011
5:51 pm
I am just so proud of what Wall Street has done for me in the past several years….I could…give them some more money to invest. If it had not just somehow disappeared.
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:51 pm
td gimmick?
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:52 pm
Explain it to us Shine, you simpleton! This is like fighting blind midgets
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
5:52 pm
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:50 pm
Hey that’s just from memory. Imagine what I could do with your intellect and Wikipedia! Probably sit around all day eating pork rines in an adult diaper ,picking my nose and popping neck zits! Whew…this is too easy!!!
Yes but what’s the point, you posted a scattershot list of Democrats in various scandals, is that what you pass off as impressive?
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:55 pm
Wow Jezel! Now I know how it feels to be on the short bus…..shine, billy mays, gen x jezel. It’s the Special Olympics Debate Team and Anti Mensa all in one!
Shine
October 28th, 2011
5:56 pm
LOL! A starightjacket is hunting its owner. HIDE ABE HIDE!
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:57 pm
That’s weak Billy….all I can say is weak. You gotta give me something better than that. My parents taught me to not pick morons like you guys but this is too easy.
td
October 28th, 2011
5:57 pm
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:28 pm
Do not bother with Billy. He does not have the intellectual capability to debate or defend his philosophical views. All he can do is the typical liberal thing and bash people.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
5:58 pm
Abe and td are the same pitiful person lmao
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:58 pm
…and in walks Shine with his wizard’s pen. Finished the last of his boogers and took the gloves off.
td
October 28th, 2011
5:59 pm
Abe
October 28th, 2011
5:55 pm
Wow Jezel! Now I know how it feels to be on the short bus…..shine, billy mays, gen x jezel. It’s the Special Olympics Debate Team and Anti Mensa all in one!
Just those poor window lickers.
Abe
October 28th, 2011
6:00 pm
Nope. I am much meaner than td. Do you guys remember Jugdesh and Clayton in the movie Animal House? I rest my case….
Don
October 28th, 2011
6:01 pm
What did we tell the egyptian gov’t about peaceful protests? The Tunisian? The Libyan? AND WE ARREST THEM IN THIS COUNTRY? Veterans are coming. They are surrounding demonstrators to protect them from our government, just as the protected Iraqis from theirs. It is unconscionable that we arrest nonviolent demonstrators. They are violating the law? You don’t think that Egyptians were? That said, picking a fight with the mayor doesn’t make sense, certainly in the way that they’ve done it. If there is a fight to pick, it’s over our hypocrisy.
Abe
October 28th, 2011
6:01 pm
I love it td! So long window lickers!!!!!!
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
6:03 pm
Totally busted
Shine
October 28th, 2011
6:05 pm
yep, one day I will get to eating used toilet paper like you superiors.
Al
October 28th, 2011
6:05 pm
the level of vitriol and rhetoric being tossed around on this thread is very typical of the regressive ignorance I have been unfortunate enough to encounter way too many times since moving here 5 years ago. this is now my home. I am not going anywhere. this is one of the most beautiful places a person could live, beautiful rolling hills and majestic mountains, pretty damn good weather to boot. a dark cloud has hovered over this beautiful land far too long. if and you don’t think there’s oppression still going on here you need to get your damn head out of the sand bless your heart.
Shine
October 28th, 2011
6:09 pm
Well Al, take yo arse back to paradise where ever that was.
jimbolini
October 28th, 2011
6:21 pm
I think the Mayor is doing a real good job over all. I’ve been here 15 years and this Mayor and the previous one have turned the corner after all the mismanagement , greed and corruption of past Mayors. Although early on with this situation I wonder why he gave them until Nov 7th? You know it was going to get out of hand and the bill for all this is not in the current budget. This group and others across the nation need to be in Washington with this protest. Do they have a clue???
Dane Lusley
October 28th, 2011
6:26 pm
The mayor has been more than accomidating but as usual the extreme malcontents and anarchists are taking over the “movement” and refuse to acknowledge law or logic. Supposedly there was someone roaming the park with an AK47 which led to a rethinking of the city’s tolerance. Another example of why leaderless groups with relatively peaceful intent are hijacked by those with more direct intentions and a reign of terror typically follows.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 28th, 2011
6:29 pm
Dane Lusley
October 28th, 2011
6:26 pm
Supposedly there was someone roaming the park with an AK47 which led to a rethinking of the city’s tolerance.
I think you’re just spreading disinformation, but you were probably one of the people calling the Tea Partiers who brought guns to political town halls “patriots.” STFU.
Dane Lusley
October 28th, 2011
6:34 pm
Billy, as I indicated “supposedly” I heard it from the mayor himself yesterday on an NPR interview. I never indicated I saw or even beleive it, but this is gun loving Georgia. The current law allows anyone to carry a gun in public as long as it is visible. Incidentally I agree with the “occupy” basic argument, the financial industry is not our friend, they are parasites. But if your a group that wants any level of legitimacy, you don’t alienate those that may be receptive, in this case the Atlanta mayor.
Rainbow/PUSH to Occupy Atlanta: Stop bickering with mayor over park
October 28th, 2011
6:45 pm
[...] Article source: http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2011/10/28/rainbowpush-to-occupy-atlanta-stop-bi... [...]
ab
October 28th, 2011
7:32 pm
Billy Mays
There was some nutjob roaming around with said gun, he was on the news.
Donaldo
October 28th, 2011
7:51 pm
This morning I was out early taking my son to his job before I go about my day, and I saw thousands of people out and about I presume going to work. This is what most responsible folk are doing, so I suggest the media limit its coverage of this group, the media feeds this stuff, I suggest they cover the hundreds of volunteers working in the shelters and food kitchens so that the 99% can see people who contribute their time & work for others. I think most of us got the message of this group, not it is up to us to take responsible actions, if we don’t we have only ourselves to blame, not Wall St.
tim
October 28th, 2011
7:52 pm
It’s time to occupy KASIMS FRONT YARD!
kfinley
October 28th, 2011
7:59 pm
I applaud mayor Kasim Reed for his leadership! Please remember, he said that he has a heart for the protesters. That’s why he handled the woodruff park situation with such care. I appreciate Joe Beasley’s contribution to the civil rights movement. But let’s not confuse the unfocusued efforts of thee “Occupiers” with the organized effort to abolish the racist ideals of America during the Jim crow south. I believe their heart is in the right place, but they’ve taken aim in the wrong direction.
td
October 28th, 2011
8:03 pm
tim
October 28th, 2011
7:52 pm
It’s time to occupy KASIMS FRONT YARD!
Please do. A division in the Democratic party would be just about perfect right now:-)
Isis5761
October 28th, 2011
8:34 pm
If I was young enough, I would have been there. People are beyond frustration. Joblessness, Homelessness, Hunger and anything else to survive are becoming more and more out of reach. Occupy wherever has brought some of the issues to the forefront which needed to happen to
make people take a stand. We’re at a very serious turning point in the history of this country. If the far right takes over any more we will not be the good part about America that we all know and love.
the original and still the best John Galt
October 28th, 2011
8:35 pm
The armed citizen exercising his Second Amendment rights scared Reed. Statists are always scared by citizens with firearms. Hence the Second Amendment.
And, all you Obama voters, td is right- your votes won’t count at all here in Georgia.
Shine
October 28th, 2011
8:37 pm
Hey Donaldo, look at these people who have no one to blame bu themselves. Republican snobs are amusing at the least. http://www.google.com/search?q=pics+of+food+lines+in+the+great+depression&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=UEqrTsXZEcP9sQKbq4SdDw&ved=0CCUQsAQ&biw=683&bih=419&sei= d0qrTrOlDYHIsQKwy5GXDw
JR
October 28th, 2011
8:38 pm
I believe Mayor Reed has shown exceptional leadership. As an Atlanta taxpayer, I am proud of the excellent planning by Mayor Reed and the precise coordination with Police Chief Turner which resulted in a peaceful and respectful clearing of Woodruff Park. The Occupy Group needs to apologize to the Mayor – he was more than accommodating and does not deserve the anger directed toward him by this group.
Shine
October 28th, 2011
8:39 pm
Obama will win the electoral vote so no Republican votes will be meaningless in Ga. Stay home and save your gas!
ab
October 28th, 2011
8:59 pm
The armed citizen exercising his Second Amendment rights scared Reed. Statists are always scared by citizens with firearms. Hence the Second Amendment
FYI this dude was there to support Occupy Atlanta in his deranged mind. A normal person would find it alarming to see this guy wondering around with a dangerous gun. I would have shut it down as well if I saw this guy.
td
October 28th, 2011
9:20 pm
Isis5761
October 28th, 2011
8:34 pm
What kind of a dream world are you living in my friend. I am over 40 years old and there has never been a time the far right has been in charge of Washington DC. Now on the other hand the far left had its turn 3 years ago and the American people totally rejected there vision last year.
Dusty
October 28th, 2011
9:34 pm
Attention: New location for Occupy Atlanta. Pitch your tents in the parking lot in front of GEORGIA EMPLOYMENT CENTER. They will help you leave tomorrow for south Georgia to dig the sweet potato crop. Go for it!! Levitate those potatoes!!
whatdoiknow
October 28th, 2011
10:47 pm
I make every attempt to visit OA to pick up chicks . . . Reminds me of my hippie days. That Davis chick, although in need of a good economics lesson, is hot!
tom
October 28th, 2011
11:18 pm
Don’t dismiss the feelings of these people. Many people in our country are not taking to the streets because we are working 3 jobs trying to support our family – but nonetheless we are just as frustrated. I have lost a third of my pay in 3 years in my primary job. Republicans and Democrats alike are drinking the Kool Aid. The people who did this to our economy are making record bonuses after I BAILED THEM OUT. The last governor left office a millionaire and left me nearly bankrupt. Classic.
The people downtown are an odd group – but they do represent a HUGE percentage of our population that is VERY FRUSTRATED with Obama selling out and the status quo.
Many postings mention “history” – well do please go back and read history. When a large amount of the people feel this marginalized – radical voices can find an audience.
DON”T DISMISS THESE PEOPLE as so many are doing. They may be like the wierd wave that comes before the Tsunami.
td
October 28th, 2011
11:42 pm
tom
October 28th, 2011
11:18 pm
Um, like whatever…talk to the hand silly goose. Trix are for kids!