"Occupy" Movement Children

[StephieEm]

This past Saturday I was in downtown Denver with my daughter.  We were sitting on a stone bench eating our lunch in a plaza alongside the 16th Street Mall when a huge, noisy crowd marched up beating drums and chanting things like "banks got bailed out we got sold out!" and "this is what democracy looks like!"

I thought they would march past us but instead they entered our plaza, about a thousand of them, and "occupied" it for awhile.

Once they all began surrounding us I whispered to dd that we needed to leave at once because these weren't good people and  police might come and something bad might happen.  But after I  had whisked Maddy to safety across the street children her age started making speeches through a megaphone.

Maddy just had to stop and see, and once I felt we were a safe distance away I told her she could.

With only a few exceptions, all of the speakers at this impromptu little rally seemed to be children 10 years old and younger.  And they apparently weren't reciting rehearsed speeches, but just whatever was on their little minds at that moment.  A small child would take the megaphone and say "Mike check!" and hundreds of adult voices in unison would yell "Mike check!" and then each child would make her little speech, a few words at a time, with an entire crowd repeating her every word in unison.  And most of these children seemed quite unperturbed by all this attention and importance.  Some might be inclined to call these little ones "too big for their britches," although I admit I didn't personally witness any of them actually misbehaving.

Maddy was full of questions.  She had never seen anything like this, and frankly neither had I, so I couldn't give her very good answers. 

I don't believe I have ever seen a subculture in which children that young have as much status as they seemed to have in that Occupy Denver group that afternoon.  Does anyone here know if this "occupy" movement has a parenting philosophy, along with being mad at big corporations and bailed-out bankers?  Do these people believe in ultra-liberal permissive parenting?  Do their children ever get spanked?

I'd heard "occupy" protesters were dirty and smell bad and were communists; but this group at least didn't appear dirty and I didn't notice any smell, and I also didn't see any explicitly communist or socialist signs (although I might have missed some perhaps).   I'd also heard they were violent and fight with police, (which was my main reason for getting dd and me out of there).  But bored-looking police with mountain bikes who were standing by didn't seem at all worried by this crowd.

After every child who had queued up to speak had had their say, some of them multiple times, a grownup asked if any children who hadn't yet addressed the crowd still wanted to speak.  When Maddy heard this she turned to me and jumped up and down on her tippy-toes begging to be allowed to go back over there and say something through that megaphone herself like those other children were doing (No!). 

Then the whole crowd began chanting and drumming again and proceeded away up 16th Street, taking up the whole street and both sidewalks as they went, with their children up in front with megaphones leading the adults in chants; while police on bicycles trailed behind them, making no attempt to keep them from blocking the street.  Dd and I headed elsewhere (although Maddy would have have followed along if she'd had her own way).  Denver's daily newspaper had this little snippet:

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19417478

This whole experience made quite an impression on dd.  When I tucked her into bed that night she was still talking about it.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[strictmommaof4]

I haven't really been following the occupy movements. I hadn't heard of the involvment of children either. Pretty interesting though. I suppose my kids would have something to say as well if the rallyes were over things I had preached to them (i.e. religion, corporal punishment, etc.) 

[StephieEm]

Quoting strictmommaof4:

I haven't really been following the occupy movements. I hadn't heard of the involvment of children either. Pretty interesting though. I suppose my kids would have something to say as well if the rallyes were over things I had preached to them (i.e. religion, corporal punishment, etc.) 

   I'm not sure what my daughter would have said if I'd let her.  I didn't ask.

   If your kids had been handed that megaphone, what do you think they might have said visavis religion or corporal punishment?

 

 

[strictmommaof4]

With my oldest (17), she would have spouted off about something religion related. She's really big into religious study lately. Been reading the bible a lot to prepare for her time teaching Sunday school. She's also really interested in other beliefs. So, I'm sure she would ave taken the opportunity to preach.

I believe the only other one who would've been brave enough to speak would be my other DD (8). She probably would've have spoken about Jesus being her savior and her prayers. And knowing her she would have sang a couple of tunes. She loves Amazing Grace!

Quoting StephieEm:

Quoting strictmommaof4:

I haven't really been following the occupy movements. I hadn't heard of the involvment of children either. Pretty interesting though. I suppose my kids would have something to say as well if the rallyes were over things I had preached to them (i.e. religion, corporal punishment, etc.) 

   I'm not sure what my daughter would have said if I'd let her.  I didn't ask.

   If your kids had been handed that megaphone, what do you think they might have said visavis religion or corporal punishment?

 

[StephieEm]

  Yesterday, I took Maddy and her best friend to the Denver aquarium.  We went to the 16th Street Mall for lunch and who should march past but... Occupy Denver.  And guess who was heading up the march again, megaphone in hand, leading her elders in chanting "We! Are! The Ninety Nine Percent!"?   It was the same little girl Maddy's age whom we saw marching and giving little speeches with her megaphone back in November.  At one point she even slipped the word "Children!" in instead of "We." Needless to say, Maddy and her little friend were both beside themselves with excitement at the sight of a girl their age leading a whole crowd of adults that way.

   I suspect dd wanted to be that little girl.  She and her friend certainly begged to join the "parade." (No!)

   I assume a responsible adult or adults brought that little girl to their protest march.  But watching the whole crowd noisily stream past, stopping traffic, I couldn't see any adult who was obviously in charge of her or supervising her.  And no one seemed to be telling her what to say into her bullhorn, either.  Perhaps she has been on so many Occupy Denver protest marches that she knows all their standard chants? 

   I still don't know if little children have this much status in the whole Occupy movement or just its Denver subsidiary.  But the funny thing is it seems to be working for them.