top of page

ORAL HISTORIES Page 1

The oral histories have been transcribed from audio recordings captured on October 12, 2011, day 20 of the Occupy Chicago Protests.  The interviewers are listed along with the corresponding interviews they conducted.  The biographical information of those protestors who were interviewed has been noted, in terms of the extent to which it was provided. 

Interviewers: Rachel Boyle, Zachary Weber​

Interviewee: Michael Bargo



R: So we’ll just start off by asking you who you are and what brought you here?

MB: Michael Bargo, I’m working a little bit as a substitute teacher, I lost my job about two years ago.  What I am doing here? I wanted to see what this is all about.

R: And what have you seen so far?

 

MB: I’ve seen there’s a lot of like-thinking people here, probably everything they say, the vast majority of people agree with them.  They think they’re being shafted by the Federal Government, by Wall Street, by the whole economy and the fact that a few people at the top are taking advantage and stealing everybody’s money and ripping people off.  And they’ve never experienced anything like this in their lives.  This length of unemployment, this kind of economic trouble, you know what I mean?

Z:  Are the issues you see people bringing up throughout the movement… is this something you’ve seen building up through the years?

MB:  No, to me it’s recent.  I think at first people were shocked.  They thought “oh, well” it’s another recession, you know it’ll get better.  Then, I think the Wall Street bailout, they thought even then this will pass.  Then I think a lot of it too, a lot of it started to transcend political parties.  People got really fed up that Obama gave so much money to Wall Street and then he’s falling in to the same old same old after saying he’s going to be different and he’s going to change and he’s going to be honest and he’s going to get things done.  And actually he’s probably worse because he comes from Chicago and this is the worst, most corrupt spot in the country.

R: So why do you think people are occupying this space?  Or what does this space mean for the movement?

MB: Well symbolically, the Federal Reserve, the Board of Trade, the bank building here… a lot of kids are looking to express themselves and they really don’t know how.  One woman said, “…we need a cohesive, coherent voice or message.”  But I think part of it is that there isn’t any.  I think that might be the message, people just have a lot of frustration that’s tossed up in the air and they’ve lost their jobs, and money, and homes, and it doesn’t seem to make sense and follow the pattern it did in the past.  In the past, things always got better much faster than this.  You always found a job after a few months.  Now, it’s been over a year or two.

Z: One individual said that one of the movement’s strengths was that they didn’t have a lead voice or individual at the top for the media or other political groups to kind of take down as the leader.  Do you feel like that’s part of the strength of the movement?

MB:  Yeah people are kind of surprised.  A few people here making signs are kind of surprised and disappointed the media isn’t covering it more.  They feel disrespected, and they feel like there’s some kind of collusion between the media and the government.  The media doesn’t want everyone to know that there’s people out here complaining.

Z:  Have you been to any of the general assemblies they have?

MB:  No this is the first day I’ve been here.  I went by the Art Institute first but nobody was there.  I heard the other day there was a meeting there.  To be honest, I wrote a letter to the CEO of our bank, Harris Bank, where I used to live, and I told her, I said, “The next big mortgage crisis is gonna be when people leave their homes because they can no longer afford the property taxes.  They go up 20, 30 percent.  My dad’s went up 1,000 percent.  Because he has a senior discount, he was paying $600, and they raised it to $6,000 in one bill.  So my sister went and they raised it to $1,000 anyway.  There’s so much corruption and endemic in Chicago.  There are so many people with gigantic pensions.  My neighbor gets $8,800.  Where’s that money gonna come from?  And the persistent Chicago political machine has always been, you get a connie job, you got friends, you get to work for the city and this and that.  That’s why they’re cutting back police and fire, because they’re outsiders.  They’re outside vendors.  They have separate contracts, and they’re gonna cut them out.  They’re gonna cut, close stations and all that.  The county workers and city hall workers, they’re starting to cut back on that too.  What’s gonna happen is, when it gets to a crisis, are they gonna be default or bankruptcy?  But in the mean time, Obama is bailing them out with stimulus money.  He’s given Illinois hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.  He gave circle money- $600 million. Gave Loyola a little bit but Loyola’s not public so...  You can look at recovery.gov and see the details of who got money.  Oh, what ticks me off is Chicago teachers got $14 million for their dental plan.  You know why?  Because the Chicago teacher’s union is the biggest campaign contributor in Illinois and nationally.  It used to be big steel, big oil, auto companies, defense industries, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed, they were the biggest campaign contributors in Washington.  Now it’s teacher’s union, government unions.  They got the money and then it’s a nice little laundering circle.  They get their money to them, and they allow them to get better contracts.  They get more money, they give it to them. And who gets shafted? Where’s my pension?

Z: What do you see as the best outcome that could come out of what’s going in the protests right now?

MB: Hopefully… they’re kind of disappointed there’s not more awareness.  This is all… I interviewed a guy, maybe you saw him, and he said it’s about awareness.  They want people to be aware of it because people are sitting at home feeling frustrated and nervous and anxious.  A woman who was here was just frightened her friend just lost her job.  She said she’s gonna have to go to Indiana and live with her boyfriend.  She said I’ll take her in if need be but she said it’s impossible to get housing.  If you wanna get Section 8, there’s a eight year waiting list.  There’s an eight year waiting list just to get on the waiting list.







Interviewer: Erin Feichtinger

Interviewee:  Amanda Felty


​E:  We’ve been doing a lot of reading on how people are interacting with public space in urban areas and Occupy Chicago is happening so we thought, “how perfect,” that we should come down and see how people are interacting with this space.  We’re also trying to get at what is this movement?  You know everyone is saying all sorts of different reasons.  Like, why are you here and what does it mean to you?

AF: Today’s the 12th right?

E: Yes.

AF: I camped out last night and went to work this morning.  I’m very tired...  My name is Amanda Felty.  I’m an educator.  I was teaching and now I work in, well, almost administration.  For a very long time throughout my life, I’ve always kind of been interested in passively looking in to the disparity, the financial disparity.  Its been something that I’ve been passionate about.  I have a letter from when I was five years old that George Bush, Sr. wrote to me about when I wrote about how I wanted to help the homeless.  So when I first heard about Occupy Wall Street, I was thinking - “this is great” - the idea of people using democracy in a way that people are starting to talk about.  It’s been a while since we’ve had something, I mean besides the Tea Party movement, its been a while since people have started talking about movements.  So then I started to see that it grew.  It grew with a much more positive message, and it was a message that I agreed with.  When Occupy Chicago first started, I was “creeping” on the Internet as many of us were, before I was ready to actually make the plunge to participate.  And then I decided over this past weekend that I was gonna finally start.  I then marched on Saturday for the anti-war rally, because it’s something I believed in, so I marched in it.  Hung out here at Occupy Chicago.  Then, Monday for the Stand Up Chicago rally, marched on that and stayed for general assembly.  I like the protesting.  I like the ability for people out there to speak about it.  But what I really like is the idea of bringing back democracy.  The idea of people being able to bring forth proposals, ideas, and just speak on the behalf of things.  It’s something that I feel very strongly about, as a former history teacher.  So, that’s one of the big reasons I came.  I’m seeing it grow and grow and grow.  Now, what I’m trying to do is, I don’t like to say the word leader, because this is a leaderless movement, but I definitely like to think that… I’d like to help organize.  I’m actually continuing a proposal today, that’s a little more thought out.  Yesterday was just about the idea, which had a glorious applause.  So today were actually going forth with a proposal for an event.  And not an event where we’re doing an art-in or something, but an actual protesting, couple of days event.

E:  So, in regards to this event, and this event you’re planning, and Occupy Chicago, what we’re intrigued by is people performing their citizenship in public space.  I don’t know if you have any comments about that…

AF:  I think so many times people think that the concept of public space is gone.  The idea that parks are owned now.  We have lots of privatized parks and you know…  With the idea that people own property, that when it comes to people occupying public space, its kind of an unknown.  An unknown known, I guess.  This space is ours.  We own it.  Public- that’s everybody.  That we own this space and so us occupying actual public space is just a matter of just taking that bit that we actually control.  Some of the other occupations, I guess you would say, are hanging out on private space.  People are giving them permission for it and it’s understandable because they want to have some sort of home base and I know that’s something we’ve talking about here in general assembly.  But I think if we’re trying to keep that sense of camaraderie and the sense that, you know, this is ours and we’re taking it back, then everyone needs to get back on the idea of hanging out in the public
space.

E:  Well I think that was it, thanks so much for talking with us.

AF: No problem, I mean it’s for education.  It’s not the creepy, Republican blog guy who tried asking me about my opinion on the lack of American flags…  No, because you’re gonna write, “...crazy liberal hates the American flag.  That’s what you’re gonna write."









Interviewers: Julie Glasier, Fraser Turner

Interviewee: Ruben

J:  How did you hear about the Occupy Wall Street protests, and then the Occupy Chicago protests locally?

R: Yeah, I’m not exactly sure how I heard about it.  I think it might have been through readit.com.  The Occupy Chicago I only found about because I looked for it and found it.  Wall Street, I mean anybody who didn’t hear about Wall Street just isn’t listening to the right information.

J: Have you been involved in any large-scale protests before?

R: First time.  First time I’ve ever done any political action of any kind.

J: What made you decide to come today to this protest?

R: Like I said, the needless brutality in New York.  I mean, I followed what was happening in the Middle East very closely.  I just feel like, basically, the way I feel, I’m not gonna allow that to happen here.  It’s time for us to stand up against this corruption that has clearly taken over everything from the way the police handle the public, to our education system, our political system, even our social structure.  Nobody can trust anybody anymore because everybody’s been so divided against each other.  I realize these things, you know.  We need to come together and we need to unite.  We need to unite together.

F: So what I’m gathering from this, do you believe the movement has broadened from its initial inception of focusing more on Wall Street greed and Wall Street corruption to larger disconnect?

R:  I think that Wall Street greed and corruption is the root of dozens of problems that we are converging with people on everyday.  People talk about losing their job, getting outsourced.  Teachers are losing their pay.  Corporations are taking their pay.  I mean just endless.  End the wars.  End the wars.  We all know the purpose of war in this day and age.  Nothing more than fueling the military industrial complex, period.

F: What do you hope to gain from the protests?  What do you hope is the end game? Is there an end game? We’ve heard lots about that there’s not a list of demands…

R:  I mean, basically, I’m not trying to like be arrogant or sound arrogant or anything, but my personal belief is that anybody that claims to not know what we’re standing for right now, is fully of it.  Everybody knows why were out here.  We’ve made very specific why were out here.  People over profit, Occupy Chicago. I mean, we say it everyday loud enough that everybody hears it.  As far as end games go, that’s looking in to the future.  You know, and I mean, nobody can really do that.  At this point, the large strength we are deriving is the convergence of people and their disparate beliefs about many different things.  We all find a common ground.  This the humanity.  We are the humanity in this situation standing against greed and corruption that has tainted so many facets of so many peoples’ lives.  We don’t let things divide us here.  We come and we try and find common ground.  We’re trying to work through our problems together and we’re trying to form solutions because we can do that.  We can come together and we can figure out how to solve our problems.  And that doesn’t mean its gonna be an overnight process.  It could take a long time but the message we’re putting out there is “we’re not going anywhere” and we would love it if people would come and talk to us.

F: You mentioned that you plan on sticking it through.  This is a movement in it for the long haul…

R: This is an indefinite occupation.

F: …bringing it in to the political realm, if you don’t mind me asking, are you registered to vote?

R: I am registered as a Democrat.

F: Do you plan on voting in the 2012 presidential election?


R: Nope. Because of Citizens United vs. FEC.

F: Ok, so do you think that political campaign donations are a big reason why we are in the place we are today?  And how does that problematize our current electoral system?

R: I mean, basically what we have right now if we were to just personalize it- let’s say I have $500 and you have $20.  I win the election, period.  You don’t get heard.  I get heard, you don’t get heard.  This is not how we run a political system.  This is not how we run a political system.  We all realize this.  It’s not like a grey area thing. It’s just clearly corrupt and I mean, you know, what can you do to change it?  I mean, when you start operating under the impression that everybody is bought it’s a little hard to really think about how you would negotiate with that.  Not to sound too extreme or anything but… I think that these are all problems that were struggling with right now.  Struggling to try to solve them because they’re real problems.  You know, if I can just say a little bit off topic, but I’ve been talking about this kind of stuff with my friends and family for years.  It just seemed like every time I would talk about this stuff… because we’ve all known it’s happening.  This has been under the surface, that’s why its surging now is because it didn’t just come out of nowhere.  I used to always feel so depressed after we would talk about this stuff because I couldn’t see the movement that was necessary in order to have a chance at solving these problems.  Now, when we come together and we talk about these problems, I don’t feel depressed anymore.  I feel like we’re looking forward.  I feel like we’re working together and that’s the only way we’re gonna be able to get through this is if we stick together because they’re gonna do everything they can to divide us against each other.  That’s what they’ve been doing. 

F:  I guess one more quick question pertaining to Citizens United, as a registered voter, do you feel the Citizens United decision benefitted one part over another?

R: No, no I feel that… Well, unless you consider money to interests a party, in that case yes.  But no, I mean, its basically allowing corporations and also, I might add, foreign entities to influence our elections.  People don’t seem to realize how serious this is. We have basically just sold the keys to our government.  That’s extremely dire.

F:  Have the actions on Wall Street, specifically pertaining to Wall Street, over the past few years, like the economic collapse, the bank bailouts, have they had an immediate impact on your life in the last few years?

R: I’m self-employed, I do computer programming.  So, honestly, the job market for me has never been better right now.  Everybody wants tech this and tech that.  So, I mean, me personally, not so much.  But people I know… My mom can’t find a job.  I take care of my mother.  You know, I mean, things aren’t right.  She can’t get a job.  There’s nothing for her…

J:  What does she do?

R:  She was working at Wal-Mart, you know, just getting what she could get.  And then she hurt her leg and she was out for a while, and they fired her.  Now she doesn’t have anything.

F: You said your mid-20s.  What would you say the average age of the protestors are?

R:  I would say around, I mean, I don’t know.  There really is dynamic.  There are a lot of people around my age for sure, but, I mean, there were a lot people that are… not. (laughter) Really, I mean look at those guys right there. Two old guys you know. They were probably protesting Vietnam together, sitting around waiting for years and years for this to happen, and now they’re here.

F: Do you find any parallels to the protests and uprisings in the late 60s, you know ’68, that relate to the current protests right now?

R: Well there’s a big contrast.  We’re not all on drugs (laughter).  But besides that I must say my history isn’t the best, so I’m not really qualified to draw parallels.

F: Thanks.

J: Thank you very much.

R: Thanks for getting the word out guys.

Interviewers: Greg Ruth, Eliot Pope

Interviewee: Joe Hudden​

G: What’s your name?

JH: Joe Hudden

G: … and why are you here?

JH: Well I heard about what was going on in New York, Occupy Wall Street.  I heard there was one also here in Chicago on the radio and I came down here the day I heard it.

G: Are you a native Chicagoan?

JH: Yes, I’m from the southwest side.

G: All your life, lived in the city?

JH: On and off, yes.

G: How many days have you been coming down here?

JH: This is my 12th.

G: Wow, 12th day.  What types of things have been going on in those twelve days?

JH:  We’ve been on marches, been standing here a lot protesting.  Gonna keep at it. Protest, protest, protest.

G: What’s one of the most dramatic things you’ve seen? Has it pretty much been people with signs and talking?

JH:  Yeah, very peaceful.  I don’t see anybody high or on drugs, or drinking beer.  It’s pretty diverse racially.  I saw a couple Palestinian ladies I was talking to.  Like I said,

everybody, different ages.

G: What are people talking about?

JH: The demise of the middle class.  How the banks got bailed out and we got sold out, as the chant goes you know.

G:  Does that seem to be what most people are talking about?

JH:  Right.  The big tax breaks for millionaires, and billionaires, corporations.  The demise of the middle class.  A lot of students out here, they got big student loans.  They can’t pay them back, they’re not working.  Get a job at McDonald’s, flippin’ hamburgers?  What kind of future is that?

G: Do you mind if I ask about how old you are?

JH: I’m 58.

G:  Are you one of the older protestors here?

JH: Yeah, I’m pretty close (laughter).  Maybe the oldest.  There are some guys around my age.

G: But it is a mixed group?

JH: Right, oh yeah sure.  There was this couple out here, in fact, they’ve been out here half-a-dozen times or more.  They’re in the mid-70s.  So, there is a mixed group.

G:  When you go on a march, what types of things do you do? Like, pick a street?

JH: Down the sidewalk, real peaceful of course.  Different chants that we do chanting on the corner here.

G:  Is there a leader of the organization or is it pretty spontaneous?



JH: There are leaders.  I couldn’t tell you names or anything.  I see people coming and going.  They got their jobs or school responsibilities to do.  Excuse me, I’ve been up here since six o’clock this morning.

G: So can you talk us through a normal day that you’d go through?

JH: Ok, I got here, I grab a sign, I got done with my coffee.  I had several breaks, went to McDonald’s, got something to eat.  We’re basically on the corner.  Like right now, they took a march to Roosevelt University, at Congress and Michigan.  Yesterday, we marched to Union Station.  The bank-sters were having a dinner there so we made some noise.

G:  Have you seen the protests grow day-by-day, or does it just kind of depend on the day?

JH:  There are people coming and going, but it’s growing definitely.  There are bigger numbers.  We had the teacher’s union down here, of Chicago, and we had people in the thousands.  So, it definitely is.  Word’s getting out.  The media is starting to cover us.  Just people passing by and seeing us, cheering us on. 

G: Where do you think the country needs to go? What has to happen?

JH: Oh, we gotta bring back regulations.  What these bank-sters did, if we had all the regulations back then, they’d be in jail.  It’s really a mess.

G: Do the regulations need to come from the government?

JH:  Definitely so.  From my own experience, I can’t talk all the mumbo jumbo economics, but, like I said, from my own experience, getting out of high school.  I’m a blue-collar guy, working in factories, construction.  I can see the middle class is being destroyed.  Mothers have to work, families are going in debt.  People underwater with their mortgage.  Kinda these S.O.B.’s.  I don’t know what my house is worth, you know.  That was my biggest wealth, in my house.  I don’t have stocks.  Some people are lucky enough to have them, but I don’t.  If I could sell my house, I don’t know what it’s worth, or if I could sell it at all.

G:  So it’s the people who have to make something, like working construction or in a factory, those are the people that have been most hurt?

JH: Yeah, and the poor.  The poor always gets hurt first.  Minorities.  In some parts of Englewood, I can’t imagine what the unemployment rate is.  It’s really high.  I’m 58, and I’ll retire at 62 but I have a vision of America.  What it should be, what it could be, what it was before.  We’re living in a culture of greed.  People traded God for money.  That’s their God.  They worship it.  I’m not really materialistic.  It’s nice being rich and having things.  I’m not totally against that, but you know, you got a commitment to society.  You gotta give back.  I believe in the dignity of man.  I don’t believe all this greed.  If you can get away it, it’s fine.  That’s the attitude today.

G:  Do you think that shines through the protests here, the dignity of man?

JH: Oh yeah, these people are givers that I met here, not takers. People like that, all they are is takers.  Get back to society, you know, we the people, not I, I, I, I, me, me, me.

G: Are you hopeful for the future?

JH: I’m gonna try and people get educated, they get to be class-conscious.  Yes, there is hope.  A lot of young people out here who are politically astute.  If we stick together, we’ll accomplish this.  It will be a long fight, a hard fight, but we’ll get it done.  We’re not gonna give up.  It just started.  The revolution just started.  We’re small in numbers, but we’re gonna grow.  As long as I can get up from bed, I’ll be down here.  If I have a 104 degree fever, maybe not.  But I’ll be down here every damn day.

G: Do you feel connected to the rest of the country, that it’s not just something going on here in Chicago?

JH:  All over, New York, you know, all over.  We’re being destroyed, the middle class, the poor.  We got kicked in the teeth. 

G:  Fighting back…

JH: We’re trying to, we’re trying to… We’re not going to be passive any longer.

E: What about politics, what do you think about the 2012 election?

JH: I’m gonna hold my nose and vote for Obama.  Because, there are a lot old men dying or retiring on the Supreme Court.  That’s important.  We need some progressive Supreme Court justices.

E: Has your support for him waned over the years?

JH: Yeah, he went Republican on us.  Now he’s trying to go back to his base.  I think he’s a decent, honorable man, but I don’t know.  Maybe, we’ll forget the minute he goes Republican again.  Centrism.   We can’t depend on any politician.  Maybe we can be the wind to his back and force him into it.  I don’t know.  Right now he’s the best we got.  We can’t run an independent candidate.  That’s like a circling ,firing squad.  That’d hurt us. 

E: Is there any candidate that you think captures this movement?



JH: Senator Sanders from Vermont.  But, like I said, that’d be like a circling, firing squad at this moment.

 

G:  Do you feel that politics-wise, there could be a more local effort to get local candidates that are more in line with the movement?



JH: Well you know, right now, I don’t know.  I really got no faith in politicians anymore.


G: So its gotta be the people, like you and the others here?

JH: Yeah, the 99 percent.

G: Were you out here when there was that sign, “we are the 1% sign”?

JH: I head about it, but I got down here later.  It shows you their… well, they have disdain for us.  They’re arrogant.  They have no vision for this country.  It’s all about themselves.  Their money doesn’t turn me on, it doesn’t do nothing for me.  Fancy cars give us the finger once in a while.  Those people are garbage, plain and simple…





________________________________________________________________





Interviewer: Andrew Raffaele


Interviewee: Jose Tafoya


A: How you doin’ brother?


JT: A little bit tired, but I’m good…

A: What’s going on here?

JT: What going on here is we got communists, we got anarchists, we got people who believe in capitalism and all that.  We are here to stop corporate greed.  Many different people are here for different reasons.

A: What are some of the reasons people are here?

JT: The Board of Trade, what they did is they took money that was supposed to go to the Chicago Public Schools, and they renovated the toilets in that building.  They renovated their bathrooms.  That was a lot of money they used that could of gone to public education.  They’re cutting music, art, and fundamental classes.

A: Who are you? What are you all about?

JT: No answer.

A: No Answer? You’re a person…

JT: I’m a person.

A: What was going on in your life when all of this started?

JT:  When all this started, I was looking at Wall Street, and I was about to go over there.

A: To New York?

JT: Yeah, to New York.  I was gonna use the money I’m going to be paid later on.  Because working with these organizers, with the different organizations and we did Stand Up Chicago two days ago, where we filled up the Art Institute and all those streets up.  I was gonna buy a plane ticket to New York.  And then I heard about Occupy Chicago like the same day I started working with those I guys out there.

A: So what are you personally protesting?

JT: I’m personally protesting because my mom’s losing her house and it’s Chase bank.  The house used to be own by Bear Sterns.  She paid all that she owed, but when they switched to JP Morgan, she didn’t know about it until they sent her statements saying she owed this much amount.  She’s been in court various times trying to get them to understand that she already paid.  She has the receipts and everything, they just don’t wanna listen.

A: So they “think” she’s defaulting on her payments?

JT: Yeah, they want to take the house.  It’s already for sale.  We already basically lost it already.  But what she did, she didn’t sign the papers.  They said until she signs it and gives consent, the bank can just take it whenever they want.  I don’t know how she did it but we’ve been living in that house for about six months without getting evicted.  After various threats, they got real aggressive.

A: How so?

JT:  They started telling her to call, and when she would call, they yelled at her. They tried to use scare tactics to make her pay, but she didn’t give in.

A:  Who else is around you here?

JT: This is the first day I’m not really sure.  I’ve met a couple of people here too.  But I don’t really ask.

A:  What are you hoping to accomplish, do you have any specific goals? Does this have any specific goals?

JT:  Yes it does, trying to spread the word so that everyone will wake up because most of our youth aren’t involved.  All they care about is partying and drinking and all that stuff.  They don’t care about what’s going on, they don’t care that the government is screwing them over.

A:  Would you consider this movement revolutionary?

JT: Yes I do.

A: Why?

JT: A lot of people got tired already after a couple of years.  They’ve been hearing stories of other people and what they did is they came together.  We’re all over here already.  Different people, different cultures, we’re all here as one.

A: So what caused the problems that you see here? The reasons why all of these people are here…

JT:  Most of them have similar problems.  Some of them feel rebellious and don’t like our government and stuff like that.

A:  What does Wall Street mean to you?

JT: I got excited about the movement. They’ve been through a lot.  It just grows, and grows in time.  I think they’re in their fourth week.  I’m not sure.  It’s great.  It’s like really big and they got their own libraries and stuff like that.  They got the live stream like the guy who just passed by.  They got their own livestreams, they got their own water filters.  It’s like a society outside.

A: What I was asking you was not what Wall Street the movement meant, but I mean, physically the place Wall Street.  Like the street itself, like the financial district?  Is
it a financial institution?

JT:  It’s a bunch of… how can I say this without cursing? (laughter) They’re a bunch of… they’re greedy.  They don’t care about the rest of people.

A: So Wall Street is a group of people?

JT: It’s not the group of people, it’s the people inside the building.  The stock exchange is what I’m talking about.

A:  So what do you do here? In your three hours here, what have you done?

​JT: Oh, we went to different news stations, disrupting them.  I think it was ABC, or Channel 7, that lowered their curtains.  They were trying so hard not to laugh.  They were live, they were live.  We were there chanting and they were trying so hard not to laugh.  You could tell.  And then we went to NBC, and they interviewed this one lady that said she has a friend who did two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Pretty much, they didn’t give him his check, and they’re gonna kick him out.  So he has to move-in back with his grandma.  A veteran, he risked his life for freedom, and that’s how they treat ‘em.

A: So how has this affected you? This space or this movement?

JT:  Before I was a more of a militaristic kind of guy, but it pacified me a little bit.  All of these people moving, and of them are supporters who honk their horns.  We’re not alone, that’s what… 

A: In the three hours you’ve been here, how has the public reacted to you?

JT:  I haven’t really talked to many people.

A: You saw people honking their horns…

JT: It kind of gives you a moral boost when they do that.  When you know the people are out there supporting us.

A:  Have you seen anything with the police? How do they react to you?

JT:  With the police, I’m actually surprised that they’re letting us do this.  It goes back to the Stand Up Chicago.  We didn’t have a permit.  It was thousands of us but the
media said it was only hundreds of us.  We walked all the way through Michigan and we ended up over there by the Art Institute.  And we were there chanting…

​A:  When was this?

JT: This was two days ago, I believe.  Yeah, two days ago.  Stand Up Chicago.

A: So a full on march through the street?

JT: Through the street, on Columbus Day, yes.  They actually let us go, but we did have legal observers there so…

A: So you took part in that?

JT: Yeah, I took part in that.

A: How did that feel?

JT: It felt amazing.









bottom of page