Approximately 90 people, including Long Beach residents and Cal State Long Beach students, gathered at Bluff Park at 6 p.m. on Oct. 7 to spend the evening protesting what they perceive to be government injustice and corruption within the American financial sector.
The next morning, locals marched through the Long Beach financial district, displaying signs and singing songs before ending the march at Lincoln Park, where they held an open mic event.
The group of protesters gathered under the name of Occupy Long Beach, a local offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York.
“Long Beach is one of the most diverse cities in the country,” said Cal State Long Beach student Ben Fisher, who has been involved with the protests since they were initially organized several weeks ago. “In our meetings, we represent a lot of the groups in Long Beach — black, Latino, white — and they all seem to think that it is time for change.”
The “occupy” movement is not easily characterized but Long Beach’s version was primarily composed of people who believe that corporations should not have the legal rights of personhood, that more money should be used for assisting the poor and impoverished and that education should be free or heavily subsidized by the government, among other things.
During the open mic session, countless people took to the microphone.
CSULB student Jennifer Klasing stood up to express her frustration with the banking sector.
“Do you understand that corporate America is gambling your money?” she asked.
Another CSULB student, Mackenzie Roberson, used her time at the microphone to talk about how dwindling funds to education have affected her mother, a first-grade teacher.
“My problem is not so much with the city of Long Beach, but with the state and federal management of money,” Roberson said.
After explaining how her mother had to teach more than 30 students at once with no student aid, along with the impacts of pay cuts, she ended her speech by saying, “Education is not happening.”
Her speech was met with raucous applause and cheering from the crowd, along with drum beating from the various musical performers who had gathered with the group.
Kayla Crow, president of the CSULB Political Science Student Association (PSSA), said she was glad to see other people committed to the cause.
“It’s finally a movement where people are fighting corporate greed,” Crow said. “I have been waiting a long time.”
The PSSA president held a sign with a quote from social activist Howard Zinn: “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.”
Another political science major at CSULB, Will McKenna, also said that he believes this is the time for change.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “Maybe we do need a revolution to socialism.”
Another CSULB student, Alexandra Lesnak, held a sign that read “S.O.S., Do Something Washington!”
The group of protesters eventually attracted nearly 100 people, including a police cruiser that stood by to watch.
Group organizers said, “There were no reports of injuries, and only positive interaction between our protesters and the Long Beach Police Department.”
The police refused to comment and directed all questions from the press to the Police Information Office.
Occupy Long Beach protesters will continue assembly through this week at Bluff Park, where they will be handing out fliers explaining their message, continuing the open mic and holding discussions on what exactly needs to be changed.