I'm sure you have heard of the riots that are mainly going on in New York and in L.A. People are becoming fed up and sick of being broke and having their homes taken away while people that work in Wall Street are living comfy, cushy lives.

These riots are called the Occupy movement with people demonstrating their frustration and anger with banks, income equality and Wall Street. The campaign was actually started on Facebook by an Echo Park woman who suggested the idea to her friends and from there, the Occupy movement took off (obviously).

Whether you agree with what these people are protesting or not is not really the point in my opinion. The point is that these people have you talking, thinking, perhaps even telling friends about what is going on. This demonstration was synced with Bank Transfer Day, this is a drive to get people to switch their accounts from large banks to smaller banks or credit unions and it is working. 650,000 people have opened accounts with credit unions in the past month. This is a staggering number next to the 80,000 monthly average.
Rioters have taken over parks, actually setting up camp, portable toilets, and mini camp kitchens. These people serious and are demanding to be heard. In this picture to the left, demonstrators are in Lower Manhattan in Zuccotti Park which is a block away from Wall Street.

People are getting arrested and hurt. Police have turned to tear gas and doing everything they can (minus shooting people) to get the demonstrators to disperse but nothing is working. People are sick of losing their homes and living dollar to dollar. The protests are peaceful as well. No one is starting fires, no one is throwing bricks threw buildings. Perhaps this peaceful protest is more apt to be heard over a "loud" one.

At the Occupy L.A. organization, protesters stood outside of a Bank of America and shouted,"Banks got bailed out, we got sold out." Police stood outside of the bank and there was an actual standoff between protesters and police. Protesters also shouted, "Bank of America, fight for America!"

Who knows what will happen with these protests but people are taking a stand, and in growing numbers at that. I can only hope that congress is listening (or whoever is in charge) and changes will be made accordingly. This struggle living dollar to dollar cannot go on much longer and people are fighting for it not to. After all that is what America is "based" on right? Having opinions and having a voice and being able to exercise that right. The people are speaking, America is listening and now we just need the government to do the right thing.

By: Kamayla Hooten