January 16, 2012

Successful foreclosure actions win Occupy Atlanta high praise

As Atlanta honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., its greatest hometown hero and the country’s most revered political protester, the newest incarnation of social-justice seekers here – Occupy Atlanta – was winning praise from a leader of the organization King helped start during the Civil Rights era.

“They’ve become part of the community,” said Rev. Samuel Mosteller, the president of the Georgia chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization that King helped to launch in the late-1950′s.

Mosteller praised Occupy Atlanta as the activists marched by, literally in the shadow of the Ebenezer Baptist Church on…

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December 12, 2011

Next stop on the Occutour: Detroit

I had a nice, relaxing though productive weekend here in what some call the New York City of the South. Not only is there a very interesting and diverse occupation happening in Atlanta – everything from radicals risking arrest to protest foreclosures to soccer moms trying to recruit the rest of the 99 percent to the movement – I also got to catch up with one of my oldest and best friends ever.

Liam and Courtney Tierney, not to mention their son Finn, put me up in their spare bedroom for the weekend and in between Occupy events,…

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December 11, 2011

Why Occupy: Atlanta, Georgia

From homeless black men to suburban soccer moms to traveling hippies to hard-core activists and just about every demographic in between, there are a wide variety of people occupying in Atlanta. Here are some of the reasons they have decided to join the movement.

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December 11, 2011

Soccer mom tries to export Occupy movement to the masses

Darlene Jones-Owens, a middle-aged mother-of-four who lives in suburban Carrollton, Georgia, is hoping to do for the Occupy movement what high-profile actions and arrests may not be able to accomplish: appeal to average Americans.

“I would go down to Occupy Atlanta and set up a table with some chairs,” she said, referring to the pre-October 26 days of the occupation here in Atlanta, before activists were arrested for camping in downtown Woodruff Park. She said she did so because she didn’t want to sit on the ground, which is where many of the occupiers perched.

“Invariably, people like me…

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December 10, 2011

Protesting foreclosures, Occupy Atlanta storms Chase Bank branch

As foreclosures increasingly become a new front in the Occupy movement, the group that occupies the biggest city in the south is not only protesting against banks but also advocating for people in danger of losing their homes.

The activists have for a week occupied the front yard of a home on Glen Iris Drive in the old Fourth Ward, a transitional neighborhood near downtown, that Chase Bank is threatening to repossess.

And last night, the occupiers marched from there to a bank to demand that the loan be modified.

“This is a very large family for whom this…

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