Occupy the Upper Peninsula is Born

Despite 50 mph wind gusts, horizontal rain, and chilly temperatures, a crowd of more than 200 gathered at Harlow Park at 8 a.m. on Oct 15, 2011, in Marquette and enthusiastically displayed their solidarity to the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, just as many other same-day OWS rallies that swept across the United States and abroad in unison. This show of solidarity birthed the now newly formed 'Occupy the U.P.' branch of OWS. The rally at Harlow Park served as the starting point for the parade that followed at 10 a.m.

The boisterously vocal parade route participants left Harlow Park promptly at 10 a.m., heading went east on Washington Street. After leaving Washington Street, Occupiers of the U.P. walked south on Third Street with their sites fixed on the Marquette County Courthouse, where the crowd paused momentarily to chant, "This is what Democracy looks like!" The 200-person crowd left the Marquette County Courthouse, and the parade route continued west on Baraga Ave. The brief stroll on Baraga Ave. brought the Occupy the U.P. rally to the corner of Front Street, where the Father Jacques Marquette statue towers above the intersection, and as if to serve the Occupy the U.P. as guide, for the the statue of Father Jacques Marquette faces North, sending the Occupiers up Front Street, with their point-person leading the parade party with an American flag, and an older gentleman in the rear, carrying a large peace symbol-donned flag.

The crescendo came to be when the party of protesters occupied the four corners of the Front Street and West Washington intersection, the vast majority of the crowd dominating the southwest corner where the taxpayer bailout recipient Wells Fargo is located. And a crescendo it was, consistently passionate, but always peaceful, even when some "Occupiers" were faced with equally passionate objections, verbalized by an occasional passerby, who were all allowed to easily navigate through the respectful crowd of protesters to go about their Washington Street patronization.

The intersectional human barricade was compiled of a diverse demographic makeup. Young MSU students took center stage, with a surprising supportive cast of seniors, some of whom lost vast portions of their retirement, or their entire savings all together, in what some are now coining, "The Wall Street Casino." A vocal veteran recited excerpts from our U.S. Constitution. Parents with children stood shoulder to shoulder with citizens of Marquette and other from surrounding areas in the Upper Peninsula, from all walks of life, all of which were given an opportunity to speak freely from a constructed "Rant Box" as to air their grievances, dismay, and or woe, that in many cases, was bestowed upon them by the unjust hand of Wall Street greed. A complete restructuring of our government and a call for auditing the Federal Reserve, and ultimately the dissolving thereof the Federal Reserve, was also a strong battle cry.

Once the airing of grievances were read by the rallying crowd, the protesters took shape once again in the form of a parade party, heading west on Washington, where they joined long-serving weekend war protesters in Marquette at the steps of the Federal Courthouse and U.S. Post Office at the corner of Third Street and West Washington. The brief but supportive show of solidarity by the Occupy the U.P. participants then reassembled the parade party for a final time as they traversed west on Washington, and came to rest back at Harlow Park for a celebratory, peaceful picnic. The only police presence noted, was one patrol car that conducted a non-contact observance drive-by. It was later reported by the Marquette Police Department that no one in the downtown business district during the protest - owner, tourist, passer-by, or otherwise - lodged any complaints against the Occupy the U.P. rally participants.