Why don't we take to our streets?

Late last Saturday night, my boss and I were checking out the most recent New York Times headlines online when we saw that “Occupy Wall Street” protesters were being arrested for blocking the Brooklyn Bridge. My boss, who follows several news sources on a regular basis, looked to me and asked, “Do you know exactly what they’re protesting?”

“Actually, I’m not entirely sure,” I responded tentatively.

As the young intern, I was embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t articulate the group’s goals when many of the protesters, including some of those arrested, were fellow Columbia students. Although I have not taken to the streets, I’m pretty sure I would agree with the protesters’ platform if they were to articulate one. I strongly believe in the need for better accountability and transparency from the country’s biggest corporations, for greater income equality, and for political change to achieve these ends. However, my problem with “Occupy Wall Street” is that it lacks a clear agenda with tangible suggestions, and I am not confident that the movement in its current form will ultimately get politicians and bankers to sit down and decide to change.

The most striking aspect of this protest for me, though, is the fact that large numbers of young people are literally taking a stand in response to an issue they feel is important. The specific politics of this protest aside, widespread and highly visible participation—such as in Wednesday’s walkout—represents the type of activism that those who were our age in the 1960s often accuse us of lacking. As I follow updates from Wall Street online, I can’t help but question: If Columbia students and professors are getting up from class, work, and the library to protest on Wall Street, why aren’t we also organizing a response to federal, state, and city policies that impact our own neighborhood in similarly unfair ways? Many people affiliated with Columbia vocally criticized the University’s use of eminent domain in Manhattanville, but I did not witness staged demonstrations to this extent. Why are we not protesting cuts to the city’s education budget, rising MTA prices, or housing law­—all issues that perpetuate the types of inequalities that the Wall Street protesters seek to combat? After all, we don’t have to go down to Wall Street to see widening income inequality and a powerful wealthy class.

Over the past few days, I’ve done my own straw poll among acquaintances at Columbia to get a sense of how much my peers know about “Occupy Wall Street.” What I found anecdotally corroborated my own uncertainty about the movement’s aims and methods. The students I talked with shared my skepticism about how much these protesters could win with their currently unfocused strategies. They also agreed that it is exciting and important to see so many young people involved in the political sphere. When I posed the question about protesting within our own community, it seemed to spark reflection.

In the three weeks since the “Occupy Wall Street” protest started, there are some changes that have affected our neighborhood that the Wall Street protesters should take issue with: GI bill cuts, lack of new jobs created by Columbia in Manhattanville, changes to No Child Left Behind stipulations, full-time tuition changes at Barnard, and impending teacher layoffs. The outcome of each of these debates has the possibility to deepen, implicitly or explicitly, entrenched racial and economic inequality. The effects are present on campus and in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and the Upper West Side.

My proposal is not to stop the protest on Wall Street in favor of local issues. Rather, my hope is that the energy generated by “Occupy Wall Street” will be channeled uptown and will move Columbia students to act in response to dilemmas and policies affecting our own community.

Jessica Hills is a Barnard College senior majoring in political science and French and Francophone studies. She is a former associate news editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator. Urban Dictionary runs alternate Fridays.