by Chelsea Birchmier
photos by Rosie Hutchison
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The Dart answers readers’ questions about the Occupy Wall Street protests that recently spread to Kansas City.
Occupy Kansas City is part of a larger movement called Occupy Wall Street.
The Occupy KC website says its purpose is to “reclaim our democracy from the 1% who have hijacked it.” Basically, people are protesting the disparity between the 1 percent of the population which controls half of the nation’s wealth and the 99 percent that shares the other half.
Where do the protests take place?
Protesters “occupy” certain areas and plan to remain there until policy changes. The protests began in New York and spread to cities around the United States and also to cities outside the USA like Rome and London.
In Kansas City, protesters meet and camp at Penn Valley Park near the Liberty Memorial, across from the Federal Reserve Bank.
When did the Occupy movements begin? When do supporters meet?
Occupy Wall Street started Sept. 17, while Occupy Kansas City officially began Sept. 30.
According to an estimate by the Kansas City Star, around 300 people gathered Oct. 9 to march from Penn Valley Park to the J.C. Nichols fountain.
Oct. 15, on National Call to Action Day, around 600 people gathered in Kansas City while about 70,000 to 100,000 people gathered nationwide, according to an estimate by the New York Times.
Oct. 30 a rally called “We are One” will take place at 2 p.m. at Ilus Davis Park in Kansas City.
View a timeline of Occupy Wall Street here:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/141530025/occupy-wall-street-from-a-blog-post-to-a-movement
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Chelsea Birchmier • Nov 3, 2011 at 9:54 am
Thank you! It is interesting! And Rosie took these pictures 🙂
ssmith • Oct 28, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Chelsea, this is so great! I really really like your pictures- they’re so interesting!
Kate Rohr • Oct 24, 2011 at 11:48 pm
This whole movement is so interesting. Great pictures, Chelsea!