Walking onto the grounds at Occupy Minneapolis, one steps back in time to the late 1960s, an era of marked activism. Across from Minneapolis City Hall, sprawling over the Hennepin County Government Center courtyard, the counterculture lives again. There are pockets of mostly 20-something White men and women, as the old group Buffalo Springfield put it, “singing songs and carrying signs.” (As of Nov. 4, signs were prohibited by Hennepin County.)

Occupy Wall Street, initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters, was launched September 17 in downtown New York City’s Financial District to protest corporate greed. The scope swiftly mushroomed to the general exploitation of Americans, including bankers’ penchant for foreclosing on mortgages held by hard-working families while CEO’s continue to wallow in luxury.

It’s a push for social and economic inequality, relief from corporate corruption and influence by the financial services sector over government. The movement’s signature slogan “We are the 99%” refers to the disparity in the U.S. between the wealthiest one percent and the rest of the population.

By the beginning of October, demonstrations were ongoing or had taken place in 70 cities and, as of this writing, have occurred in more than 900 cities across the globe. That includes Duluth and the Twin Cities, where it has been dubbed Occupy Minneapolis. There is an Occupy St. Paul initiative in the planning stages.

Arch-conservative social and political commentator Ann Coulter is reported to have denounced Occupy Wall Street protestors as “dirty, smelly hippies,” to which Occupy Minneapolis media liaison Alexa Lindh responds with almost grave earnestness, “I could be called a lot worse things. Including Ann Coulter.”

The last hippie movement in the U.S. proved to be largely be a fad during which White youth stumped for social justice in sympathy and purported alliance with a swell of Black protest that swept the nation — before getting bored with “revolution” and switching from tie-dyes to neckties, joining corporate America, and leaving revolt in the rear-view mirror, shedding their brief alliance with African Americans like so much outdated fashion gear.

Though author-activist Cornel West has twice been arrested while taking part in Occupy Wall Street activity, there is not what one would call a notable presence of color. Similarly, thus far, Black participation in Occupy Minneapolis has been less than overwhelming.

Asked just how much Black participation there’s been, Lindh answers, “Not as much as we’d like — yet. But we do have a fairly diverse crew [of] people who are here really regularly. Sometimes people have jobs. Or, if they have other responsibilities, people kind of come in and out depending on how much time they’re able to commit. Representing different backgrounds.”

African Americans are no more conspicuously absent than are Somalis, Asians, Latinos and Native Americans. “We’d like to reach out more [and have] representation for everyone down here. We’re working on it, [to] have people know what we’re about. Have their concerns heard. Issues that they’re wanting to be addressed specific to their communities.”

For more, Link: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2011/11/10/opinion-blacks-scarce-occupy-minneapolis-greater-black-presence-would-change-movemen