Occupy Santa Cruz 10/16

It was a cold quiet evening at home, I was planning on a long night of web work and event promotion, then I stumbled on the post I was waiting for… a raid was possibly going down at Occupy Santa Cruz that evening.

It had been almost two weeks since I had paid a vist to OSC. From the beginning I was deeply involved  with helping set the foundation of what would grow to become today's Occupy Santa Cruz movement. After about 2 ½ weeks of involvement I had to tend to my normal life (work, recording our new album, sleeping more often etc) and my involvment with OSC became more and more distant.

Well, now that it seemed a raid was a likely, I decided it was time to head down and visit my fellow occupiers on-site. The only true force we have against the brute police force at the present moment is our power in numbers. In general, we have committed to non-violence and the most effective way to combat excessive force from law enforcement is to overwhelm them with support from the community. So I took my call to action and headed down there.

The tempature was incredibly cold… but the vibe was anything but frigid. Never before had I seen so many people here, and everyone was singing, dancing, even howling like wolves from time to time. Make-shift drums out of half cut out garbage cans along with real drums provided the beats, and we provided the vocal melody.

 Me and my good friend Lyrical I kcked off a good old fashion freestyle cypher goodness for many many verses. It was truly a jam session with the variety of muscians and instruments along with the various vocalists joining  Here’s a snippet:

We had our patrols scouting the area all night to be aware of any amassing police presence. Although a raid never did actually occur, we did see at least one Department of Homeland Security vehicle with approximately 4 suits and a few unmarked SUV driving erratically in and out of the courthouse parking lot. 

It's difficult to tell exactly what will happen over the next couple of days. In talking to some other members of OSC last night, a raid seems likely to occur by the end of the week, if not later today/tonight.

No matter what they try to do, we the people are prepared to stand our ground. This goes beyond a mere protest, this is not simply a cry for our voices to be heard. We are not just seeking change, we are preparing to become the very change which we wish to see.

In more words or less, it is time we take our country back.

Photo by: Nikolai Vinogradov

-Numerous

For updates on OSC please visit www.OccupySantaCruz.org