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Have you occupied the board room yet?
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about: Last week, RAN teamed up with groups like NY Communities for Change, Main Street Alliance, and The New Bottom Line, as well as blogs like Crooks & Liars and Down With Tyranny!, to launch OccupytheBoardRoom.org. The site lets you send your message directly to the 1% — the folks who are making out like thieves thanks to our unjust economic system, and then using their ill-gotten gains to corrupt our democracy and ensure this perverted system continues.
I’m sure you’ve got something to say about all this. Send your message to the 1% right now!
Maybe you’re as tired as I am with banks like Bank of America, a.k.a. the Bank of Coal, which took $138 billion in government handouts, paid no federal taxes, and gave a $9 million bonus to its CEO, who then turned around and said his bank was so strapped for cash that they had to lay off 30,000 workers and charge customers $60 a year for the privilege of accessing their own money. All while underwriting some of the dirtiest coal projects in the country that are poisoning our communities right now.
And now, apparently, Bank of America won’t even let you close your account if you’re doing so in protest of all these gross injustices.
http://embed.crooksandliars.com/v/MjIxMTUtNTA2MzE?color=c93033
Enough is enough, right? The CEOs at banks like BofA need to hear from you.
Here’s what I wrote to them:
Dear 1%ers,
You’re probably furious or at least annoyed with the Occupy movement right now. You might even feel like you’re being wrongly maligned. That’s understandable. You didn’t create this perverse economic system of ours, you’ve just profited handsomely off of it. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t stand with us, the 99%, and demand a fair and just system that works for everyone.
I’m writing to you because I don’t want to relate to you solely as “the 1%.” You’re all people just like me and the rest of the 99%. Relating to each other only as 1% and 99% is not productive. I’m writing because I want to relate to you as a person. I think that’s important.
We both know that the current economic system is unsustainable. The rich can’t keep sitting on their fat stacks while the poor and the middle class have to scramble for whatever crumbs are left. You can’t continue to lay people off from their jobs and kick them out of their homes. You can’t continue to bankroll fossil fuels, polluting our communities and cooking our climate. You must realize that this situation is in no one’s best interest, and can’t possibly continue for much longer.
I urge you to get on the right side of history. Support the Occupy movement. Speak up against the injustice inherent in the system. Work to dismantle the mechanisms by which the extreme inequality we see today has been created. Because ultimately we’re all people living on this planet and doing the best we can. We’re all in this together.
We would welcome your support. But you should also know that we will not be cowed by your derision and intimidation, should you choose to ignore the legitimate calls for economic and social justice echoing across the world right now. We’re going to make things right. Will it be with you, or without you?
Peace, Mike G.