Protesters settle in, adjust to daily life in Peoples Park

Located across from Kilroy’s on Kirkwood, Peoples Park is home to Occupy Bloomington, a movement in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York City. What started as a march through downtown Bloomington on Oct. 10 has turned into a more than 20-day occupation of the park.

Participants have made clear their intentions of sticking around — through rain, cold and eventually snow — until they see a change. Until then, they’re adjusting to life in the park. Here’s 24 hours in the movement from Oct. 18 to 19.

5:30 p.m.

The young woman clutched her blue jumper close to her body as she stepped out of a small blue tent.

She walked slowly, dragging her right foot forward with each step. Her toes pointed to the right.

Twenty-year-old Amber Richardson paid no attention to the drizzling rain that soaked her brown hair as she looked around Peoples Park.

In addition to about 40 tents filled with people who have had enough, the park holds two large pole tents and a kitchen tent.

The pole tents provide shelter for those wanting to engage in discussions without getting drenched by the rain.

The kitchen tent provides free food for all.

There are cardboard signs everywhere, hung from a clothesline looped around a tree. The smudged letters declare, “We the people occupy this space to collectively reaffirm our right to determine our own destinies.”

Richardson said she is fighting for the disabled.

“The government needs to realize there are people here who need help and can’t afford it,” she said.

Richardson was born with spina bifida, a birth defect in which the bones around the spinal cord aren’t properly formed.

“I’m 30 percent paralyzed from the waist down,” she said. “I have crooked legs, and it’s hard to walk.”

After graduating high school, Richardson worked at Arby’s for three months. She made about $700 before she left.

“I couldn’t stand on my feet for nine hours a day,” she said. “I was in too much pain. I had to quit.”

She then applied for Supplemental Security Income, a federal income supplement designed to help the disabled, but was denied.

“They said I’m capable of working,” she said. “I’d love to know how.”
Since then, Richardson has been homeless.

Midnight

It was far from a silent night.

Students gathered in a long line outside Kilroy’s, which blasted loud music. Street lamps and nearby businesses were sources of unwanted light.

Then there was the rain. It gathered in small pools on the roofs of the tents and had to be shaken off by the inhabitants.

Richardson’s tent was zipped shut, but small groups of people scattered about the park were talking. They had just returned from a general assembly that ended minutes ago. Participants discuss their long-term goals for the movement at the GA meetings, as well as any problems they need to address to ensure the movement continues with strength.

One participant expressed his disgust with “the institution.”

His companions smiled.

8 a.m.

It was a gloomy morning full of gray clouds and rain drops. Richardson sat in her tent, surrounded by 10 blankets.

“I do couch surfing, which means I stay at friends’ houses when I can and I go to shelters when they’re open,” she said. “I was staying with a friend for a while, but she kicked me out because we had some disagreements. Now, I have nowhere to go.”

She vividly remembered the first day she was homeless. She went to the Shalom Community Center for a meal.

“That’s when I met my fiancé,” she said.

They’ve been together since.

“He taught me everything I know about camping,” Richardson said.

Two years ago, they had a daughter.

“I go to my parents’ every weekend to see my baby,” she said. “I can’t be there to tuck her in at night. My parents and I don’t have a very good relationship.”

Last year, Richardson’s fiancé was arrested. She declined to comment further on the issue.

While it was stressful and lonely for her to be without him for 14 months, she said she’s looking forward to seeing him.

“I wouldn’t trade him for the world,” she said.

Richardson said she is full of plans for the future.

“We’re going to be a happy family,” she said.

She has reapplied to SSI.

“If I’m approved, it would put a roof over our head and (get us) a car,” she said. “I could raise my daughter better. I want to go to college and study to be a paralegal some day.”

She said it would be devastating if she were denied again.

“I would probably cry,” she said. “I’d be really upset. And I’d try again. And again, and again. I’m not going to give up.”

1 p.m.

The pole tents were moved to the center of the park.

“We moved them around and reoriented them to face forward, so it’s more inviting to people,” 34-year-old Nicole Johnson said.

She wore a thick winter coat, a hat and rain boots.

“It’s starting to get pretty cold,” she said.

Johnson said she is thrilled to be part of Occupy Bloomington.

“It creates a space for conversations that wouldn’t happen otherwise,” she said. “And it’s really happening. We’re the change we’ve been waiting for.”

Her personal reasons for involvement are based on the idea of “corporate
personhood.”

“I don’t believe corporations should be allowed to contribute to political campaigns,” she said. “They don’t vote for us. They don’t represent us.”

Johnson has attended all the assembly meetings so far. There are two every day at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

“At a GA meeting, we have discussions about things we want to do and what we want to change,” she said.

Those with conflicting opinions or ideas are encouraged to speak up.

“If you don’t agree, we ask why and make changes to our proposals accordingly,” she said. “We address everyone’s dissent because even if 90 percent consent, the remaining 10 percent are marginalized.”

She has also camped several times at Peoples Park with her husband and three kids.
“It killed all of us,” she said. “My husband has to work at 6 a.m., and everyone got tired or sick. With the weather getting colder, I think it would be irresponsible for me to bring my kids out here.”

Johnson is part of Process, a “working group” at Occupy Bloomington that focuses on enhancing the organization’s operational and organizational methods.

She is also involved in the Health and Wellness group, which ensures medics, first-aid kits and dry clothes are available for participants. They’re planning on having daily yoga or exercise sessions, as well.

“It’s to de-stress the activists,” she said.

Johnson is excited to see how it’s all coming together.

“At first, it was really hard to leave,” she said. “I was afraid that if you walked away and looked back, it would be gone. But it’s real. And it’s amazing.”

6 p.m.

Sophomore Michael Lukens scraped the guacamole from his paper plate with a tortilla chip — all provided by the kitchen tent. 

“I’m here because I feel that this movement is very significant,” he said. “It’s trying to create a social change toward equality.”

Lukens said Occupy Bloomington has accomplished a lot.

“Gathering in this one space has been a huge catalyst for exchanging ideas about changes we want to see in the world,” he said. “This sort of communication is essential to achieve the change.”

He has participated in as many discussions and assemblies as possible.
“They’re very helpful because I learn new ways to express old ideas and new ideas that I haven’t thought about before,” he said.

Lukens said corporations shouldn’t be granted rights as if they’re people. He is in favor of “a voluntarily associated direct democracy.”

“I believe only individuals can legislate the laws they live by,” he said. “Another person can’t impose laws upon other people.”

Brushing a strand of his shoulder-length brown hair away from his face, Lukens went back to the kitchen for more.

Richardson said she will continue to call for change alongside Johnson and Lukens.

“As long as they’re here, I’m going to be fighting with them,” she said. “I want my daughter to have a better life. I want her to grow up in a better place.”