Occupy San Diego

I went to Occupy San Diego at the civic center with two other classmates on Thursday, November 17 around 3:30pm. Right before we reached the area where people were gathered, we noticed an abundance of cops around the entire block. Written in chalk on the sidewalk in front of the building was "We love our Police, they are part of the 99%". When we reached the entrance of the civic center we noticed that there was not that many people there. We later found out from a man named "Randy" that earlier that day, another group of Occupy San Diego had started up and their location was right down the street at the Federal Building; which we realized was the reason for the crowd looking smaller than we anticipated.

We spoke with a handful of people, all mainly saying the same thing, they're all there because they want "systematic change". An older gentleman we met was there and said that he hasn't been able to find a job as a carpenter for over a year. Another shared with us what was currently happening globally with Occupy and how he believes that this will continue on long after he is even in the world. He was a true believer that Occupy would eventually be a success and that the people that would reap the greatest benefits would be our children. He encouraged us to go to Occupy L.A. where he said we would be able to really understand what Occupy is and described how organized they are up there. He also said that Occupy San Diego will eventually become that organized. He gave us reading material and informed us that the most information we would be able to receive would be during their General Assembly meetings that they have daily around 7pm. The group that was there seemed to consist of mainly homeless with their dogs and a few vets. There were not that many women and he also informed us that the General Assembly meeting for that day would be held at the other Occupy San Diego location at the Federal Building. One of the cops also informed us that there are some groups of Occupy San Diego in Clairemont Mesa.