The mainstream corporate media has been downplaying the Occupy Wall Street protests until very recently when the marching has expanded to include more of New York and more people who are not traditionally part of these street protests. I have seen reports of airline pilots and Marines joining the movement. I know some Richmonders, ones who usually are not into public protest, who have gone to NYC on the Chinatown bus to be part of this.

At any rate, spurred on by the theme of resistance to corporate rule and greed, now there is yet even more expansion and there is an Occupy Richmond, including their own article in the news.

What does this have to do with the neighborhood? Well, for one thing there is talk of local protests close by, taking place October 15 around the Federal Reserve.

From this morning’s Times Dispatch article:

According to its Facebook page, Occupy Richmond seeks to “collectively voice our disapproval of the intermeshing of government and corrupted capitalism. We unite as 99 percent of the American population.”

“The middle class is disappearing,” said Alexandria Vasquez, a Richmond organizer and a graduate student of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Vasquez said young people are led to believe that “if they get their education, they’ll get that prized job. That’s not the case. They’re going to be graduating and fighting for a job making $7.25 an hour.”

Vasquez, 23, said the local movement plans to hold a meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Monroe Park to discuss plans for the Oct. 15 demonstration.

She said they plan to cooperate with Richmond police. “We want to actually work with them,” said Vasquez, who is president of Students for Social Action, a student group at VCU. “This is going to be a peaceful protest.”