Spring Re-ignites Vermonters

Photographing around Vermont this Spring I found myself at several meetings here and there discussing community organizing with Pedagogy of the Poor as well as citizens of Vermont towns working to oppose and resist expansion of natural gas pipelines through working-class communities.

Special thanks to Rising Tide Vermont as well as Pedagogy of the Poor for their respective (and interconnected) of community/ecological rights as well as picking up the torch of MLK's Poor People's Campaign.

A resident of Monkton, VT traces the path of a proposed natural gas pipeline through her town

Residents of several towns in rural Vermont gather to discuss plans to oppose a proposed natural gas pipeline 

An organizer with Rising Tide Vermont animatedly discusses the affects of pipelines on a community

Residents discuss a strategy to oppose the planned pipeline through several rural communities

Gathering in the local United Unitarian Church, residents of Burlington, VT discuss the Pedagogy of the Poor, an organization to re-ignite MLK's Poor People's Campaign

A "poverty scholar" leads a discussion while sharing her own understanding of poverty

Willie Baptist "preaches" to citizens and organizers about leadership, the poor, and shared struggle

Willie Baptist

Police Commission Block Independent Investigation

I recently attended a meeting of the Burlington Police Commission as they decided, before assembled community members, to not recommend and independent investigation of the College Street Incident in Burlington that witnessed riot police firing upon unarmed protesters this summer.

For a full write up of the Commission's decision visit Vermont Commons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Occupy National Gathering (NATGAT) in Philadelphia

On the 4th of July I found myself in Philadelphia photographing the National Gathering of Occupy as they debated and discussed where their future of the movement was and how best to move forward.  Mindful of the approaching one year anniversary of the occupation of Zuccotti Park, occupiers insisted upon transparency and adherence to their values of human rights, anticapitalism, and revolution.

Read the full Vermont Commons article here.

 

Oakland School Fights Austerity

From the Oakland Unified School District, images of a community fighting to save its school from austerity closure as well as occupying Obama's campaign headquarters.  Then, of course... there's Chalk-u-pie.  Oakland was a remarkable place with remarkable people fighting for their dreams and the dreams of their children.

Read the original Vermont Commons article here.

A brass band arrives in solidarity with "dreamers" that occupied Obama's campaign headquarters

Chalk-u-pie, a tactic begun in New York with sidewalk chalk reaches a new level in Oakland

Parents and community members done yellow shirts for a press conference announcing a people's reopening of Lakeview Elementary School

A young student enthusiastically writes "justis" on the white-board upon re-entering the classroom

 Community member and parent scolds officers of the Oakland Police for their repeated tactic of attempting to enter the campus via its rear entrance, startling parents and children

Minneapolis Home Defense

The following photographs are from the Occupy Our Homes group in Minneapolis, MN. Spending some time at the foreclosed home and getting to know both the organizers as well as the community members and home owners was a remarkable experience.  I only wish I'd been able to capture the extraordinary camaraderie.

For the accompanying article click here.