Q&A: Occupy the Dream: Benjamin Chavis & David DeGraw

Written on January 21st, 2012

 Aired 01/15/12

Learn about the alliance between African American faith leaders and the Occupy movement — Occupy the Dream — from two of those who made it happen: David De Graw, one of the central figures in the leaderless and horizontal Occupy/99% movement and Dr. Ben Chavis, longtime civil rights leader, from his youthful days with King, to his leadership of the Million Man March, to his current role in the Hip Hop Summit Action Network. The coalition called a National Day of Action for Martin Luther King Day, January 16, 2012,, with demonstrations in multiple cities nationwide, focusing attention on the injustice visited upon the 99% by a financial elite. You can learn more at occupythedream.org.

DAVID DeGRAW is founder and editor of AmpedStatus.com, as well as OWSnews.org, formerly editorial director of MediaChannel.org, and author of The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States.

In 1965, while a college freshman, BENJAMIN CHAVIS became a statewide youth coordinator in North Carolina for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As a chemist, he was a founder of the environmental justice movement, then an organizer of the Million Man March, and since he has been CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in New York City which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.