Occupy Greensboro to send delegation to President Obama

Hi folks!

Long time, no post, I know. But the reasons for my long silence is a blog post for another day. I thought you might appreciate this news out of Occupy Greensboro:

If you are going to demand change, start at the top.

Since the president is coming to town, we though we would pay him a visit.

Will it work? We don't know, but we will try.

He can:

1) Let the hotel be the bad guy and tell us to leave or be arrested, in which case we will decamp to the PUBLIC street and wait.

2) Send an aide to receive the petitions and we will say, "No thanks, we wish to deliver them to the president personally."

3) He can sneak out the back and avoid us, not very presidential.

4) He can actually meet with us.

Regardless, we will be collecting polite, cogent letters to hand him at:

dearmrpresident@occupygreensboro.org

Did I mention that we are sending this letter to all the local press?

An Open Letter from the
Occupy Greensboro General Assembly
Festival Park
Greensboro, North Carolina

President Barack Obama
c/o Proximity Hotel
704 Green Valley Road
Greensboro, NC 27408

October 17, 2011

Dear Mr. President:

Greetings and welcome to Greensboro!

We trust that you are finding your stay in our city edifying and pleasant.

We are the General Assembly of Occupy Greensboro, a gathering of people meeting to show solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy groups peacefully assembling across our nation.

As you might surmise, one of the most frequent discussions we are having (other than the depredations of Wall Street) involves the First Amendment and how it states, rather categorically, that we the people, collectively and individually, may speak freely and peaceably assemble to petition our Government for redress of grievances. Not only that, but that our Government is explicitly forbidden from abridging these rights.

So here we are, peaceably assembled, seeking to petition our Government for redress of grievances. Desiring to expedite this process, we thought it best to start at the top and invite you to visit with our Assembly and hear why the people gathered here are upset with our Government.

Of course, we are pragmatic enough to realize that such a visit would create security and logistical problems for you and your Secret Service detail, who would have to scramble to coordinate such a visit at the last minute. In order to avoid such a troublesome imposition on you and your staff, we will instead send a delegation to you, and await a convenient moment of your time.

The delegation will present to you the written grievances of the individual people currently assembled at Festival Park. We wish to clarify that these grievances represent the views of the people individually, and the delegation from Occupy Greensboro acts only as the messengers, not the message.

Respectfully yours,

The General Assembly
Occupy Greensboro
wwwOccupyGreensboro.org