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Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 | 12:31 p.m.
Most Americans spent Thanksgiving snug inside homes with families and football. Others used the holiday to give thanks alongside strangers at outdoor Occupy encampments, serving turkey or donating their time in solidarity with the anti-Wall Street movement that has gripped a nation consumed by economic despair.
In Las Vegas, Occupy organizer Sebring Frehner said protesters had a potluck Thanksgiving meal at their campsite near UNLV. He said he was happy to skip the traditional meal at home.
"Instead of hunkering down with five or six close individuals in your home, people you probably see all of the time anyway, you are celebrating Thanksgiving with many different families _ kind of like the original Thanksgiving," Frehner said.
In San Francisco, hundreds of campers at Justin Herman Plaza in the heart of the financial district prepared turkey dinners that were handed out by volunteers, church charities and supporters of the movement against social and economic inequality.
Across the bay in Oakland, where protesters and police previously clashed when an Occupy encampment was broken up, occupiers enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast outside City Hall with music and activist speakers, including Clyde Bellecourt, co-founder of the Minnesota-based American Indian Movement.
And in New York, Occupy organizers distributed Thanksgiving meals at Zuccotti Park, where the protest movement began on Sept. 17 before spreading nationwide. Protesters were evicted from the park on Nov. 15.
"So many people have given up so much to come and be a part of the movement because there is really that much dire need for community," said Megan Hayes, a chef and organizer with the Occupy Wall Street Kitchen in New York. "We decided to take this holiday opportunity to provide just that _ community."
She said some 3,000 meals were distributed.
The movement's slogan, "We are the 99," refers to the growing wealth gap between the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and the remaining 99.
The movement was triggered by the high rate of unemployment and foreclosures, as well as the growing perception that big banks and corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes, yet are taking in huge bonuses while most Americans have seen their incomes drop.
In New York, restaurants and individual donors had prepared more than 3,000 meals for the traditional Thanksgiving feast, said Haywood Carey, 28, of Chapel Hill, N.C., who was volunteering his time serving meals and said the celebration was a sign of Americans' shared values.
"The things that divide are much less than the things that bind us together," Carey said, as the crowd ate to the old spiritual anthem, "Let it Shine" by a guitarist and a bongo player.
Trisha Carr, 35, spent her holiday at the Occupy encampment at City Hall in Philadelphia. She has been out of work for more than two years and lost her car and home. She's been living in an Occupy tent for several weeks.
"Some days are harder than others," Carr said.
The sunny, crisp weather Thursday put her in a good mood, and she watched the annual Thanksgiving parade before coming back to the encampment for a plate full of turkey and fixings.
Carr said her job search has been fruitless, and government needs to do more to help people like her.
"I had the benefits, I had money in my pocket, I had health care _ I had it all," Carr said. She later added: "There should be no reason why people aren't working."
AP writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia; Chris Hawley in New York; and Cristina Silva in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
The OWS people deserve our respect and admiration for what they are trying to do to fix this country.
Unless the money going to the rich people is stopped the US is doomed to be a rich verses poor society with no middle class.
The middle class has already been mostly destroyed.
This is the last chance before the US becomes another 3rd world country with a big army. Just like Iraq was.
How ironic that we are becoming what we claim to have destroyed!
The Occupied group is union-sponsored and consists of radical teachers/students, socialists, anarchists and unionized workers. There is a reason why this group can't attract new recruits. Socialism, weird theories and a belief system based on what is yours is mine is repulsing the American people.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a UNLV student on hacking charges on Tuesday" (an Occupy LV member)
No thanks Occupy LV.....I'll stick with those who respect the laws of this country.
http://unlvrebelyell.com/2011/07/25/unlv...
I'm not a union member, not radical, not a teacher or student, not a socialist, and not an anarchist...anything else you want to label everyone in OLV as? I'm a nearly six figure earning, small business owner who is in foreclosure with Bank of America. I'm under no illusion that 9/11 "was an inside job" or that we need to rid the world of "Zionist bankers". Any other theories you have about members of OLV? I'll guarantee that I don't fit your "mold". What I am though, is someone who is sick of what money in politics has done to our country and the fact that "too big to fail" banks have nearly decimated our economy. My question is...why aren't you RevNV? Why do these things not disgust you? I'm sure you'll come back with some snide comment, but your reasoning is without merit.
And Jeff Garner - nice quote, buddy! Love how you try to make it sound like that arrest just happened when it occurred earlier this summer. Regardless of any charges that young lady is facing, it doesn't even hold a candle to crimes committed against the American public to the tune of $700B+ (and growing) by the corporate honchos at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, General Motors, Freddie Mac...Ugh...should I go on or are you getting the picture yet?
Quite frankly, you're both probably a couple of paid shills, working for the likes of someone like Sheldon Adelson (or another jackass) because you both post on EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE ABOUT OCCUPY LAS VEGAS. I hope you are both proud of yourselves. You sicken me.
When you take a look at this bunch the first words that come to mind is MORONS on holiday.
I am a Senior who fully supports all Occupy Groups. I am none of the things other comments say we are. I am merely a citizen who believes this country has been headed down the wrong road for a very long time. If things don't change soon, the income gap will only widen. I stand with the protesters.
Go home. Get cleaned up and then maybe you can get a job! You are the sickest non-profit organization I have ever heard of. Perfect example of the people who want something for nothing!!!