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A couple of hours after an AIDS Funeral March and Protest outside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, about 60 activists associated with the Bail Out the People Movement demonstrated in the same spot, on Tuesday, Sept 22.
One man stepped forward to speak. Picketers walked slowly in a ring around him, with signs saying “Bail out the people, not the banks” and “Mellon Bank, the real Pittsburgh ‘Stealers’ and Pirates.”
The speaker, who introduced himself as Larry, said “I’m unashamed to say I’m homeless.” He apparently called out to the onlookers and passersby who were in autos or walking part of their afternoon commute : “We’re not scum or lowlifes. Get to know us.”
Another speaker, a demonstrator from Jersey City, N.J. , led a chant by calling out “housing is a human right,” getting the response from the crowd of fellow demonstrators, “tell those bankers we’re going to fight.”
The person from Jersey City then handed off the microphone to a man whose hoarse but intelligible voice ricocheted between the tall buildings, while a man in a business suit man on the other side of the street seemed to focus his attention on forcing a yawn.
The demonstrator sang out, “Evicting families is a crime!” with the crowd responding “mellon is a criminal!” Mellon is short for BNY Mellon, the firm which resulted from the merger in 2007 of Mellon Financial Corporation and The Bank of New York Company, Inc.
He continued, “ Do you know how many sheriffs and marshals that have been sent to evict people from their homes have said to their bosses ‘I can’t do this…’”?
“Do you know how many marshals and sheriffs have been treated for depression? They’re quitting good paying jobs, because they know it’s wrong.”
Another activist, John Parker, who is working with the Bail Out the People Movement in Los Angeles, took to the mike, referring to bankers as “leaches” and “vampires.”
An additional speaker said in reference to BNY Mellon,“a rotten melon makes you sick. You don’t pour a billion dollars into a rotten melon.”
He said, “ they ( the bankers) get billions of dollars while kicking people out of their homes,” and that a government which represents the people needs to take over the banks.
One man stepped forward to speak. Picketers walked slowly in a ring around him, with signs saying “Bail out the people, not the banks” and “Mellon Bank, the real Pittsburgh ‘Stealers’ and Pirates.”
The speaker, who introduced himself as Larry, said “I’m unashamed to say I’m homeless.” He apparently called out to the onlookers and passersby who were in autos or walking part of their afternoon commute : “We’re not scum or lowlifes. Get to know us.”
Another speaker, a demonstrator from Jersey City, N.J. , led a chant by calling out “housing is a human right,” getting the response from the crowd of fellow demonstrators, “tell those bankers we’re going to fight.”
The person from Jersey City then handed off the microphone to a man whose hoarse but intelligible voice ricocheted between the tall buildings, while a man in a business suit man on the other side of the street seemed to focus his attention on forcing a yawn.
The demonstrator sang out, “Evicting families is a crime!” with the crowd responding “mellon is a criminal!” Mellon is short for BNY Mellon, the firm which resulted from the merger in 2007 of Mellon Financial Corporation and The Bank of New York Company, Inc.
He continued, “ Do you know how many sheriffs and marshals that have been sent to evict people from their homes have said to their bosses ‘I can’t do this…’”?
“Do you know how many marshals and sheriffs have been treated for depression? They’re quitting good paying jobs, because they know it’s wrong.”
Another activist, John Parker, who is working with the Bail Out the People Movement in Los Angeles, took to the mike, referring to bankers as “leaches” and “vampires.”
An additional speaker said in reference to BNY Mellon,“a rotten melon makes you sick. You don’t pour a billion dollars into a rotten melon.”
He said, “ they ( the bankers) get billions of dollars while kicking people out of their homes,” and that a government which represents the people needs to take over the banks.