On a crisp, clear afternoon in downtown Lafayette Thursday, fewer than a dozen residents gathered at the edge of Parc Putnam on Lafayette Street across from the federal courthouse to show their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Jackson Schneider
[Correction: Jackson Schneider, the boy quoted in this story, is 10 years old, not 12 as originally indicated. The story and his comment have been corrected to reflect his actual age.]
On a crisp, clear afternoon in downtown Lafayette Thursday, fewer than a dozen residents gathered at the edge of Parc Putnam on Lafayette Street across from the federal courthouse to show their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement - a protest movement targeting corporate excess that erupted in New York City early this fall and has spread to dozens of cities across the country and the world.
Thursday's action was organized via social media by Lafayette resident Molly Baumgartner, a local representative of the liberal activist group MoveOn. Group members ranged in age from junior high to senior citizen. The youngest member of the protest,' 10-year-old Jackson Schneider of Lafayette, is a recent transplant from New York who said he sympathizes with the message of OWS.
"It's not fair that someone on minimum wage makes $16,000 a year while some CEOs make $16,000 an hour," the precocious tween said in the shadow of his parents.
The "Occupy Lafayette" event was a low-key affair: No slogans were chanted or epithets hurled. In fact, it didn't even arouse the curiousity of security officials at the courthouse.
