Bluejake

This was a great way to protest and you took some great shots of the line of people. BTW - where did you find out that this was going to take place? I don't want to miss another great protest.

now, THIS is a great protest with some real subject-matter.

nice

i hate being in philly right now and away from all that is going on up in NYC. great shots.

Did you ask those people to get jobs ?

#10 is awesome.

I was at 20th Street, and our block must have had 50 people easily.

Great shots.

Um... the economy sucks, and I know that. I don't need anyone to inform me of it. But that seems to be the entire point of this "protest." Was there a specific company, or industry, or politician, or anyone at all they were actually protesting, or were they just standing around feeling sorry for themselves instead of looking for a new job?

GET ... ANOTHER ... JOB!

Gah!

I think you're missing the point-- I was there too, and it looked like most of the protesters did have jobs. They were handing out those pink flyers with information about rising unemployment rates, etc.

I was in the line between Liberty and Cortlandt, and it was quite a mix of people...I was standing between a couple of pretty young professionals on one side, and an out-of-work investigational attorney (the legal side of PI work) and a "document retrieval" consultant. A lot of the folks I spoke to had been laid off sometime in the last few years, and a good amount were bouncing back by taking whatever work they could get.

Everyone seemed proud to be getting some facts about unemployment out there, and most of the people walking by stopped and read at least a few of the figures if they didn't take a flyer with them.

Participation was pretty strong where I was, too, at Union Square. At one point this man barged past our line and squawked The signs are too small! No one can read them from a distance! USELESS, I tell you, USELESS! Some people just miss the point.

This is for Bobby. This was a protest against Bush administration policies that affect job growth. Namely, that there has not been any real job growth during Bush's term because of these policies. (I mean, geez, Jake included a link to the group's website with his pictures - don't you think you could have clicked on it before you made some snide comment?)

Hipster protest. People at that age and demographic are supposed to be chronically unemployed. Now, if you had some parents or older people out there, then that would have been a statement, and there may very well have been those people, but of course, they don't look as cool in pictures, so they are not represented here.

That Asian kid is unemployed because of his hair.

And that one chick forgot to shave her armpits.

Dumb.

Will these unemployed folks be hapier earning minimum wage flipping burgers under Kerry's regime?

The future under George W. is uncertain, yet the most prudent coarse. A possible future under Kerry is certain to be frought with higher taxes, expensive & wastefull healhcare for some, bigger government, more terrorist attacks and four years of inaction!

Mr. Kennedy,

With all due respect, your two sentences are riddled with contradictions, spelling errors, and specious logic. You say "the future under George W. is UNCERTAIN" yet blithely assert that it's the most "prudent coarse [sic]." HOW SO? In sentence 2, you describe a dire future that is simultaneously "possible" AND "certain" -- "frought [sic] with higher taxes, expensive and wasteful healhcare [sic] for some..." etc. You object to your fellow citizens having BASIC HEALTHCARE, yet can cheerfully overlook the untold trillions the Iraq quagmire will cost, not to mention the exponential increase in future terrorists who will target America and its allies in retaliation? Nice.

"Will these unemployed folks be hapier earning minimum wage flipping burgers under Kerry's regime?"

the answer is yes. working means being a useful member of the society. ever been unemployed?

"A possible future under Kerry is certain to be frought with higher taxes, expensive & wastefull healhcare for some, bigger government,"

who told you that? Kerry himself?

"more terrorist attacks"

of course. did you talk with Osama lately?

"and four years of inaction!"

yeah. no more cool invasions with shooting around 'n stuff.

Looks more like a fashion show. Protest my arse. I'd think they'd get more done if they actually walked around the entire city handing out those flyers instead of standing there modeling their outfits, and yes, bigger signs. More representation of minorities and older age groups. I don't know...it just seems that whoever organized this kinda missed the point.

The problem: the outfits shout louder than the message. The average unemployed individual does not wear expensive vintage clothes. What else is wrong??

I participated in the protest yesterday. There actually was quite a bit of diversity where I was standing: African American, White, Mixed, Jewish, employed, unemployed, 40 somethings, 20 somethings, etc.. Not that many hipsters. And just in case you are curious - I was unemployed for the majority of last year, but am employed now, and I am a person of color (African American) and definitly not a hipster. I was at the start of the line on Wall and Broadway. I guess that if I were closer to the Village or 31st, that it might have looked differently.

you should sumbit this at pixos... the pixo is currently "protest in..." I think!?
good stuffs!

This protest is brought to you by Urban Outfitters.

New Yorkers are stylish people. What, we're supposed to dress like bums for a protest? Who wants to see that? No, I think wearing decent clothing says "We're available to work, we are professional, we can't find jobs under this administration." With all the poorly dressed Republicans in town right now, fashion and style are important! WORD!

I have a question for this Mr. Kennedy who fears bigger government under Kerry. How much bigger can government become? Under Bush government has acquired more power to invade our privacy than ever before. Bush and his ilk also salivate over the thought of imposing their religious and social beliefs on every citizen of this nation. If you're afraid of big government, Mr. Kennedy, vote to oust Bush.

"This was a protest against Bush administration policies that affect job growth. Namely, that there has not been any real job growth during Bush's term because of these policies."

This may sound obvious to some, but when you say "namely," you need to name something. The statement "There has not been any real job growth" does not describe a policy.

cc, if you can't tell the difference between "professional" and what that asian guy looks like, it makes me want to reevaluate the cause of the shitty economy. And at parts of my life I've been a step away from being a live-in-the-woods hippy, so that's saying a lot.

To quote some anonymous guy in this same thread:

The problem: the outfits shout louder than the message. The average unemployed individual does not wear expensive vintage clothes.

Exactly.

"We're available to work, we are professional, we can't find jobs under this administration."

Perhaps they should try the private sector...

> cc, if you can't tell the difference
> between "professional" and what that asian guy
> looks like, it makes me want to reevaluate the
> cause of the shitty economy. And at parts of
> my life I've been a step away from being a
> live-in-the-woods hippy, so that's saying a lot.

our graphic designers, programmers, vp of entertainment, and directors assistants dress a lot like the people in those images above. and believe it or not i work for a successful, professional company. i can imagine working on projects with people dressed like that so long as they know what they're doing.

if you look at the pictures again you'll see that there are as many people with shirts tucked into pants as there are wearing vintage outfits. and even more people are just wearing average casual clothing. previous comments in this thread are exagerating the hipster quotient.

It seems the argument should really be how well these pictures represent the protest. From what I'm reading, these pics don't represent the protest in its entirety, but just one portion of it - the hipsters. No problem there. I would like to see a real photojournalist's coverage.

Response to scott:

12 pics total. 7 pics hipsters. 3 pics average white people. 2 people are too tiny to even tell.

ok, who cares. just have some time to kill, so why not.

Unemployement is at 5.4%, Clinton bragged about 5.6%. I don't remember such outrage during the Clinton years. I guess things like this aren't a real problem to many people until their party is no longer in power. Same thing with health insurance. There were more people without health insurance during the middle of Clinton's presidency than there are currently. It was barely an issue to anyone back then.

we heard from a friend that there were pictures of us at the protest on this site so we looked it up and were surprised to read that our images created so much of a stir. we are in the first picture, "the hipsters". we were there to protest a huge issue plaguing our society which has only gotten worse with the bush administration. it affects everyone from designer, to burger flipper to manager to investment banker and if you actually saw the protest you would have experienced this diversity of people. this protest asked that you had been unemployed at some point in the past three years. we are now, self-employed and run our own company since the job market has virtually dried up. we were not on job interviews but at a protest. its not fair to judge people by what they wear or look like because its a subtle form of discrimination.
ps. they're not expensive vintage clothes.

Hello all. Being “that asian kid” who some of you have so eloquently dissed on this blog as being part of the hipster contingent that looks un-professional and needs a haircut, I felt the need to refute some of your ill-informed opinions.
For one, I was unaware of the rulebook for protests that said there was a conservative dress-code. Those of you who made comments about how we all looked during the protest couldn’t have been further from missing the point about what the unemployment line meant, not to mention what meaning lies behind every protest, promoting the right to free speech. Does what I wear or what race I am make my presence in a protest any less valid? Of course not. My appearance is a direct reflection of myself and I could no more change that than change my identity. And I have never been interested in a “professional” career that would discriminate against me for how I look anyhow. Before you discriminate against people whom you do not know, please take into consideration the very fact that you do not know them, you do not know their story or their background.
This past week has been a wonderful demonstration of all the different kinds of ways to show dissent by people of all walks of life. Show your fellow Americans some respect for voicing their opinions (whether you agree or not) and practicing democracy under an administration that is constantly trying to hinder our rights to do so. And for some of us, that struggle for free speech is everyday.

1 shirt: found in trashcan, altered and resewn by me. 0 dollars
1 pair of dickie work pants cut into shorts: 5 dollars
1 pair of converse: 20 dollars
this outfit = no expensive vintage clothes
thank you.

The fact that the people you are trying to reach, meaning the ones that may disagree with you, did not get the message, means that the protest failed. It's like a bad comic trying to explain a joke to someone who didn't laugh. They didn't laugh because it wasn't funny.

If you didn't get the protest then your stupid. It doesn't matter what color they are or what clothes they're wearing. It was a line of people holding pink slips in their hands. Hello!!!! Unemployment is a problem!!! Get it?!?!

I must agree with Steve's comment on 9/4. People just want to complain when they don't get their way. I took a job at the mall while looking for a job late last year and I have a college degree in biochemistry. Maybe people just have too much pride, but I wasn't above that. I am currently employed at a pharmaceutical company in NJ. Have people forgotten about 9/11 already. Do you not realize what an impact that had on our economy and how nobody thought we would recover as greatly as we did? I don't know if those protestors are from this area, but I grew up here. I took that attack very personally. There were way too many of my neighbors killed or almost killed on 9/11 and I'm not willing to risk another attack with a wimp like Kerry. Maybe some of you from Podunk, USA don't really care b/c you can't relate.

I have to disagree with steve and jwoods. Yes, 9/11 was a traumatic day as well as blow to the economy. I live in New York and saw the devastation first hand. But the thing I think you're forgetting is that Bush promised to bailout NYC and later pulled a lot of the funding. He also got us into a war with another country when he promised to get the people responsible for 9/11. There is still no connection to the events of the 11th and Iraq, and we continue to pay for that lie every day. How can you be happy when they close down fire houses in New York and open them in Iraq. It's all great that they're "free" but who foots the bill in the end - the American taxpayer. And while his buddy Cheney lets Haliburton overcharge the government for millions of dollars, and as we spend millions of dollars each month on a fruitless occupation, and while Bush give tax cuts to the rich, then more people will be out of work. I don't know any reasonable thinking person who would vote for more of this.