Wall street of the South

Less than a week from now, with the eyes of the country focused on Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention, thousands of people will participate in one of the largest demonstrations North Carolina has ever seen.

The March on Wall Street South Coalition is a diverse group of advocates, workers, students and concerned community members tirelessly working to develop a mass people’s march.

The march, held on Sept. 2, starts in Charlotte’s Frazier Park.

The name “Wall Street South” was coined because Charlotte possesses one of the largest concentrations of financial capital in the nation, second only to New York City.

In the process of helping organize this march, I’ve met individuals of various ages — from high school students to veteran activists who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. — and diverse hopes for what the march could accomplish.

Matt Hickson, a UNC senior and volunteer organizer for the march, said that he wants to pull the “needs of students” and “educational access and affordability” to the center of the mainstream political agenda.

The coalition also hopes to raise awareness about the rights of undocumented community members and the economic struggles of everyday people, especially in the context of the South.

For example, workers and unions in North Carolina — where collective bargaining is illegal — face one of the most hostile political landscapes in the nation.

Luis Rodriguez, a staff organizer at Action NC and a volunteer organizer for the march, worked for years as a foreclosure counselor in Charlotte. He faced the risk of foreclosure and described his frustration with a system in which people can feel exploited and ignored.

Rodriguez hopes this march will send a message to bank executives and politicians that people are not willing to silently tolerate continued neglect.

A common question the coalition organizers are asked is: What’s the point of marching?

Rodriguez hopes the march sends an empowering message.

“Protest is not only your right, it is your civic duty. If you see things that you want changed, you have to get out and participate.”

Past social movements are often seen as golden-age mythologies. As young people, we are led to believe that it was only in the 1960s that large groups of people came together to demand justice and progress.

However, many of the racial and economic injustices our iconic Civil Rights-era heroes struggled against are still very present in the South today.

Ultimately, what a march creates is a space in which people from all walks of life can see that they are not alone.

There is no perfect time for people to fight for a better system. We are only able to pursue our ideals within the confines of the present, with the consciousness that we are marching on Sept. 2 in an enduring legacy of mobilizing hope into action.