"Occupy" Movement with the Native Twist:
(Un) Occupy

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Currents. Discussion »

A Jared Rodriguez Design

ALBUQUERQUE - Jared Rodriguez is a graphic designer for "truthout." He had an assignment to come up with some art work for the online publication to accompany a story from "Colorlines.com" about the "Occupy" movement changing its name from "Occupy Albuquerque" to "(Un) occupy Albuquerque."

This came as the result of a vote taken, a week ago Sunday, by the Albuquerque organizers of the "Occupy" movement to change its name to " (Un) occupy Albuquerque" because with the negative connotation the word "occupy" may have with American Indians living in Albuquerque.

It was a play on words to be sure because American Indian lands have been occupied for centuries.

"Occupy Wall Street" began in New York City on September 17 and is sweeping the country. CBS News reported on Tuesday, 43 percent of the American public agrees with certain aspects of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters belief that wealth should be more equally distributed.

Rodriquez is a self-taught graphic designer, who is of European and Spanish descent. He has worked for "truthout" for the past three years and developed the art work with "(un) Occupy" on it.

"As far as the "Occupy" movement goes, I definitely support it and genuinely hope the best comes of it, but at the moment it's just a potential beginning and the real work is going to come in the follow-through," Rodriguez commented to the Native News Network on Tuesday afternoon. "It's great that it's finally gotten so big that the corporate media can't just ignore it and real issues of inequality (economically and socially) are finally getting forced into the national conversation."

The University of New Mexico students are into their four week of protesting Wall Street's corporate greed.

updated October 27, 2011 1:10 pm edt; posted October 26, 2011 7:15 am edt