Occupy Port Jefferson Protestor Has a Long History of Dissent

This past winter, .

In Port Jefferson a small group of protesters took up residence at the corner of Main Street and East Broadway on Saturday afternoons to give a public voice to their concerns. They protest the , for crimes against the American people and that people in this country don’t get a fair working wage among other issues they have with the current economic and political climate in this country.

The Occupy Port Jefferson protesters seem to be of a different demographic than the Occupy Wall Street protesters we see on television. They’re not out-of-work, digital youth generation just out of college. Most are Baby Boomers. Many are even older.

What attracts these people to go out and protest every week? We asked three regular Occupy Port Jefferson demonstrators some questions about what they do and why.

Today we present answers from Terri Scofield who is from the North Shirley/East Yaphank area.

At 53, Scofield was born at the “tail end” of the Baby Boomer generation. She’s protested in New York City with the Occupy Wall Street movement but was happy when she found the Port Jefferson crowd so she could dedicate more time to expressing herself locally. She also says that with the Occupy Port Jefferson demonstrators, she’s usually one of the youngest of the group.

What motivates you to demonstrate with the Occupy Port Jefferson movement?

Scofield: I can only budget the time and train fare to participate in Occupy Wall Street in New York every 4 – 6 weeks, so I was thrilled to find North Shore Peace Group/Occupy Port Jefferson folks demonstrating every week in January. Participated regularly until a fellow in my community founded Occupy Shirley/Mastic, so now participate in Occupy Port Jefferson sporadically.

It is crucial to protest and do the informational picketing and engaging of pedestrians on a weekly basis in our local communities if we are to win the hearts and minds of our family, friends, neighbors, cow-workers, etc.

My 23-year old son moved out, works full-time and goes to college. I fear he, like many of our young people, will abandon Long Island and become one of the rootless itinerant workers crisscrossing the country and the world to find a job with sufficient wages to rent or buy a home, eat, clothe and obtain preventative and medical care.

Part of my motivation is quite selfish: I want my son, his girlfriend and any grandchildren they may produce local and accessible to me, and I’m not talking by Skype! I also feel guilty that I (and all of us) have not been vigilant and active enough to preserve decent jobs, a safe, healthy and pleasant environment and a modicum of responsive and responsible government for my son and his generation. We had the last idyllic childhood, growing up with woods to roam, fields for bonfires, jobs that allowed one parent to parent full-time and a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins within walking or biking distance.

Now we live in a culture of “hurry and worry”; the gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent has most of us scrambling to pay bills and survive, and we’ve mortgaged the future of our children and grandchildren… man, we really screwed it up for them.

There is a pervasive tenseness, an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear and frustration emanating from many folks I interact with on a daily basis. I occupy because I believe it is only by recruiting, educating, training, cultivating, mentoring and mobilizing a cadre of resident activists that we will fix our broken, corrupt and unresponsive government.

We have too long abdicated our responsibilities as citizens to actively participate in our democracy; and in so doing, allowed the collusion of government officials, politicians, regulators and agencies with banks, insurance companies, mortgage brokers and transnational corporations to create a plutocracy that plunders and rapes us instead of representing and serving us. Time we “man up”, admit it’s a crisis, and budget as much time as possible to invest in fixing it.

Have you ever protested before this?

Scofield: Sure, most of my life! The daughter of two nurses (mom and stepmom) and a nursing home owner and administrator and one of eight children, I was raised with the concept of triage – tending to the most ill and injured first.

When I was nine, my mom had us at our local Hills supermarket in Commack, handing out flyers urging our neighbors to do away with the county Board of Supervisors and replace it with a more accountable county legislature (these days I question the wisdom of that decision when I look at the current incarnation of that once August body).

As a young adult, I scaled the fence of the Shoreham nuclear power plant on more than one occasion during protests to keep it from opening and protesting the test firing that was done after the NRC ruled it could never operate.

From 1980 to the present, I’ve organized and protested around economic and social justice issues ranging from the original Bottle Bill to anti-war(s) to housing, health care, education and preservation of services for our low-income families, children and seniors.

Were you a protester during the Vietnam War, civil rights, women's rights, nuclear or other movements? Anything specific you'd like to share of you did?

Scofield: I am most proud of accumulating a record of 178 civil disobedience arrests, zero convictions. One must only obey a lawful order from the police (Section 1021 of the NDAA notwithstanding). On a lark, once charges had been dismissed, I actually got a New York City judge to order the NYPD to reimburse me for a half-day missed work, LIRR and subway fare and $6 or 8 bucks toward dry-cleaning my court clothes. I carried a photocopy of that check around for years and taunted NYPD officers with it at many a demo!

Also, if you did, how does the Occupy Port Jeff movement compare to those past ones?

Scofield: OPJ can be considered a bit muted; for instance, we rarely chant, and the group is mostly senior peaceniks! Maybe that’s why I so enjoy Occupy Port Jefferson – I’m not the oldest one in the group, as I am with many other orgs I work with. Also, I liked Port Jefferson in the 70’s, before it became just another North Shore tourist trap. We get more negative and less supportive responses from passersby in Port Jefferson than in the past and in other less affluent communities.

But it’s really gratifying to hear a mom explain to her kid why what we’re doing is important as she shepherds the child across the street, or hear the “thank you” from folks who drive by.

And really, it’s easy and fun to protest with the big crowds in New York, but it a waste of time preaching to the converted, when we have so much work to do locally.

What do you hope to do with protest/change?

I don’t hope for anything – I and other Occupiers are working toward fixing and possibly re-creating a government that will be truly of, by and for the people. We broke it, and in the world I grew up in, you break something, you fix or replace it. Couldn’t look myself in the face in the mirror each morning if I didn’t.

This country was founded by old, rich, white men. Women, people of color, immigrants and workers fought and even died for all the rights that are being erased today: Fair wages, courts that used to enforce laws and mete out something that used to resemble justice; the opportunity to educate and work your way from working class to middle class – this is all eroding now. We must accept our responsibility as the Native Americans did and acts as stewards of society, caring for and preserving for our children and their children a chance to a decent life

Is protest and rebellion a part of America’s character?

Scofield: Certainly not! The American Revolution was fought – and won -  by one third of the people – landowners and the upper echelon of the merchant class. Everybody else either supported the British or just took a ride on the coattails of those doing the organizing and fighting.

And though religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, sports and reality TV shows have a narcoleptic enough effect on the general populace as to render it largely neutered.

Sadly, “I got mine, screw everybody else” has become America’s mantra.

Which is why I’m so excited and don’t mind doing the grunt work necessary for Occupy to succeed locally – this is a broad-based movement in which people of vastly different backgrounds and circumstance recognize we share many core values, interests, goals and visions for a better world and are committed to working through our difference to make it happen!

Do you thing protests and these movements can actually change the world?

Scofield: Of course! It’s the only thing that ever has. Listen, those in power concede nothing – it must be wrested from them and spread among us. And we’re coalescing around the major changes we demand and are working toward.

What’s the most pressing problem in this country today?

Scofield: Gee, just one? Then I’d have to say inequality of wealth. When government tailors statutes, laws, and regulations to favor and enrich those who own the government, those of us with the ability and opportunity to set things right must take responsibility to do so. And I want to be able to look my son in the eyes and say “I worked hard to preserve the Glass-Stiegel Act” I worked hard to defeat NDAA. I had nothing but logic, information and a love for my tribe, my fellow Earthlings, and I did my level best.

What is your greatest hope for this country?

Scofield: Again, I don’t hope for anything, I work toward the kind of world I want to live in: I aim to restore government to an entity of, by and for the people; I insist the wealthiest among us and corporations that are based here or sell their products here pay their fair share.

My vision for this country is that we someday spend more to support our families than the war machine; that our Armed Forces are used to rebuild our infrastructure instead of kill people and steal resources for companies that own our politicians.

My vision is that America be America again.

Come back tomorrow to read another Q&A with Bill McNulty, who in his 70s is a protester who precedes the Baby Boomer generation and started protesting during the first Gulf War.