PHOTOS: Occupying Bank of America in SF


When I heard the helicopter, I knew something was up. Living in downtown Oakland, I’ve come to learn the dull thumping of helicopter rotors means there’s probably Occupy action not far away.

Like any other day, I was walking around the Financial District in downtown San Francisco on my lunch break—shooting pictures, being indecisive about where to eat. I heard the helicopter before I could see it. But once I pinpointed its location, near 1st and Market streets, I changed course and headed up Market towards the Ferry Building. Protesters gathered in front of a Bank of America.

Once I caught up I saw they were not only outside the bank, but crawling everywhere inside the bank, filling the place, standing on desks, sitting on the floor, chanting, waving flags. One banker sat at his desk, calmly gathering his things as protesters surrounded him and photographers surrounded the protesters. It was an amazing picture, the banker at his desk, utterly surrounded. I needed inside. 

Just as that thought hit my mind, I realized I left the office with my film camera and only one roll of film on me. Thirty-six frames. That’s all I had. I’d have to shoot judiciously. If shit hit the fan, or this lasted very long, I wouldn’t be able to get the photos. I found my way inside the bank. The banker, an assistant vice president it turns out, was still at his desk, getting ready to leave.

I took a few other photos: signs protesters put up around the bank, general shots of the group, some of the tellers.

The cops would be here soon. A police officer in the bank made an announcement that anyone who didn’t want to be arrested needed to leave immediately.

Given that I didn’t have a press pass on me and only 10 pictures left, I left the bank and went to the lobby of the building. No need to get swept up and stuck. Sure enough, a large contingent of police gathered in the lobby and was preparing to storm the branch. Two cops in riot gear blocked the door. “No one gets in. No one gets out.” I was stuck in the lobby.

A dozen cops in full riot gear ran into the branch. Click. Click. Down to five frames.

Hundreds of people lined Davis Street in front of the bank. Police formed a semicircle perimeter around the front of the building. Inside the lobby, a security guard was trying to get workers from other floors who’d come down to see the action to return to their offices and random protesters to exit the building. Police stood at each entrance as another security guard locked the revolving doors.

Things seemed to be settling down. Inside, the bank was quiet, protesters likely getting arrested, one by one. Outside there was chanting, but the police and protesters stayed respectful of each other’s position. No pushing, no fighting. They’d both been here before. Pros on both sides. I burned the last two frames and slipped out of the building with a guy who got kicked out for not having a press pass. He was incredulous that I left on my own volition.
I walked through the crowd outside. A group gathered right up against the police perimeter and another group kept more of a distance, lining the other side of the street. Workers in the building across the street pressed against the windows, taking photos with their phones. I said hi to a few people I knew in the crowd and made my way back to the office, finally grabbing lunch on the way.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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