Princeton Professor Cornel West, one of the most outspoken supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement, was arrested Sunday in front of the Supreme Court while protesting corporate power.
According to a report from The Associated Press, West was one of 19 people arrested for refusing to leave Supreme Court property.
The October2011.org movement, the group leading the “occupation” of Washington’s Freedom Plaza, led an estimated 250 people to protest the Supreme Court Sunday afternoon. The group explained on its web forum that West and others “climbed on the steps of the Supreme Court and denounced court decisions that have produced money-based elections that empower corporations.”
“We want to bear witness today that we know the relation between corporate greed and what goes on too often in the Supreme Court decisions,” West said to the Supreme Court protesters over a megaphone.
“We want to send a lesson to ourselves, to our loved ones, our families, our communities, our nation, and the world that out of deep love for working and poor people that we are willing to put what ever it takes — even if we get arrested today — and say ‘We will not allow this day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial today to go without somebody going to jail.’
“Because Martin King would be here right with us, with us to throw down out of deep love,” West added, noting that he stood with the police as well because they are “working people” as well.
Watch:
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(h/t The Global Grind)
West was carrying a sign reading “Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All.” October2011.org claims the sign was the reason for West’s arrest.