Wells Fargo! Dump Your Prison Stock!
On Tuesday, February 7, 2012, members of Occupy Rochester, Occupy Wall Street, formerly incarcerated people, and community allies demonstrated outside of Wells Fargo in Pittsford, NY demanding that the bank divest all of its holdings in The GEO Group, Corrections Corporation of America, and other companies in the private prison industry.
From the press release:
“They are investing a significant amount of funds in these companies and [shareholders] have no say,” said Reyna Ramolete Hayashi, legal advisor to Occupy Rochester and organizer of today’s event.
Organizers say Wells Fargo makes money from investing in the Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group, Inc., private prison companies that protesters believe separate and imprison families. Ramolete Hayashi said the protest is a forum to talk about what mass incarceration does to the community.
In a letter to Wells Fargo representatives, the groups ask the company to divest itself of any holdings in the private prison industry.
“Our community refuses to support the sinister and violent for-profit prison system that makes billions from locking our loved ones behind bars. We hope you will do the same by divesting from GEO and CCA,” protest group members said in the letter.
The prison companies operate numerous facilities and immigration detention centers across the country, including a GEO-run immigration detention facility in Queens. GEO also operates a detention facility in Brooklyn for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“The two largest private prison companies — Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group — lobby for laws that criminalize communities of color, with the perverse incentive of increasing the prison population to increase profit,” Ramolete Hayashi said.
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman denied that they own shares in either GEO Group or CCA.
“Public filings and website listings can give the incorrect impression that Wells Fargo is an owner of a company’s stock — we are not,” said Wells Fargo Northeast Communications Manager Fran Durst in Summit, N.J.
“Wells Fargo & Co. does not own shares of the GEO Group or Corrections Corporation of America, nor have we invested our own assets in either company. Wells Fargo Advantage Funds currently holds a small position in mutual funds that we administer as a trustee on behalf of fund shareholders. Wells Fargo is not the owner,” Durst said.
Durst said protestors would be expected to comply with applicable municipal ordinances and would not be allowed inside the building or to obstruct customer traffic. Wells Fargo Advisors Branch Manager Joseph Tobin could not comment on the protest.
Occupy Rochester representative Ryan Acuff said between 75 and 100 people participate in the protest, which included testimonials from those who have been in the correctional system talking about how hard it is to re-enter society when their sentence is over.
“The idea is to take away the financial incentive for incarceration,” Acuff said. “If we do that we’ll see a very different, fairer system.”
Similar protests have already been held in other cities across the county as part of a National Prison Divestment Campaign, and Ramolete Hayashi said previous efforts were successful in persuading the United Methodist Church to divest its holdings in the two private prison companies.
“We believe corporations that make billions of dollars by locking human beings in cages are morally bankrupt,” she said.
Organizers maintain the amount of money spent on public and private prisons would be better spent on offender rehabilitation, education, health care and jobs programs. Since the divestment campaign began in May, protestors say CCA’s stock value dropped 21 percent and GEO Group stock declined over 34 percent.
See also:
Rochester IMC is Back!
It's been a while, but Rochester IMC is back, here to stay, and hopefully better than ever. We've upgraded our server software and are excited to start building up the new site with all of you. Let's talk about some of the new features!
New Frontpage Layout
Our frontpage has gotten a face lift. Features are now displayed in a slideshow format on the top of the page. We think it looks pretty, but more importantly, it gives us room to put the local newswire in the middle column instead of stashed away on the side. This means that as soon as anyone posts a local news article, it will go directly to the center column of the front page. For readers, this means more/faster site updates, and for writers this means that your articles will be more prominently displayed.
Better Image/Media Support
When you're publishing articles, try out the "Insert Image/Audio/Video" link. It lets you easily upload images and float them on either side of the article. It also supports linking to posts on on YouTube, BlipTV, Archive.org, and flickr.
Photo Gallery Support
Also, be sure to check out the "Image Gallery" section at the bottom of the page when you post an article. It lets you quickly upload multiple photos in bulk and create an image gallery with them. A couple of lines of text + a bunch of photos from a rally is an easy way to make a nice looking article.
Much More
- Nicer image support (try clicking on one of the photos above)
- Better Spam Filtering
- Syndication of US-indymedia to the global newswire
- Save articles as a draft before publishing them
- Link to show hidden comments on an article
- Simpler editor interface, so we can focus more on writing articles and less on wresting with our web software.
- More in the near future
Why we went down
There's been some speculation that we went down because of an internet attack, but main reason was that our software was just getting very old. Here's the details:
Another component of the rocus.org server was compromised by someone looking to send out spam. This led us to move websites off of that server and on to a new one. A standard procedure when you're doing this is to get a fresh copy of the software you run your website with. The problem with that was is that the website for our software, DadaIMC, wasn't even up anymore. We had been wanting to migrate away from that software for a long time, so we decided at that point is was time to leave the old software behind and start fresh.
If you have any questions, bug reports, feedback, or hate mail, please send them to rochesterindymedia@rocus.org.
FOUND: Missing Videos!
Below are links to videos on our IndyTV.blip.tv video channel that you may have missed while Rochester.Indymedia.org was being redesigned! Just click the titles to take you to the videos and enjoy!
Oct. 20: Commission to Review and Reform the Civilian Review Process
On October 20, 2011, community members converged on City Hall sometime around 6PM to listen and participate in Councilmember Adam McFadden's new commission to evaluate and potentially reform the procedures of the civilian review process.
Rally Demanding Police Accountability for the Murder of Hayden Blackman
On October 20, 2011, residents, activists, and members of Occupy Rochester, marched from the Liberty Pole to City Hall where they demanded police accountability and justice for Hayden Blackman--a resident on Columbia Ave. who was murdered by police on Oct. 13 during a domestic dispute.
Selects from Occupy Rochester, Oct. 29, 30 Arrested, P1
Selects from Occupy Rochester, Oct. 29, 30 Arrested, P2
Video selects from three different Indymedia videographers of the Occupy Rochester arrests in Washington Square Park. October 29, 2011. Thirty people were arrested with Chief James Sheppard conducting each individual arrest.
Occupy Our Homes! Rochester's Take Back The Land and Occupy Participate in National Day!
On Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, Occupy Rochester, Take Back The Land - Rochester, and allies came together in a rally and press conference outside of the Rochester Riverside Convention Center on national "Occupy Our Homes" day.
Indymedia Uncut: Interview with Russell Davis
On August 5, 2006, Russell Davis was outside of his apartment building on Dewey Ave. looking for the superintendent when Rochester police drove by, spotted him, and proceeded to detain him--with multiple officers drawing and pointing their weapons at Davis.
COINTELPRO 101: Claude Marks Q&A part I
COINTELPRO 101: Claude Marks Q&A part II
On October 14, 2011, the Flying Squirrel Community Space hosted Claude Marks, a member of the San Francisco-based Freedom Archives. He was in town to answer questions and talk about the Freedom Archives' new film COINTELPRO 101. COINTELPRO may not be a well-understood acronym but its meaning and continuing impact are absolutely central to understanding the government’s wars and repression against progressive movements.
MIC CHECK: Parents and Community Disrupt Superintendent Search Committee Meeting
This is a 20 minute mini-documentary about the Rochester City School District Board of Education contracting with Ray & Associates, Inc.--an expensive, corporate superintendent search firm with ties to the Eli Broad Superintendents Academy--and the community's struggle and response to such attacks on public education. The piece begins with an explanation of the vote on October 27, 2011 and shows what happened a month later at the November 28, 2011 Ad Hoc Superintendent Search Committee.
Acuff Talks About Occupy Rochester's Contract Renewal with the City
In this 4 minute piece, Ryan Acuff talks about negotiations between the City of Rochester and Occupy Rochester to continue the occupation of Washington Square Park for another two months as per the contract signed by Mayor Richards on November 10, 2011 allowing occupiers full legal right to occupy the park in downtown.
The D&C reported on February 3rd, that the city and Occupy Rochester came to an agreement that allows the occupiers to stay in the park till March 11th, when negotiations will presumably have to start again.
“He (Richards) says that March 11, he wants us out,” said Occupy Rochester spokesperson Gregg Soucie. “But the agreement says as long as we substantially comply, the agreement shall be renewed. So, I guess on the 11th, we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”
It's 2AM--Do you know where your police force is? Demanding ID's at Occupy Rochester
In this 7 minute video, we meet Jacques and Paige, members of Occupy Rochester, describing police harassment after they and others were abruptly awaked by police who were asking for identification at 2AM on February 2, 2012. One occupier had the wherewithal to record some of the interaction.
Hours after the police harassed occupiers, the New York Civil Liberties Union released a statement demanding that the RPD cease their unconstitutional activities.
VIDEO: Davy V. Calls Out 103.9FM WDKX
Local filmmaker and journalist--Davy V.--wrote an article, in Minority Reporter, calling out Rochester radio station 103.9FM WDKX for not supporting communities of color in Rochester.
On January 12, 2012, Davy decided to hit the streets to bring his criticisms of the station to the people. Specifically, he cited WDKX's lack of support for up-and-coming local talent, not being a proponent of social justice, and operating in a way that puts profits over people--especially people of color in Rochester. After talking to folks on the streets, he went to the station to get a comment on his article. Watch what happens!
Davy V. was also on Talk2Me with hosts LaShay and Rodney discussing his article in Minority Reporter and elaborating on his criticisms of WDKX. Check it!
Occupy Rochester Wins 24 hour access to Washington Square Park
Occupy Rochester won a major victory Thursday night when the City of Rochester granted Occupy Rochester 24 hour access to Washington Square Park. The Contact which was drawn up with the help of the NYCLU, allows tents, banners, and amplified sound. The city does have the ability to withdraw the permission after 2 months if it can show the conditions of the contract weren't met by the occupiers
Jack Spula, a longtime Rochester Activist and supporter of the Occupy Movement was at Washington Square park during the General Assembly "I think the city did the right thing, I feel there is something building between officials and the grassroots in terms of aims of this movement. We're actually shaking the foundations of things and people are listening.."
Contract Text on Occupyrochester.org
Citizen takes Rochester Police Department to Federal Court
Theodore Loria, who successfully sued the Rochester Police Department and the City of Rochester four separate times in federal court in the 1990's for violating his civil rights, has his 5th lawsuit pending for violation of his civil rights and he will be filing his 6th lawsuit on Monday Nov. 7 against the RPD and City of Rochester, again for civil rights violations.
16 More Arrested at Occupy Rochester
On November 2, 2011, between 11:45 and 1:30am Wednesday night, Rochester Police Dept arrested 16 members of Occupy Rochester in Washington Square Park. Following Wednesday's rally the hundreds of workers, students and community members gathered into Washington Square park to occupy.
A crowd of roughly 150 gathered in Washington Square park to initiate the overnight Occupation in Solidarity with Oakland and Scott Olson!
Photos: from Bill Finan
Video: from thegreenkacheek on YouTube
Have video or photos? We'd love to present them in this feature! Email us at RochesterIndymedia@rocus.org.