Our consumer-driven culture needs to change. The way we interact with each other needs to change. Our priorities need to change. We are mired within a broken system in which profit is valued more highly than human dignity and life; a system in which the power, wealth, and privilege of a very small few is considered more important and worthwhile than the basic needs of the masses of human beings.

I occupy because I am tired of living in a world where people have to sleep in doorways. I occupy because I see no future for my children. I occupy because in three years of having a teaching credential, I have yet to find a single job because budget cuts are forcing school districts to fire teachers by the thousands. I occupy because American government is broken. I occupy because capitalism is broken. I occupy because if we do not try something different, if we do not find new ways, more equitable and sustainable ways to come together, work together, and interact with each other, then our future may be quite dim.