I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on what the potential problems would be with getting hired, or even doing student clinicals in a hospital, if you've been arrested during a non-violent protest. I am considering joining in the attempt to shut down the NY Stock Exchange on Thursday, to honor the 2-month anniversary of the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and it is at least somewhat likely that many people will be arrested during this action.
Likely charges for this kind of arrest would be something like "disorderly conduct" (impeding of traffic, failure to disperse after being given an order to do so, creating annoyance or alarm in public, loitering, etc). I don't think most people arrested during an Occupy protest have spent even one night in jail, but charges are being pressed so people are ending up with criminal records on misdemeanor charges.
I'm not even a nursing student yet - I'm hoping to enter an Accelerated BSN/MSN program in the spring. But I am wondering if anyone knows what kind of issues there might be for me as a student and as a future nurse if I'm arrested during a protest, just so I go into this with my eyes open.
In response to NeedchageofPace, I'm well aware of the role that for-profit hospitals play in health care. I hope someday to be a certified nurse-midwife in independent practice, but before then I know that I will need to work in a hospital to consolidate my skills and that this hospital will likely be for-profit, given the state of things.
FYI, Occupy Wall Street isn't exactly about "corporate profits" - it's about the much larger issue of the collapse of our financial system, widening income and social inequality in the US and elsewhere, and why there has been almost no legal comeuppance for the large banks and other institutions who allowed this collapse to occur, and no political change to ensure that it does not occur again. I certainly don't support every aspect of the way OWS is being implemented, but I support its goals overall. There's lots being written about OWS online in case you want to read more (it's even got its own Wikipedia entry, of course...).
If indeed this is the case Wall Street is not your problem, the problem lies within the political spectrum as they are providing the legal loopholes for these institutions, you said it yourself "no political change" there is the answer you should be at the White House, at the Capitol protesting to your elected officials that you want change to a system that is fractured and needs to be fixed.
Thanks for the advice, Mazy - and I'm totally in support of Bank Transfer Day! My money's going into a credit union as soon as I know what state I'll be living in for nursing school (assuming I get in anywhere...).
The best summary I've seen of what exactly is happening to those protesters who have been arrested so far is here: http://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/news/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-protesters-get-their-day-in-court/. Essentially, this is more than just being ticketed and walking away, but there is a chance of being offered an ACD (a probation conditional on not getting arrested again for the following 6 months, after which the case would be sealed and nothing would go on your record).
If indeed this is the case Wall Street is not your problem, the problem lies within the political spectrum as they are providing the legal loopholes for these institutions, you said it yourself "no political change" there is the answer you should be at the White House, at the Capitol protesting to your elected officials that you want change to a system that is fractured and needs to be fixed.
..just saying
Wikipedia???LOL
I really didn't mean for this to be an examination of whether or not people think OWS is a wise expression of outrage. Everyone will have their own opinion, although I do encourage people to look seriously at what OWS is about and think deeply about ways in which to channel their dissatisfaction and anger about the financial crisis and social inequality.
I'm just looking for a bit of advice from people with insight on or experience with being arrested in conjunction with civil disobedience, and its effects on your work/school life. Thanks again!!
What a sad state of affairs when fear of the future actions of a governmental bureaucracy can have such a chilling effect upon free speech & assembly.
There are plenty of ways to assemble and practice free speech without getting arrested.
My husband works inside one of the buildings targeted by occupy Wall Street, and has been having to listen to banging drums and people yelling for weeks, and what specifically their goals are besides getting arrested as the OP plans to do, I don't know, and neither do they, as they've been asked and have a laundry list of complaints, but don't know specifically what they want. Some of the reforms they are looking for (such as taxation of gains in the stock market, BEFORE people sell their stocks) - have been that way in the past, but people were actually committing suicide b/c they'd have $200k tax bills when the money was made in the market, taxed, lost in the market, and they never saw a penny of it. Makes zero sense to tax theoretical money someone never had. Wouldn't it be a lot more effective if all involved went to work, stopped standing on a sidewalk banging drums, and didn't do things like planning to go get arrested? Its not corporations keeping them from getting jobs, its the fact that they are standing on sidewalks instead of going to look for jobs. OP will make it a hell of a lot harder for herself to get a job by purposely getting an arrest record, then she'll blame it on a corporation. Ridiculous...
Because it's a movement that I believe in deeply, and it's one that I think needs a shot in the arm at this point.
I'm just asking if anyone has any experience or insight with having being arrested during a protest and its effect on your school/work life. Surely people must have faced this after the widespread anti-war protests in 2002/03?
I'm a nursing student that also feels deeply about this cause for major personal reasons after my husband and I went through simultaneous banking layoffs and lost more than half of our retirements, so I empathize with you. However, an arrest automatically puts into question your judgement and that weighs heavily on getting licensed as a nurse.
Why don't you help in a different way? Send supplies or offer to help in a way that won't land you in trouble. Even as deeply as I feel about it, as a hiring manager I would appreciate your passion but hire the other candidate that has a clean record....just my
Even if you could get through school and NCLEX, OWS has a negative connotation to many people (sorry to be the one to say it) so when you explain that to a future employer, you'll always run the risk that they project their own beliefs and judgments upon you.
That being said, I agree that it is a tragic miscarriage of our consitution that you have to worry about the consequences of expressing your own right to freedom of speech.
Surely people must have faced this after the widespread anti-war protests in 2002/03?
There's usually a choice NOT to be arrested. I went to many protests between 2001 and 2005 and was never close to being arrested. Stay in the permitted areas and when the police give warning, leave. Unless you're damaging property the arrests are usually very symbolic, except for the record you get.
Do you *want* to be arrested? When I was an activist, it was sort of a badge of honor among a certain group of activists, how many times they'd been arrested etc. I was always pretty critical of that mentality: it is a pretty privileged position to take to want to get yourself a record. And really, it accomplishes very little. Go to the protest, don't get arrested, and go home and organize in your community for something positive.
There are plenty of ways to assemble and practice free speech without getting arrested.
My husband works inside one of the buildings targeted by occupy Wall Street, and has been having to listen to banging drums and people yelling for weeks, and what specifically their goals are besides getting arrested as the OP plans to do, I don't know, and neither do they, as they've been asked and have a laundry list of complaints, but don't know specifically what they want. Some of the reforms they are looking for (such as taxation of gains in the stock market, BEFORE people sell their stocks) - have been that way in the past, but people were actually committing suicide b/c they'd have $200k tax bills when the money was made in the market, taxed, lost in the market, and they never saw a penny of it. Makes zero sense to tax theoretical money someone never had. Wouldn't it be a lot more effective if all involved went to work, stopped standing on a sidewalk banging drums, and didn't do things like planning to go get arrested? Its not corporations keeping them from getting jobs, its the fact that they are standing on sidewalks instead of going to look for jobs. OP will make it a hell of a lot harder for herself to get a job by purposely getting an arrest record, then she'll blame it on a corporation. Ridiculous...
There are just so many ignorant aspects of this response that I can't let it go. If you are actually interested in finding out what OWS is about then you should look into it more deeply before spouting hackneyed and uninformed gibes like "why don't all these lazy protesters just go get jobs", and "they don't even know what they're protesting". I personally thought that all of the issues over drumming and ongoing noisy disruption were deeply sad and demonstrative of the kind of problems that can arise when you are attempting to develop a non-hierarchical movement - everyone is supposed to get an equal voice, even those people who a majority think are being selfish and silly. The hope is to push beyond such petty spats, but a movement with no leaders is a difficult one.
It's belittling and insulting to say that I'm purposely trying to get arrested and then I'll blame it on a corporation when I can't get a job, as if I have no idea what the ramifications of civil disobedience can be, and no understanding of the nuanced economic forces that have led us to our current state of financial decay.
Obviously, I would prefer not to be arrested - I've never been arrested before. I would certainly prefer not to have a criminal record (who *wants* a criminal record?!). I'm simply trying to think through all of the possible outcomes of showing up at OWS on Thursday, and the different roles that I might play there.
Thanks again for all of the insight from you who are far more experienced than I!
I personally thought that all of the issues over drumming and ongoing noisy disruption were deeply sad and demonstrative of the kind of problems that can arise when you are attempting to develop a non-hierarchical movement - everyone is supposed to get an equal voice, even those people who a majority think are being selfish and silly. The hope is to push beyond such petty spats, but a movement with no leaders is a difficult one
Yeah, IME no leaders or unified voice limits the shelf life of a movement. Remember the global justice movement of the late '90's? It was on it's way out before 9-11 effectively stamped out the embers.
Freedom of speech is great but when it's abused as it is in the case of the OWS people it's doing no one anygood. They are picketing the wrong place...anyone with a corpus callosum knows they should be at the White House. They are breaking the law by creating tent cities which in turn gives law breakers a place to hang out. What ever good it started out as is gone and has been replaced with chaos. OWS needs a leader to direct the whole thing...that is probably George, hmmmm.
Bottom line; if you don't want to get arrested don't go.
Freedom of speech is great but when it's abused as it is in the case of the OWS people it's doing no one anygood. They are picketing the wrong place...anyone with a corpus callosum knows they should be at the White House.
Bottom line; if you don't want to get arrested don't go.
NeedchangeofPace
210 Posts
If indeed this is the case Wall Street is not your problem, the problem lies within the political spectrum as they are providing the legal loopholes for these institutions, you said it yourself "no political change" there is the answer you should be at the White House, at the Capitol protesting to your elected officials that you want change to a system that is fractured and needs to be fixed.
..just saying
Wikipedia???LOL