Open Letter by Bryan Bell, founder of Design Corps, sends this open letter in support of #OWS

PUBLIC SPACE FOR THE PUBLIC – OR 99% OF IT

In a time when the Supreme Court grants the constitutional rights of free speech to corporations, for corporations to have the same rights as individuals to shape the political process through unlimited financial gifts, it is bitter to see the same rights being denied to the individuals of the Occupy Wall Street movement, (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 08-205, 2010).

Daily, protesters are being removed from public spaces all across the country. Their primary message could not be of more relevance to the public, that the voice of the 99% is not being heard in the decisions that are shaping our country. What irony that this message is being physically moved from our public spaces.  Who is public space for? Whose resources paid for public space? Whose resources pay the mayors and police who are removing this democratic message?

In 2000, Design Corps held a conference called “Design for the 99%.” At that conference, the prime message was that the 98% are not being involved in the decisions that shape their lives, specifically in the design decisions that shape the built environment. At that conference, Samuel Mockbee stated:  “Walt Whitman said that the most obscene word in the English language is exclusion such as exclusion from a gated community or a country club or the democratic process. I have worked with both the upper1% and the lower 1%. And in working with these two groups, it seems to me there is much in common. For each, the challenge is the responsible distribution of appropriate resources, for the individual and for society as a whole. This is not the redistribution of resources, but the responsible distribution of resources as a whole.”

The message of the 99% movement is even more fundamental -- that the 99% should have representative voice in the decisions made for this country. I feel aligned with their message and ours. We support their message and their tactics 100%.

As designers, we should respect the rights of the 99% to gather in public spaces.

As Americans, we should respect the rights of the 99% to free speech.

The full content of Mockbee’s remarks is available in full here.