You Can't Evict An Idea By Russell Simmons

This morning I woke up at dawn and looked out my window at the empty Zuccotti Park. Behind it was a stream of about 500 protesters and at least the same number of police officers in riot gear.   

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By the time morning had fully broken there were thousands of people gathering in the street. My first thought was a prayer for all the protesters, police (and myself) that there would be no violence on this day of protest.

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This day is the first large scale response to those, like the Daily News, who threatened the movement to "Put up or Show up," claiming that if they didn't organize a big action immediately, the revolution would be assumed dead.  

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Soon I heard the chants of "Who's Street? Our Street!!" rising through my window. It reminded me of "Who's House? Run's House" and I got inspired.

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Then, like I have done almost every day since the first day of their occupation, I went downstairs and joined them because this revolution is not only alive and well, it has only just begun.   

I didn't join the crowd to answer anyone's threat or to prove a point. It actually seemed silly to me that the Occupiers were being challenged to retaliate in reaction to the recent raid on their home - as if something like that could kill what this movement has become. I was there simply to support a movement that I believe in.

My friends Fisher Stevens and Rebecca Chaiklin are documenting the Occupiers and were there with me capturing the march comprised of the most dedicated, pro-active, passionate, socially conscious activists I have ever seen.

Their community was destroyed, belongings trashed and their safety threatened by an influx of drug addicts, ex-cons and mentally ill individuals who came for the free food and clothing available in their tent city (who they compassionately provided for as best as they could). And some were even brutalized by the NYPD.

Yet, their love for this country and their conviction to stay in the fight for all that have been hurt by the current regime remains undeterred.