WASHINGTON D.C. — Joshua Bradley was working long hours with little pay.

In 2011, his frustration boiled over. He began protesting in Raleigh as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

What You Need To Know

  • The Occupy movement was a protest against income inequality in 2011

  • Ten years after movement, the gap between the top and bottom income earners is still vast

  • Columbia University Professor Todd Gitlin said the movement impacted politics, specifically in what he calls the Sen. Bernie Sanders movement

The Occupy movement was a protest against income inequality. Participants argued the gap between the 1%, or ultra-rich, and everyone else was unfair. The movement, which spread through social media, didn’t set specific policy goals. It rather gave people a platform to voice their concerns.

“It was not your grandfather’s social movement,” said Columbia University professor Todd Gitlin.

Gitlin, who’s written about the movement, said at first he didn’t think it would go anywhere. That initial impression changed. He said the movement impacted politics, specifically what he calls the Sen. Bernie Sanders movement.

“To think that such a thing that was directly anti-political would have an effect on the political system was rather an astonishing thing,” Gitlin said.

While the movement had a political impact, the gap between the top and bottom income earners is still vast.

According to the Economic Policy Institute the top 1% of earners saw their wages grow from 1979-2019 by 160%. But the bottom 90% of earners only saw their incomes grow 26%.

While the tents that popped up in parks and various notable spots are long gone and the place where Bradley slept is now a parking lot, he said the fight continues.

“The problem is worse now that it was 10 years ago … you can live without the 1%, you can’t live without the working class ... we need to do something, we need to get together,” Bradley said.