We aren’t occupying anything. We aren’t the occupiers. We are here to illuminate. We are here to help others see the reality that has been so carefully sculpted around us, a reality that often obscures the truth of our shared experience. Our presence in this public space is about visibility – for ourselves and for those whose voices have been marginalized, whose struggles have been deliberately shadowed. Some may find our peaceful assembling unsettling. They might prefer the comfort of the familiar narrative, the carefully constructed illusion. They might wish we would simply disappear, allowing them to maintain their comfortable distance from the consequences of the dynamics they have created. They might try to push us to the fringes, to make us invisible. But we will not be unseen. We will not be silent. We are here, sober and law-abiding, not to trespass, but to witness and to be witnessed. We are stepping forward, not just for ourselves, but for our community, to dismantle the walls of illusion and reveal the structures that perpetuate injustice and abuse. We are helping others to open their eyes, to see the world not as it is presented, but as it truly is. The wait is over. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. (Drip.)