Emancipation

They killed anyone in a suit.
They ransacked the mansions.
They blew up all sports cars, Hummers, SUVs.
Any obvious sign of financial advantage was like a beacon for their rage.
It had been rubbed in their faces so long they had become blind to it.
Until now.
And they released their justified aggression on all those who had dared tell them they were lesser because they didn't have money.

Many of the rich people were scared.
Despite the promise that anyone could have the wealth and prosperity they enjoyed, they had become targets.
The mobs of angry poor had decided to stop waiting for the day when they could share in The American Dream. When they would get a piece of the pie. They were done waiting. They were going to take their pie.
And the rich people didn't want to give any of it up.
But they had become fat and bloated.
They hadn't actually worked for anything they had.
They had no defenses.
Except their guns.
And many of them had guns.
It helped to maintain the illusion that they were safe.
But a gun runs out of bullets at some point.
And you just can't shoot everyone in the mob.

The mob had started in New York.
They wanted to be peaceful.
They simply wanted to work for a living wage.
They wanted to be able to take care of themselves through work and labor.
They wanted to erase the word "under employed", which created a stigma against somebody who was working to make ends meet but couldn't.
What had we become that it was possible to have a job, or two, or three even, and still not have enough money to survive?
They wanted to be treated with a modicum of respect.
They wanted to be released from the financial slavery of the few rich.
They wanted to be listened to.
"We are working! We are paying taxes! We are working! And we are being denied the benefits you are stealing from us!"

But the rich weren't listening.
Why should they?
The stupid poor people are griping again about how they don't have money.
They don't have health insurance.
They don't have health.
They don't have food.
Boo-hoo. Get a job.
Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps... and all the other cliches they had been raised on by people who had been handed their wealth from people who had their bootstraps pulled up by house slaves.
And the poor people got louder.
And the rich people got thicker windows that were more sound-proof.
Why should the rich people listen to the poor people?
What were they going to do?
Revolt?!
Not a chance!
We've kept them complacent with Full House and professional wrestling and American Idol.
We've given them cheap sofas so they can sit and watch and do nothing.
After all, that's what poor people are good at: doing nothing.

But the poor people were losing everything.
They were losing their homes, their apartments, their TVs, their sofas.
And now, they had nothing.
Which meant, finally, they had nothing to lose.
And they revolted.

When the New York police arrested 80 protesters, that strengthened the mob's resolve.
When the police arrested 800 protesters, that made them angry.
When the police shot and killed 2 protesters, that made them rageful.
It was time to be heard.