Mamas of Color and Their Kids Tell Greedy Banks: It’s Time to Share

Last Friday, a group of toddlers were out to teach big banks an important lesson.

By Julianne Hing Nov 07, 2011

They call themselves the Colorful Mamas of the 99 Percent. And last Friday, as the rest of the country was gearing up for what had been designated as a national Bank Transfer Day, a move to get Americans to move their money out of big banks, around 60 Bay Area parents and kids took to the streets of Oakland to organize a teach-in inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The intended students? The banking giants who’ve swindled Americans out of generations of accumulated wealth and faced none of the accountability they deserve while they’re now posting record profits. The teachers? Toddlers who know it’s about time the big banks learned to share.

(Image Courtesy of Tiffany Eng)

On Friday afternoon dozens tried to enter an Oakland Wells Fargo branch, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Before the bank shut its doors to the protesting crowds, parents entered the bank to withdraw their money.

"I’m upset because the feds bailed out the banks and left the families behind," Alejandro Soto-Vigil, a Berkeley resident who helped organize the action told the paper. "Two of my cousins lost their homes but the bankers haven’t lost their bonuses."

On the way to the bank, the marching parents and their kids shouted: "Time out! You better share!" and "Time out! Pay your share!"


(Image by Vay Hoang)