By Gwen Davis

Last month, more than 1,000 workers, unemployed people, students, retirees and faith leaders rallied together at the Montlake Bridge as part of the “National Day of Action for the 99%,” hosted by Working Washington.

Protesters voiced their occupy movement message that elected officials need to stop social service cuts, create more jobs and make Wall Street pay its fair share of the burden, according to protesters.

Among those active in the Working Washington campaign is Luis Escamilla, SeaTac resident and 11th and 12th grade social studies teach at Foster High School in Tukwila.

For Escamilla, the occupy movement has been useful for his classroom curriculum, where he educates his students on issues relating to the economy, jobs and the need for change.

“I am teaching about the economy and the lack of quality jobs,” Escamilla said. “For many of my students, it is affecting not only the way they are living but also the standard of their living.”

At Foster, Escamilla teaches a large Somalian population, who he believes is particularly vulnerable in the sour economy.

“Unemployment numbers are high in the South King County area,” he said. “Some of the stressors are playing out in the classroom and with the performance of these students. We have many working-age students here who just don’t have access to jobs period.”

Escamilla said that while he enjoys the large and dynamic school environment, stubborn society ills confound the surrounding neighborhood, including poverty and prostitution.

“When it comes down to it, it’s affecting the younger generations, and in the end it will come back to hurt not only our communities of color but our whiter communities, too.”

“I’m trying to get my students to understand that it takes a number of collaborations to address social injustice issues,” Escamilla said who is also currently teaching a unit on U.S. slavery. “What I try to emphasis is it doesn’t take just one group to tackle these problems. There has to be a variety of people coming together.”

The occupy movement comes at a time of particular economic bleakness.

On Monday, Nov. 21, the congressional “Super Committee”, which had been given the task of forging a national deficit reduction deal failed, due to partisan ideological clashes.

The Washington State budget looks equally cold, with Gov. Christine Gregoire looking to cut $1.7 billion from the state government.

But protesters continue their awareness efforts.

“This is an economic emergency for the 99 percent – but our elected officials don’t seem to notice,” wrote Sage Wilson, coordinator for Working Washington. “Instead of funding education and creating the good jobs we had, they’re spending their time protecting tax loopholes and pushing for ever-deeper budget cuts that we simply can’t afford…. Enough! We need jobs, not cuts!”

Escamilla, for his part, is optimistic.

“I think the occupy movement is trying to reinvent the way we perceive space and the way power should be shared,” he said. “The occupy movement is getting the ball rolling.”