NEW YORK — As other protesters chanted vigorously around her, Nancy Pi-Sunyer stood off to the side at the Occupy Wall Street rally, clutching her sign, looking a little like a new teacher on the first day of school.
In a way, she was: At 66, this retired teacher was joining a protest for the first time in her life.
“I was too young for the civil rights movement,” Pi-Sunyer said last week as she joined thousands of protesters marching in Lower Manhattan. “And during the Vietnam War, I was too serious a student. Now, I just want to stand up and have my voice be heard.”
As the protests have expanded and gained support from new sources, what began three weeks ago as a group made up mostly of young people camping out on the streets has morphed into something different: an umbrella movement for people of varying ages, life situations and grievances, some of them first-time protesters.
There are a few common denominators among the protesters: their position on the left of the political spectrum and the view that the majority in America — the “99 percent,” in their words — isn’t getting a fair shake.
Beyond that, though, there is a diversity of age, gender and race — in part due to the recent injection of labor union support and fueled by social networks — that is striking to some who study social protests.
“Most people think this is a bunch of idealistic young kids,” said Heather Gautney, a sociology professor at Fordham University in New York City and an analyst of social protests. “But the wider movement is remarkably more diverse than it’s been portrayed. I’ve seen a lot of first-time protesters, nurses, librarians. At one protest, the younger element seemed actually to be in the minority.”
Pi-Sunyer, who lives in Montclair, N.J., was drawn into the fray Wednesday the same way many were — via social networks. She saw a post from a friend on Facebook and realized it was time to join. “I just decided to get off the couch and be in control,” she said.
Cherie Walters wasn’t carrying a sign — she WAS a sign. Both the front and back of her shirt were covered in scrawled slogans.
“I came here from MICHIGAN because the top 20 percent are waging class warfare against the rest of the U.S.,” it read in part. Walters, 58, also a former teacher, had driven all the way from Michigan with her husband, Rich.
Her biggest gripe: credit card swipe fees, which she said were killing smaller businesses. She also was concerned about unemployment in her home state.
“I’m very angry at how poverty is degrading our people,” she said.
Also Saturday, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington was closed after anti-war demonstrators affiliated with Occupy D.C. tried to enter the building to protest a drone exhibit and at least one person was pepper-sprayed.
Smithsonian spokesman John Gibbons said about 100 to 200 people arrived about 3 p.m. and tried to enter the National Mall museum.
When a security guard stopped the group from entering, saying they could not bring in signs, he was apparently held by demonstrators, Gibbons said. A second guard who arrived used pepper spray on at least one person and the crowd dispersed.
