Dr. Arthur Chen, Protestor: Time Magazine Person of the Year

Dr. Arthur Chen of Oakland, California was recently named as one of Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.” A 60-year-old family physician, Dr. Chen has utilized the Occupy Oakland movement to promote his cause – health care reform. In the interview with Time’s Jason Motlagh, Chen talks about his personal reasons for advocating for health care reform and inspiration from other parts of the world, and the best and worst days of protesting. When asked about participating in the protests, Chen responded: “And then as a person of color, certainly here in Oakland, we have such a diverse population, but it’s really important for people to see that the whole spectrum of our demographics is there, and feeling the need to really participate and be counted.” Occupy Oakland may have been shutdown and police violence caught national attention, but the important voice that emerges from Chen’s interview is about the fundamental ideals behind the Occupy movements: “We aren’t screening your point of view… It’s a different approach: it’s horizontal. And so, it wasn’t funny, but it made me smile.”  [h/t Joz]