DALLAS — Brenda Marrufo wants to make sure that her 4-year-old daughter has a good education and a bright future.

That's why the 26-year-old Garland woman showed up Thursday morning to join growing protests against Wall Street -- this one in Dallas -- to call attention to what she and others say is corporate control and greed.

"We're not looking for a handout," said Marrufo, a freelance court reporter who carried a sign that read "I work to be poor."

"We want more basic fairness," she said.

"I'm a single mother, a licensed professional, and I have student loans," she said. "Pay is getting lower while the cost of living is going up, and I'm broke. ... This is not a democracy anymore because corporations have so much influence."

Marrufo was among hundreds of North Texans who participated in an "Occupy Dallas" march carrying signs that read "Hello Goliath, Meet David," "Human Needs not Corporate Greed" and "We Demand Change." With their nearly one-mile march from Pike Park to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, they joined protests that have sprung up across the country since last month, starting on Wall Street in New York.

The "Occupy Wall Street" effort began when a small group of protesters grew to thousands in New York. Those protestors and others nationwide say they are frustrated with economic inequalities and general Wall Street practices.

On Thursday, as protestors walked the streets of Dallas, similar demonstrations were held in Austin, Houston and San Antonio and in cities as far away as Salt Lake City.

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