The Golden Years of Activists Snatched Away by Police & Policies
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by Leroy Moore/REvolutionary poet and activist There has been a terrible trend on how police and politicians’ policies treat our activists who are elderly! During the so called good times of the 90’s in the San Francisco Bay area gentrification hit and many elders were kicked out of their homes under the San Francisco Ellis Act i.e. Grace Wells. And during the anti-war rallies of 2003 protesters who were elderly from, Florida to New York to San Francisco, were physically abused or placed in jail by police including elderly nuns. Three Dominican nuns, Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Marie Hudson is serving six to eight years because they protest against US nuclear weapons in 1993. The US is not the only one who is trying to silence their elderly activists. The arrest and police brutality of Zing Dilin of China, who is the leader of the Tiananmen Mothers, an activist group for the families of those killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre is another example. Although two of the Tiananmen Mother were release from jail, according to New York base Human Rights of China organization Zing Dilin has not been released. And how police arrested Annette Auguste, an elder Haitian singer and leader of the Lavalas activist movement in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for no reason. The pattern continued with the death of May Molina in police custody on May 27th, 2004 in Chicago, Molina, who was a long time activist against police brutality and the prison system especially those who were wrongfully convicted, was an elder Latina and disabled. All over the world police are trying to silence our activists who are elderly once and for all! Why is the state trying to silence our activists who are elderly? The reason why, is that the state, police and certain politicians know that the elderly are a treasure of knowledge of what happen, what works, how to organize and have inside information on the system from local policies to international affairs. Some don’t want our elderly activists to pass down their knowledge to the next generation. Some see them as a threat to the system because they know where the wholes are and where the system is weak. I really think that some people in authority roles are shocked on how many elders are a part and play a key role in many grassroots movements form police brutality, local progressive political campaigns to the anti war movement. Many people in power have a common vision of the elderly and that is churchgoers, bingo players, golf players and knitting. This stereotypical vision doesn’t give the police and politicians the right to take away their homes, physically abuse them at rallies and drag them off to police stations where they are not given the medical care they need! During the 2003 anti-war rally the number one issue came up over and over again in planning meeting of people of color against the war was the issue of elderly protesters who couldn’t keep up with everybody and didn’t feel save at the end where police were waiting. I am reminded of a friend who is a deaf Native American activist who was tipped out of his wheelchair by a San Francisco police officer during the anti-war rally in San Francisco of 2003. According to Napal Daily News of Florida & Associated Press in November of 2003, Miami police abused demonstrators at a protest of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. One of the members of Alliance for the Retired, Bentley Killmon said "he was trying to get back to the buses provided by the Alliance for Retired Americans when police pushed him to the ground, arrested him and handcuffed him for 12 hour." I wonder what would the Gray Panthers and their founder, Maggie Kuhn, say about what is going on with activists who are elderly? The Gray Panthers (whose motto is "Age and Youth in Action") has and continue to work on issues that affect people of ALL ages and welcome and encourage members of any age. Margot Smith, Co-Convener of the East Bay chapter of the Gray Panthers puts it like this. "The police are cracking down on everyone who exercises their right of free speech, including the elderly. We must stand up for our rights against the Ashcrofts and others who would turn us into a frightened populace, fearful of overturning their rule. Even more oppressive is their cruel treatment of the elders, denying them medications and home health care through their cuts to services. They are spending our tax money on war and tax cuts, and deliberately cutting the social advances that we have fought so hard for over the last 70 years. Just as Reagan wore down the Russians with the arms race, Bush is wearing down our entitlements with the new arms race. We must stand up for our rights now!" To get involved with the Gray Panthers email Margot Smith at GrayPanthersBerk@aol.com. Justice Riding on Four Wheels & Brown Fists Activist in Action that was May Molina Target on her chest Out of the prison system Her community, supporters and family While the names of officers are invisible I can see Molina wheeling up to the mic Time to bring attention Forget about internal investigation Mother May Molina, your wish has come true By Leroy F. Moore Jr. |