Lil Old Activist still at it, stirring division. If they can't use 'em, they'll just kill 'em?
All I Want For My 90th Birthday Is To Abolish The Police And Build Our Dream World
I’ll be turning 90 this month, and in celebration, I’ve been going to Black Lives Matter protests and breaking curfew.
I’m well aware of the risks COVID-19 presents to someone my age, but when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a curfew on demonstrators protesting police violence, I acted as any conscionable citizen would: I affixed my Black Lives Matter sign to my walker, put on my PPE and wheeled out into the streets.
The crowd cheered my arrival; I was pretty much the only gray-haired person in the sea engulfing Central Park West.
This is not to disregard nor underplay the significant threat posed by COVID-19. As a nurse for 47 years, I worked closely with patients with AIDS, and personally witnessed a mounting toll of death. I know all too well the importance of doing everything we can to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
But quite simply, the risk of not taking action is far greater. The police brutalize and kill too many Black people for me to remain on the sidelines. Like our signs say, “White silence is violence.”
In addition to being a longtime nurse, I am also a lifelong activist. It’s clear we cannot confront the twin public health crises of COVID-19 and police violence without addressing the root of systemic racism that plagues our society. It’s the sort of reckoning only a social movement can force upon us.
As the great-granddaughter of Samuel Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor, organizing is in my blood. As a white person, I’ve fought against the redlining of Black communities in Long Island. As a Jew, I’ve organized for Palestinian freedom. As a lesbian and a daughter of a lesbian, I’ve struggled against patriarchy and war.
I’ve personally witnessed the power of people coming together to take collective action that truly changed the world. And still, I haven’t seen anything quite like these past few weeks. The incredible Black-led uprisings and multiracial collective actions calling to disarm, defund and disband the police from coast to coast are profoundly historic.
Decades ago, when I sold newspapers advocating prison abolition on the streets of our city, I was written off as left of Left. Now, thanks to this movement, police abolition is on the front page of The New York Times.
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https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/90th-birthday-abolish-police-black-lives-matter-130000531.html