Georgia Advocates Confront Governor Purdue

Advocates Confront Governor Purdue

Yesterday Georgia advocates descended on the capital in Atlanta to confront the Governor, Sonny Purdue about a policy of institutional bias that devalues disabled lives to the point where people are being starved and dehydrated to death. Kate Gainer, Mark Johnson, and Sam Mitchell of Atlanta Adapt had repeatedly contacted the Governor and his staff about participating in the 6th anniversary celebration of the Olmstead decision. Given promises of cooperation and dialogue which later turned out to be blatant lies and purposeful deceit, Georgia ADAPT united decided during a meeting at the Radisson hotel that we would push circumstances to arrest if necessary to get our demands met.

While at the King Center in Atlanta, we were privileged to be able to listen to an inspiring speech from Fred Taylor who marched with Martin Luther King. He invigorated us with a message of universal struggle in which those opposed have always had to rise up in defiance of powerful odds, to fight for their right of freedom. Even in our country where we have from inception had recognized articles protecting our liberties as citizens and rights as human beings, minorities still have had to fight for their deserved rights. Native Americans, African Americans, women, Latinos, disabled, gays and every other minority have found it necessary to rise up against the tyranny of biased policies within government, especially since that tyranny is and had been justified by law. Government does not give us liberty freely; it is the citizens who must demand their liberty from government. Fred let us know that we were just a part of the many peoples which had been abandoned and victimized over the years by accepted policy; we were just another part of a long history of public injustice. Terry Schindler Schiavo was just another in a long line of public lynching.

When we arrived at the capitol we were met by Senator Adelman, who gave speech in support of Olmstead, MiCASSA, and Money Follows the Person. Sam and I then gave speech to rally the troops and prepare them to step it up as stepping it up was necessary otherwise we would always be stepped on and continually squashed by a callous, unjust system which doles out life sentences to people who have committed no crime beyond being disabled by circumstance. We then went inside and gathered beneath the capitol rotunda preparing for an assault on the Governor’s office. Before action could begin Abel Ortiz came out to speak to the group and made bullshit excuses about why the governor and staff did not participate in the 6^th anniversary celebration. More empty rhetoric lead to heckling by our group until noticeably disturbed, he fled like a coward, sensitive to the ferocity of our demands.

We then charged toward the governor’s office to demand proper respect. We flooded all sides of his office until we had every door blocked with all the really important associates of the governor locked inside and unable to leave. All of their appointments were effectively disrupted, there would be no business as usual. If they wanted to make all of there regularly scheduled events, they would have to settle our grievances quickly. One part of our posse followed me, made up mainly of old school Macon and some old and new school Athens people; we took the right side of the office as Kate, Mark, and Sammy lead assaults on the other entrances/exits.

Christy and I backed in tight against the door while Darlene Coggins, Julie Prough, Mark Dyer, Jack Nicholson, Tyrone Johnson, and Dano crowded in around us to create further difficulties for the authorities. There was a thousand pounds of motorized wheelchair blockading any departure from the governor’s office. We would be a formidable barrier to removal as did later turned out to be the case once Capitol police realized we were not moving willingly. It took a forceful display of authority from the police to even begin to remove us as they strained and tugged against the weight of our chairs locked in place and our group’s sheer desire to hold on to each other at all costs against them.

Each time they tried to peel and pry one of us away, we just tighten our grips on the remaining members of the group determined not to lose another of the pack. We had situated ourselves in a way that all of us could lean forward towards center, hug, and lock on to each other; making it that much more difficult for officers to remove us as barrier. It was a very strenuous a task for the officers as they had to struggle immensely. As they were yanking Jack back away from the group, Darlene, Julie, and Mark leaned towards Christy and I, and we assembled ourselves into a circle of interlocking arms.

The police had to vigorously yank, pull, and tug just to separate us from each other. Julie was dropped to the floor as some officers pulled on the frames of chairs and some tried to force us apart. They grew furious in opposition to our defiance. Once it got to be just Christy and I, we were that much more determined to hold on and not let them break our link to each other. We did not want them to defeat us wholly. With assistance from other Atlanta city officers called in to assist the Capitol police, they were finally able to succeed in removing us as a barrier to the normal routine of state business. However, it was not until we were promised two meetings - one the following July 5th in time for celebrating the ADA and one next October 5^th in time for National Disability Employment Month.

I was proud of the way that Georgia Adapt came together. Nobody backed down when it came time to escalate our demands. We projected a united front and that is why we succeeded. The further government can divide people from each other the easier for them to subject us to their desires and wishes, imposing on us rules and regulations which may not be beneficial for the people. It is when people come together in recognition of their similarities rather than their differences that we can unite in true strength with the power of mass numbers. We control their right to govern and if they cannot govern and conduct themselves in a way that honors the edicts and will of the people; it is the duty of the people to remove them from office. Sonny, consider yourself forewarned and tell your friends they are not immune to being targeted by our group. The people united will never be defeated.