Free Mother Therese, Free Lady Liberty, and #FREEOURFUTURE — from OKOUMOU: “#RISEANDRESIST”
The Peoples Wants the Fall of the Regime! End Family Separation & Illegal Occupation! #ABOLISHICE
by APOLLO SOLÉY ENKI, Southerners on New Ground, Birmingham, AL Chapter, Research and Communications | Jul 4 2018 10:46pm CST
NEW YORK, USA — JULY 4 2018
Therese Patricia Okoumou, 45, of Staten Island, was born and educated in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has lived in New York for at least the last 10 years, records show. She is a dutiful leader, community member, abolitionist, and liberationist.
This brave Afro woman– forcefully detained and arrested for calmly scaling the base of the Statue of Liberty in her right to protest corrupt government, on Wednesday July 4, 2018, as part of a protest against U.S. immigration policy– is an immigrant herself and an active, honored participant in the resistance movement against President Trump and the United States regime, according to fellow community leaders, abolitionists, and organizers. [1]
This honorable and brave Therese Okoumou… was seen scaling the base of the statue about 3 p.m., moments after the group RISE AND RESIST formed a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Liberty Island, in New York, USA.
This forward movement and direct action of Okoumou… sparked a mass evacuation of Liberty Island. [3]
Okoumou declared that she wouldn’t come down until “all the children are released”, from the inhuman cages and brutality camps this country has detained thousands in, a source with the New York Police Department told CNN. [2] [TRIGGER WARNING: POLICE DETAINMENT IMAGE]
“ ‘She is affiliated with Rise and Resist, an organizer of the group’, Martin Joseph Quinn, told CNN. ‘But her climb was not part of the planned protest. She climbed without our knowledge. It was not part of our action,’ Quinn said. [2] Rise and Resist has since released a very direct, just, and honorable MEMO on the event:
“We understand and share her desire to see the immediate release of children from detention and reunion with their parents. We hope that her legal representation will arrange for her release under her own recognizance.
Rise and Resist holds firm in our position that ICE should be abolished. ICE has deported tens of thousands of people who have been raising their families, running businesses, and contributing to their communities for years, sometimes decades. ICE detainees have been denied medical care and are subject to solitary confinement, sexual assault, and rape. Asylum seekers are often held by ICE without trial or bail.
Rise and Resist is a direct action group committed to opposing, disrupting, and defeating any government act that threatens democracy, equality, and our civil liberties.” — RISE AND RESIST
Jay W. Walker, an organizer and board member of Rise and Resist, told CNN according to the article that,
The theme of the protest was that Lady Liberty is weeping over the unconstitutional excesses of ICE under the Trump administration.
“We wanted to do something on our Independence Day, a day that obviously is meant for reflection on the ideals on which this nation was founded. This country has posited itself as a beacon. Right now, we have a government that is actively turning its back on those ideals”… [2]
Okoumou declared that she wouldn’t come down until all the children are released. Democratic Republic of the Congo, tied herself to one of the copper vents by the feet of Lady Liberty.
As community we demand collective support, healing and protection, financial aid and expert legal support, and the speedy and immediate release of and for Okoumou, and her comrades and organizational affiliates. They are innocent — the United States is guilty in dishonoring legal demands, and for illegally separating families and brutalizing children and infants.
At about 6:30 p.m., hours into protest…she began waving her shirt, which read “Rise & Resist” on one side and “Trump Care Makes Us Sick” on the other. [3]
Noble Therese Okoumou, was then collared and choked by the Police sent to detain her. This flagrant expression of brutality and excessive policing and force was witnessed live by the entire world — we demand the release of Okoumou from Police custody; and the peoples wants the fall of the regime!
“ ‘She was standing on the platform, touching her foot,’ Jay of RISE AND RESIST said. ‘I hope when they took her down they didn’t injure her. That’s our main concern.’
She was detained last year for alleged trespassing and alleged obstruction of government administration during another demonstration in August of 2017.
Public records show that Okoumou has a long history of nobly fighting social justice battles, even her own. She unsuccessfully filed a human rights complaint in 2007 against a group home in Staten Island for racial discrimination. [1] More information must be developed on this, and her movement must be held as flame and ignited as torch.
ICE must be abolished. We must free our futures. We must end money bail. And we must support our local organizations, like RISE AND RESIST in pushing for these revolutions.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE. #FREEOKOUMOU!!
SUPPORT:
- Petition for the immediate release of Therese Okoumou AND immediately send her and her team funds for supporting her through her noble battle and forward push for movement!
- RISE AND RESIST. (social links included)
- Workers’ Centers like ADELANTE, among many regional centers. Follow RISE AND RESIST and SOUTHERNERS ON NEW GROUND, and other regional socialist party coalitions that #IGNITEKINDRED!
- Support the Democratic SOCIALIST Party, specifically NY’s #OCASIOCORTEZ!
- Support MIJENTE!!
Facilitate powerful, revolutionary, and supportive dialogue around these issues. Be a VOICE OF THE PEOPLE! Spread the hashtags below! And be sure to follow organizations for update! Don’t cop out!
#AbolishICE #FreeOurFuture #FreeOKOUMOU #FreeMotherTherese #FreeLadyLiberty
#RadSocRebellion
SOURCES
[1] “Who is Therese Okoumou, the woman who tried to scale the Statue of Liberty to protest immigration policy?”, article by By KERRY BURKE and JANON FISHER, JUL 04, 2018 | 7:00 PM
<http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/ny-metro-therese-patricia-okoumou-statue-of-liberty-protest-immigration-20180704-story.html>
[2] “A woman climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July to protest migrant family separations” By Brynn Gingras and Alanne Orjoux, CNN | Updated 8:32 PM ET, Wed July 4, 2018
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/04/us/new-york-statue-of-liberty-protest/index.html >
[3] “NYPD collars woman who climbed Statue of Liberty after hours-long protest of kids imprisoned in Trump’s ICE camps” By KERRY BURKE, THOMAS TRACY, IRENE SPEZZAMONTE and JANON FISHER JUL 04, 2018 | 4:25 PM
<http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-statue-liberty-climber-20180704-story.html>
[4] Rise and Resist’s Statement on the July 4th Liberty Island protests, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 7/4/18
EXTRA LINKS:
- https://www.riseandresist.org
- Democratic Socialists of America Membership Surges After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Stunning Victory GIDEON RESNICK, 06.28.18 1:46 PM ET
<https://www.thedailybeast.com/democratic-socialists-of-america-membership-surges-after-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-stunning-victory> - U.S. Democratic Socialists Activists Group
- https://www.facebook.com/conmijente/
- Southerners On New Ground
- The Meaning of Freedom by Angela Y. Davis excerpt — get the whole book for a collection of powerful speeches
