Immigrant rights activist Patricia Okoumou, who made national headlines last year after she scaled the Statue of Liberty to protest family separations, climbed atop a Southwest Key building last week to protest the company, which operates detention centers for migrant children. Today, as thousands of children remain separated from their parents, a judge will decide whether to revoke Okoumou’s bail from her first arrest because of her activism in Texas last week. Okoumou was with the group Rise and Resist on July 4th last year as they dropped a banner from the Statue of Liberty that read ”ABOLISH ICE.” She broke away from the group and climbed all the way to Lady Liberty’s left foot, where she continued to protest and refused to leave until she was arrested.
Patricia Okoumou has since pleaded not guilty to trespassing, interference with government agency functions and disorderly conduct. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 19th. But prosecutors claim her latest protest this past week in Austin, Texas, was a violation of the terms of her bond, and she’s been ordered back to court today, where her bail could be revoked and she could be immediately jailed.
Patricia Okoumou talking:
last week, let’s not forget, was Valentine. And I was planning ahead of time, at least two to three weeks, about my action. I targeted CEO Juan Sánchez. He is a billionaire who is making money off of this detention center. He makes about $750 to $770 per day per child at his detention centers. Obviously, his interest is in making money and not hosting migrant children, as his staff want us to believe.
So, I wanted to deliver the postcards that my friends and supporters have written down to these children who are in cages. And I went and delivered them. We had a gallery in El Paso called Glasbox, who donated a space for us. And I went there for a 10-day journey, starting at El Paso. I went to Tornillo detention facility.
Our action there, with the coalition that was with me, is to remember what happened on that site. And also, this site, there’s another site that’s just 20 miles away, where I was able to climb a fence while the group was cheering and calling the children and telling them how much we love them and wishing them happy Valentine. We were on the outside. That’s how I do my activism: I climb things. I’m from the Republic of Congo.
What I’m wearing is a dress. It’s green, and it says, “I really care. Why won’t you?” I wore this the first time, on August 3rd, when I went to one of my hearings, and I spoke in front of the press. The dress went viral. The media was reporting that I was trolling first lady Melania Trump for her hideous jacket that she was wearing on her way to a detention center. I think she is cold and calculated. She does not care about my grandchildren. And I’m here to say we do care, hashtag #WeDoCare.
And my action shows that I really, really care. I don’t have a 9-to-5 job. I’m a full-time activist.
The message is that children do not have a sense of time. God gave them a sense of identity, by smelling their parents, recognizing the mother’s milk. So, when we rip them, tender-age children, from nursing mothers or their father, we break their spirit. So, psychologically, we’re creating a damage. To me, these are the concentration camps.
I don’t think that I risked my freedom, because on March 19, come sentencing, nobody knows what’s really going to happen. We don’t know if the judge is going to send me to jail for 18 months.
Today, I’m facing prison, incarceration. And it is what it is. The way I look at it is, I was inspired by God to do an act that is courageous, that many people dream of doing. Our children are watching us. When we call human beings “aliens” or “illegals,” we’re setting a bad precedence. It’s a rhetoric that we need to stop, because that’s all fearmongering. What’s happening today is also about fearmongering. I am being intimidated to stop my actions.
I’m called into court today at 2:00, and I’m asking my friends and supporters to come in at 12:30.
It is in court today, 500 Pearl Street. And I thank you for giving me the platform to talk about my message, about the children in cages, and this is a perfect opportunity to continue the work.
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Patricia Okoumou
immigrant rights activist facing possible prison time for scaling the Statue of Liberty on July 4 last year to protest President Trump’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy.
— source democracynow.org | Mar 01, 2019