ADAPT Action Blog
The words of Activists at the ADAPT Action.
Galen Smith
ADAPT Twin Cities
Today was the last day of my first ADAPT action.
The day started about the same as the others. We lined up outside the hotel and marched down the street. I was about the 10th person in line and knew that it would be my job to run and open the door when we got wherever we were going. The march was shorter today and we were there before I knew it. I held the door open and people started pouring in. Yesterday we filed into a huge shopping mall type space - today we were filling up a very small elevator lobby. It took about five minutes to pack the entire lobby full of wheelchairs like sardines. Nobody would be getting in or out of that lobby until we either got our demands met or the police arrested us. The lobby we had occupied held the local offices of AFSCME. The head of AFSCME promised ADAPT that they would sign onto the Community Choice Act a year ago and they still haven't delivered. A couple of our leaders made it into the elevator before security shut it off and eventually made it to the 8th floor of the building to negotiate with AFSCME.
Along with taking over the lobby and blocking the sidewalk in front of the building we also blocked the parking garage and an alley that was used for deliveries to the building. I was with a group blocking one side of that alley (the cold shady side!) We got periodic updates from our negotiators and learned that it was not going well. First AFSCME tried to counter the letter we gave them with a letter of their own. They expected us to sign a letter saying that nursing homes should stay open!! Then they said they would call their national office. Eventually they left the table and said they weren't coming back. When negotiations broke down the police moved in to start arrests.
AFSCME had 120 ADAPTers arrested today - for picketing. The irony was not lost on us as we chanted...
The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
...a chant that has long been used by striking unions.
The arrest process extremely relaxed. An officer approached me where I was standing blocking the alley and warned me that if I didn't move I would be arrested. I didn't move. Then he told me to follow the line of people heading for arrest. There was no police escort as we walked about a block and a half to line up on a sidewalk and wait for our citations. ADAPTers chatted with the officers as they wrote up our citations who laughed and joked with us. When the officer handed me my ticket he smiled and said, "You've been very bad. Here's your ticket" as he patted me on the shoulder and sent me on my way with a chuckle. It was almost creepy.
Despite the jokey mood of the officers we were doing serious work today. Nursing homes and other institutions are no laughing matter. They are a matter of life and death. I was proud to receive my ticket and I would have been proud to go to jail because...
I'd Rather Go To Jail Than Die In A Nursing Home!