I was there . . .
Claude Holcomb
San Francisco, 1987
Claude Holcomb reads his narrative.
I remember in 1984, when ADAPT was made up of only 35 people. In San Francisco,
we gained more members. When I arrived in San Francisco, it was hot, and hilly.
We did not think we could make it up and down the big hills to get to buses and
trolleys to block them. We planned on blocking them as a form of protest to push
for ramps on all public transportation all around the country for all of our
brothers and sisters with disabilities to be able to ride with able-bodied
people. Blocking buses is what ADAPT was good at. At that time if someone had a
disability they were considered second-class citizens to the bus industry.
At the time of the San Francisco protest against the American Public
Transportation Association (APTA) in 1987, ADAPT consisted of approximately 500
members. APTA thought that they could hold us back. APTA was friends with the
Mayor of San Francisco, who tried to make it difficult for ADAPT to get to APTA
to present our agenda. The Reverend Wade Blank was an active participant in over
three decades of political organizing. He thought like the Reverend Martin
Luther King when it came to civil disobedience. He taught others how to create
and record their own destiny.
A brilliant strategist, Wade Blank helped shape the tide of the disability
rights movement. The disability rights movement was like the black movement in
the 60’s. If an individual who used a wheelchair did not have access to buses
all around the cities or the country, ADAPT would follow APTA all around the
country or if they met out of the country we were there to get all
transportation accessible for all people in this free country.
On the first day we went to the San Francisco City Hall, 500 people stretching
the six blocks through the hills of San Francisco. On arriving at City Hall, we
surrounded the building, APTA members would not get in without an ADAPT welcome,
and it was a welcome they would long remember. Chanting, “Access is a Civil
Right” we linked arms and APTA was forced to climb over our wheelchairs.
I remember APTA members tried to exit through the back entrance but we pushed
big trashcans to block the exit.
On the second day, we went on the street to do what ADAPT is best known for,
stopping buses. I remember we had to watch the bus drivers in San Francisco,
because if the driver saw a wheelchair they thought we would stop right in front
of the bus. Protesters almost got hit in San Francisco to get the rights to ride
with our brothers and sisters.
People questioned why we did not want special transportation. We are not
special, we are disabled and we do not need door-to-door service. The protesters
felt empowered to push for what they previously thought they could not do. ADAPT
showed the disability community they had the right to ride all public
transportation in all communities.
ADAPT wanted access to all types of transportation. APTA was the governing body
for bus transportation, which was where our initial focus lay. Instead of
providing lifts for the buses, APTA provided air conditioning. ADAPT had been
working on accessible public transportation for four long years. We wanted to
meet with Jack Gilstrap, the President of APTA. He thought ADAPT was a military
organization and that if he met with us, we would kill him. When we did meet
with him, we blocked him in from all sides. He could not go anywhere, until we
let him out.
ADAPT did not lose our focus for our right to ride the buses with all people.
Not all people agreed with our tactic but now we have the right to use public
transportation. If we had given up, the disability population would have had
nothing to show, but by persevering, we gained.