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Inici / Àlbums / Lansing, fall 1995 46
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Data de publicació / 2019
Video-Incitement Lansing
This is a video Incitement for the ADAPT action in Lansing MI in 1995. We took on Newt Gingrich, the Michigan Republican party, Governor Engler, and the State Capitol and legislature.
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[Image] [Image caption] ADAPT takes the issue of attendant services in our homes, not nursing homes, right to the door of block-grant mastermind Gov. John Engler. Photo by Carolyn Long [Headline] Lancing a Boil: ADAPT at Work ADAPT's action in Michigan's tiny Capitol Lansing began with a double header. Breaking into two groups of 175 people each, ADAPT's crack troops simultaneously hit the Waldenbooks Stores in both Lansing area malls. Marching in single file through the malls, we made a bee line from the parking lot to the book stores. We silently slipped down the stores aisles between the shelves until every inch of the store was occupied by book browsing ADAPTers. All Newt Gingrich's books were collected and passed up to the leadership team by the front check-out counter. They asked to speak to the manager who was already threading his way through the throng. [Subheading] What would Thoreau have said? C.D. at Walden! ADAPT's demands were simple. Call your corporate office and tell them to call House Speaker (and author) Newt Gingrich with our message that he should stop the double talk. Until Gingrich makes good on his promise to introduce a Community Attendant Services Act, CASA, we want no one profiting from his book sales. By backing out on his commitment to introduce this legislation, Gingrich becomes an active promoter of warehousing people with disabilities n nursing homes and other institutions. "Take the book off the shelves, give it away if you like," our spokes people told Waldenbooks' management, "but do not allow the blood money to continue to flow through your stores." Looking around their jam-packed aisles, both managers quickly agreed to call the corporate offices. The corporate pencil pushers were willing to convey our message, but would not stop their sales. As this was only the start of a busy week we agreed that if the corporate headquarters would fax our demands to the Speaker, we would leave --for now. Waldenbooks complied, and we were on our way. Three actions in one day is probably some kind of record. Moving the troops was quite a job and took several rounds of shuttling. Literally hundreds of us gathered in a church parking lot, as we waited for the rest. Yet ADAPT was still somehow ably to surprise our next target: the folks at the state Republican headquarters just next door. [Subheading] SHOW DOWN AT THE ELEPHANT HOUSE Once again sheer numbers allowed us to pack all available space so that no one could get in or out of this building. This time it was so tight, however, that when the police arrived they could barely get close enough to the leadership who were at the center of this human mass. ADAPT declared the state Republican headquarters a nursing home, with no one getting in or out.without ADAPT's approval. We demanded that the Republican party call Speaker Gingrich and tell him to introduce CASA. We also wanted them to ask Michigan Governor Engler to meet with ADAPT, since he had not responded to ADAPT's previous letter requesting a meeting. Last but not least we wanted the Republicans to ask Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, a Republican and head of the National Governor's Association, to meet with ADAPT. [Image] [Image caption] ADAPT activates their wheelchair-cloaking-devices to march up to Gov. Engler's house unnoticed. photo: Carolyn Long Michigan's Governor Engler was a prime target because he is one of the masterminds of the block grant with no strings attached, which is so popular in Congress these days. In addition Engler was one of 20 Governors who wrote the Speaker asking that, in the Houston version of Medicaid reform, they not include people with disabilities among the groups whose funding would be protected from being fully block-granted (see article p.6). Engler has also been slashing at the state community supports for Michiganders with disabilities,.so it was not too hard to imagine his vision for the federal reform of long term care. The party tried contacting the Governor and soon some of his top level staff appeared on the scene. The staff hemmed and hawed, and in the meantime someone back in the Governor's office typed up a letter -- back-dated of course -- trying to pretend the Governor had already responded to r letter of request. (It was such a shoddy job though, that no one was fooled for a second.) Various state department heads were offered up for meetings, but ADAPT remained firm on the Governor. Police swarmed around, not actually doing much of anything. When one rogue cop started to go on a rampage the crowd mellowed out the scene by chanting loudly "WE'RE NON-VIOLENT!" With another couple of intense days ahead, we returned their building, having given them a taste of the medicine forced down the throats of the over seven million disabled Americans needing long term care. [Subheading] CRIPS IN HIS 'HOOD Since Engler's Republican pals could not get him to budge, we decided we had to pay him a visit at home. After all, the policies designed by Engler and promoted by his buddies in Congress not only reach people with disabilities in our homes, they reach right into through our kitchens and bedrooms and into our bathrooms. Without the community based attendant services these power-brokers were so loath to support, many of us can neither eat, nor get in or out of bed, nor relieve ourselves; the only option left is the nursing home. Bright and early Tuesday morning we loaded up our vehicles and began to shuttle our group to the. refined neighborhood the Governor calls home. Mansions dot the little lanes that curve through this 'hood. A little park just down the street offered a somewhat sheltered gathering spot. We were thankful for any shelter -- since freezing drizzle and snow whipped around us in the arctic wind. Once gathered, we set out to find the biggest surprise of the trip awaiting us. Not only did none of the neighbors notice us, the Governor's own staff drove in and then out of the gated driveway as' we approached -- and they left the gate open. Some of the ADAPT gang, not a shy bunch to begin with, took it as an invitation to come on in --so we did. In fact over a hundred of us had strolled up the driveway before Security closed and locked the open gate. [Subheading] LAST ONE IN SHUT THE GATE While the cops were securing the one gate, several of our folks were securing our wheelchairs to the other gate with kryptonite locks. We declared Engler's home a nursing home for the day. Having been caught with their pants down, security and city police decide to get tough: no one allowed out, and no food or drink allowed in. It was sad to think they thought our commitment to freeing our people was only as deep as a McDonald's 65 cent burger or a chilled cup of coffee. Our hearts knew better, and we loudly traded songs and chants with our folks outside the gates. So we kept ourselves warm and our message strong. [Image] [Image caption] show the cops two could play at that game. Photo: C. Long [Subheading] NEITHER RAIN, NOR SNOW... SHALL KEEP THESE MESSENGERS FROM THEIR APPOINTED ROUNDS... Police milled around. The media were all over this story. The Governor's staff came over from his office. They told us that the Governor refused to meet with us. They told the media we were terrorists. But mostly they just wound up looking foolish as our group sat in front of the front door waiting on the Governor to return home. After a while the police picked off a few ADAPT people Who tried jumping the fence and arrested them. At about 4:00 pm, on a signal from our leadership, the ADAPT folks inside lined up along the 301) foot driveway, doubling back when we proved to be longer than the driveway. On cue we marched off the premises. The leaders had negotiated a meet-ing with the head of the state department of health and human services, and we still had one more card up our sleeve for the finale. [Subheading] LAST BUT NOT LEAST The last day offered up perfect fall weather, bright and sunny, with a slight chill in the air. It was far from the bone numbing cold and damp of the day before. This was great because we knew we would be spending much of the day outside again. For the first time we were free of the lengthy shuttling, because our target was just two blocks up the street: the state capitol. The day before the Michigan state militia had been here to protest U.N. Day. But while their message promoted isolationism, ours promoted inclusion and mainstreaming, allowing the many different individuals to enjoy and share, together in one community. We marched up the main thorough-fare that took us directly to the main entrance to the state capitol. We had tried having Engler's political buddies make a meeting, we had tried waiting for him at his home. The only place left it seemed was his office -- so here we were. Upon arrival, we lined up to listen to our leadership talk about our goals and to hear some recent escapees talk about living in the community versus existing in a nursing home or other institution. As our press conference ended, groups set out and took a side of the building. [Image] [Image caption] They literally climbed out windows at the MI state capitol. photo: C. Long [Subheading] GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN ADAPT STYLE Within minutes every door of the Capitol was blocked. Security was dumbfounded, as were the power-suited lobbyists and legislators who had tried to ignore our presence up until then. Soon we saw suits climbing in and out of the ground floor windows as they tried in vain to go on with their business as if nothing had happened. Just before 2 pm, when the Senate was due back in session, the police made an all out attempt and pulled one door open and used themselves to hold open a small passage so that people could enter and leave the building through that door. But what could have been better for ADAPT? Now everyone entering and exiting the building had to pass through our midst, hear our chants and get one of our flyers. Engler still refused to meet and address our concerns, but he had heard us anyway. In fact we had made the Governor, the US Speaker of the House, the public and the state legislature very aware of our concerns. So we declared victory and marched back to our hotel to celebrate the end of another very successful series of national actions. Governor Engler and his minions were so freaked by ADAPT they have tried to build us into a super-funded, militaristic band of terrorists for the media and general Public. It is amazing the lengths some people will go to in order to save face. It is also interesting that within a week or so, Michigan ADAPT received an invitation to meet.
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Thursday, October 26, 1995 The Ann Arbor News E [Headline[ Disabled keep up protests, block Capitol FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LANSING — On their third day of pro-test, a group demanding better services for the disabled got a meeting Wednesday to voice their views. But it was not with Gov. John Engler. Three members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today met with Jeff McAlvey, Engler's legislative liaison, and then ended the protest of about 300 people who had blocked some entrance ways to the Capitol building. They had requested a meeting with Engler. The protesters rallied briefly at noon in front of the Capitol steps. They broke into smaller groups to block entrances to the Capitol. One entrance remained open for 45 minutes before being blocked by protesters. Michigan State Police reopened another entrance at 1:30 p.m. Five were arrested for trespassing or dis-orderly conduct, state police Inspector Gary Post said. Three of them were booked at the Lansing city jail and released on personal recognizance bonds. The group dispersed about 3:30 p.m. after meeting with McAlvey. Verna Spayth of Ann Arbor, state coordinator of the Denver-based group that has staged sit-ins and other protests for better home care, said ADAPT was disappointed Engler did not meet with its members. "I don't think a meeting would have been too much to ask. He apparently thought he could wait us out. But our constituents are outraged and we vow to stay in his face," Spayth said. Engler spokesman John Truscott said the governor was not available. He declined to say where the Republican governor was. [Image] [Image caption] State Police prepare to move Bob Kafka, national organizer of ADAPT, from entrance to Capitol at Wednesday's protest. Photo by: ANN ARBOR NEWS BUREAU PHOTO
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Chicago Tribune, Thursday, October 26, 1995 Section 1 5 [Image] [Image caption] Michigan protest: Demonstrators in wheelchairs block the steps of the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday. They want federal laws favoring in-home care over nursing home care.
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[Headline] A CRY FOR CARE [3 Images] [Image caption for all 3 images] ABOVE Michigan State Police troopers drag Philadelphia resident Eileen "Spitfire" Sable away from the Capitol. CENTER: Topeka, Kan., resident Pepper Daniel leads a group of protesters as a young girt walks by. TOP: Jell McAlvey, a legislative liaison to Gov. John Engler, meets with three ADAPT protesters. Photos by: State News/MATT CONAHAN [Subheading] ADAPT blockades Capitol; group demands to see Engler By LEE JERNSTADT STATE NEWS STAFF WRITER LANSING--About 300 people with disabilities stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, where they attempted to prevent people from entering or leaving the building so state officials could feel what it's like to be "trapped." During the demonstration, which was organized by the group American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, hundreds of wheelchair users and other ADAPT members banded together to block every Capitol entrance. They chanted, waved signs and pre-vented many Capitol workers from entering. This is the group's fourth Lansing-area protest this week where ADAPT members decried the practice of putting people with disabilities into nursing homes instead of providing them with in-home care. They said laws trap people in nursing homes and do not give them any choice in their medical care. The protesters said they would not leave until Gov. John Engler met with them and listened to their concerns. "Putting people in nursing homes is a capital offense, so we're going to turn this Capitol into a nursing home," shouted Bob Liston, ADAPT Michigan organizer, as he lined up protesters in front of the Capitol steps. But Engler spokesman John Truscott said Engler will not meet with ADAPT members. "We will not meet with groups that resort to illegal tactics," Truscott said. ADAPT members broke through gates and approached the governor's mansion in Lansing on Tuesday during a protest. Throughout the more than four-hour demonstration, police arrested five people for trespassing and disorderly conduct because they were blocking doors, said Gary Post, an inspector in the executive division of the state police. All had disabilities. No injuries or damages were reported. As protesters chanted and tried to pull people away from doors, dismayed Capitol workers returning from lunch wandered from entrance to entrance, searching for a way in. Curious onlookers inside the building peeked out of windows to see what was going on. Many workers had to be escorted by police to get past the protesters and enter the building. "I think it's nuts," said East Lans-ing resident Chad Linzey, who works in the House Clerk's office in the Capitol. "I just want to go in and do my job." The demonstration ended peace-fully when state police Lt. Tom Ambs negotiated an agreement with protesters, Post said. The crowd dispersed after several ADAPT members entered and delivered a letter to Engler's office stating their demands. Jerry Lawler executive director of the Capitol Committee, which oversees the Capitol grounds -- said the protesters only were able to completely close off the building for about 30 minutes. Police were able to clear at least one door the rest of the time. "It's just an inconvenience," Lawler said. "Nothing's been stopped." Both the state House and Senate held session as scheduled Wednesday. Lawler said two groups of school children who were at the Capitol for field trips entered the building during the protest, and many were in tears after being rushed through the group of protesters. The rally began with speakers before the crowd moved to the doors. Charlie Buck, an ADAPT member from Nashville, Tenn., who attended the protest, said his group has asked U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, and other ranking Republicans, to change laws that require states to provide nursing home care with Medicaid dollars, but not at-home care. "We're all about community, and if they're in support of families and communities, why can't they set aside 25 percent of (Medicaid) mon-ey so those people who choose to live at home, can," he said. Engler supports ADAPT's cause but not their methods, Truscott said. "Michigan is one of the most progressive states in the country," he said. But Liston said Engler has consistently ignored his group's concerns.
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A A News 10/27/95 [Headline] Protest outrages Michelle Engler FROM the Associated Press LANSING --- First Lady Michelle Engler says her support for free speech and the right to assemble gave way to fear and outrage when handicapped protesters demonstrated outside the governor's residence. "It was frightening. I felt totally helpless," she said Thursday of the protest two days earlier. "And I am still outraged and appalled by these tactics." Neither Gov. John Engler nor his wife was home when about 200 pro-testers gathered outside the governor's residence. But a nanny was there with the Englers' 11-month-old triplet daughters when nearly 70 of the protesters pushed through the outside gate and mussed on the front porch, shouting and chanting slogans and briefly pounding on the doors and windows. Six were cited for trespassing. "When they called me and told me what was happening, I was terrified...frightened," said Michelle Engler, who at the time was in Detroit, attending a luncheon where she was honored for her promotion of breast cancer awareness. "All I could think about was my 11-month-old babies." Michelle Engler, an attorney, described herself as "an avid advocate" of First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceably assembly. But Tuesday's demonstration was "over the line" she said. "It they want to picket, they should stay outside the gate. They can picket me, they can picket him," she said, referring to the governor. "But just stay away from my family." [Pulled quote] "It was frightening. I felt totally helpless." — Michelle Engler [article continues] The demonstration was organized by American Disabled for Atm:, tendant Programs Today, a Denver-based group that opposes Republican-backed changes in the federal Medicaid program. Those changes might deny home care for disabled persons and force them into nursing homes. The Medicaid changes are pending in Congress. But ADAPT officials said demonstrations were held in Lansing because of Republicans Gov. Eaglet's high-profile role in advising GOP lawmakers on welfare and Medicaid changes. The triplets were in the back of the house and were not directly exposed to the protesters. But Michelle Engler said they had sensed: the tension and anxiety. Michigan ADAPT organizer Bob Liston of Ypsilanti: "This is a nonviolent organization. We have not hurt anyone and do not intend to hurt anyone. But if Gov. Engler is going to get into national politics, he has to answer to folks nationally. We were doing what we felt was necessary to call attention to this critical issue."
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The Detroit News AND Free Press Metro .. Sunday, October 29, 1995 [Headline] Engler staff lapse led to security breach of governor's home GEORGE WEEKS Gov. John Engler and First Lady Michelle Engler are rightly outraged at misguided demonstrators who pounded on doors and windows of their home while they were gone and their triplet daughters were in the kitchen with their nanny. The Englers are also understandably concerned about the rare and baffling security lapse that allowed wheelchair-bound demonstrators to scoot through an open gate on a driveway leading to the official governor's residence in the fashionable Moors River Drive section of Lansing. Make no mistake, an elite state police detail provides excellent around-the-clock security for the first family. When Engler travels, it is with well-trained plain-clothes troopers who know what to do and do it well. They are hard to spot, but they are there, and well armed. There is 24-hour security at the residence, assisted by a variety of electronic devices connected to monitors that guard outposts. An intruder would be foolhardy to try to scale walls or rush the residence day or night. Yet, in broad daylight on Tuesday, about 70 demonstrators, many in wheelchairs, were able to get to the front porch of the residence after the gate opened for a delivery. There should have been sufficient warning. The Denver-based ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) declared in advance by press releases that they were coming to Lansing to protest planned GOP changes in the federal Medicaid program. There were about 200 demonstrators, most from outside Michigan. They had 150 rooms at the Radisson Hotel, two blocks from the Capitol. On Monday, they seized the GOP state headquarters for several hours, taking over the switchboard and blocking some staffers in their offices. They demanded to see Engler, who ironically supports their call for more funds for more care. They said they targeted Engler because "He's a high profile potential v-p"; he has the ear of House Speaker Newt Gingrich; and he frequently lobbies Congress on welfare and health care issues. Engler declined to meet with them, but Communications Director John Truscott did meet with them and outlined Engler's position in writing. Law enforcement authorities knew that ADAPT planned to demonstrate Wednesday at the Capitol where Michigan Militia demonstrators planned on Tuesday to protest against the UN. Extra security personnel were at the Capitol on Tuesday. Truscott said, "We had no idea they would hit the residence." But on Tuesday, although they did not announce it in advance, the handicapped demonstrators assembled at a park near the residence. They carefully watched the comings and goings at the residence before they made their move. Apparently they were not watched with sufficient care. Once they began going through the gate, security personnel were reluctant to swing the gate shut for fear of injuring some of them. The massive swinging gate, with black iron bars, takes about 10 seconds to close. Truscott said "It was a slow gate and they had very fast chairs. They came flying." Although 11-month-old Margaret, Hannah, and Madelene did not hear the protesters, Truscott said they were "so rattled" by all the security and other activity within the residence that they had a sleepless night. All of Michigan should feel violated because protesters, no matter how just their cause or how difficult their lives, were able to storm right up to Michigan's front porch. The way to agitate for funds for home care is not to attack someone else's home. It remains to be seen if they awakened interest in home care or caused a backlash. But by breaching the security ring around the governor's residence they delivered a wake-up call. Truscott said "Clearly, we'll take a very serious look" at security arrangements. For starters, there will be a gate that closes faster. Furthermore, when the gate is open, there will be more security personnel to thwart a rush on the residence.
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Detroit Free Press 10/26/95 [Headline] Capitol Blockade About 300 members of Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), a group dedicated to better rights and services for the disabled, disrupted business Wednesday at the Capitol by blocking building entrances for about 45 minutes. State Police reopened an entrance at 1:30 p.m. and the protesters began to disperse at 3:30 p.m. after meeting with a representative of Gov. John Engler. Five were arrested for trespassing or disorderly conduct in the group's third day of protesting, State Police Inspector Gary Post said. ADAPT wants Engler, among other things, to ask House Speaker Newt Gingrich to propose earmarking 25 percent f the Medicaid nursing home budget for home and community services. [2 Images] [Caption for both images] Left: A worker jumps out a window at the Capitol in Lansing after demonstrators blocked all exits and entrances to the building Wednesday. Below: A student from Garfield School in Adrian breaks through the crowd of protesters at the Capitol. Students were touring the building and were blocked in by the demonstration. Police later cleared an exit.
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The Detroit News Thursday, October 25, 1995 [Headline] Disabled intensify protests [Subheading] Activists demonstrate in Lansing for third straight day; police arrest five. [Image] [Image caption] Protesters line up outside the Capitol on Wednesday, calling attention to fears that disabled people will be forced into nursing homes and out of private homes or other community care. The group of nearly 300 blocked entrances to the Capitol briefly. Photo by: Dale G. Young/The Detroit News