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Home / Albomlar / Wade Blank - Founder of Atlantis Co-Founder of ADAPT 89
Creation date / 2013 / July
- ADAPT (1808)
"...there was a lot of student action. Most every campus had something major going on in it. There were students shot down in the South, too, at one school. I forget the name, but there were six or seven students killed there. It was a black college, so it didn't get the ink. I think it was Jackson State. Same time, right around the same time, you know, he National Guard there opened fire, but it was blacks killed and it never got the attention that Kent State got. That was a real heavy time. The night of the shootings, I had 2,000 people gather in a parking lot, and we marched down to the National guard headquarters, because I wanted to do something, again theatrical, but people were ready to riot. Some wanted to go up there, a lot of my black friends and SDS friends were--it's hard to express how crazy people were--crying, beating on themselves, beating on others--just an incredible reaction. And they wanted to go back up to Kent and challenge the National Guard tanks. hey were surrounded. All of the roads into Kent State were blocked with tanks, so I got them to march silently down to the National Guard headquarters in Akron where the National Guard was based--the Armory. There were cops as far as you could see, with helmets and clubs. I mean, everybody's ready to go at it--because of the tension. It was just thick. We brought in this big vat of water, big laundry vat, and we had 2,000 people dip their hands in the water and hold their hands up like washing their hands, and then we took the water and threw it under the door of the National Guard headquarters. Very powerful. It's one of those things you only see in movies, and it was very therapeutic. I don't know what else could have been done at that point Really, nothing anybody could do. People were shot. So that was a real heavy time..." Wade Blank - ADAPT (1810)
- ADAPT (1829)
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 15TH ANNIVSERSARY ISSUE [image] drawing of a wheelchair April 29, 1987 [Headline] Wheels of Fortune [Subheading] Michael Smith finally found justice for the disabled this spring-twelve years after his death. By Frank Hogan (Wade) Blank sat with Smith from midnight to morning during his last months. The Atlantis office was set up in the living room of Smith's apartment, and Blank would write down the poetry of Smith composed in his head. Poems like this: TO TED I woke up on a cold evening And found you Sitting beside my bed. You looked into my eyes And I saw that death was on its way. You grabbed my hand And put your head on my chest. And began to sob. And all I could do Was put my hands in your hair And cry Until my heart was sore I tried to calm your soul And this seemed strange, in a way, Because I was the one Who was dying. This memory Of you letting your tears flow, Letting me see the real you, Will remain deep within my heart. Smith died in his Atlantis Community apartment on October 1, 1975. His mother was at his bedside. He'd had plenty of time to plan his funeral; Blank conducted the service at Olinger's (which was wheelchair accessible), friends read Smith's poetry poetry and Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" played. Afterward everybody drove up to the Tollgate in Central City and got loaded. Smith was at rest, but his ghost would haunt the courts for twelve more years. Wade Blank would probably puke at the idea, but the Atlantis Community disabled rights activist is the closest approximation to a saint that I encountered while writing stories for Westword. Blank was instrumental in creating the Atlantis Community. He was constantly at Michael Patrick Smith's bedside during the former muscular dystrophy poster child's final days. That was after Smith moved out of a nursing home and into an apartment and filed a lawsuit against Heritage House for violating his civil rights and denying him the care he was entitled to under the Medicaid Act. But it wasn't Blank's tenacity in pursuing the lawsuit for over a dozen years and to a victory on Smith's behalf that most impresses me. Blank's utter fearlessness is what's amazing. In the early years of Atlantis' development, Blank's van was torched, a cinderblock was hurled through his living room window and he was continually threatened and harassed. Through all the obstacles, Blank kept shepherding the disabled rights movement forwards. On July 5, 1978, Blank and nineteen disabled activists in wheelchairs blocked buses at the corner of Broadway and Colfax, demanding wheelchair access to public transportation. Since then they've traveled to major cities throughout the U.S. and Europe, performing acts of civil disobedience to make their point. Twelve years after that historic night in downtown Denver, President George Bush signed legislation guaranteeing the disabled equality in the workplace and ordering all public transportation to be wheelchair-accessible. "A few weeks ago, the City of Denver erected a plaque to commemorate that protest," says Blank. "Next time you're down at Colfax and Broadway, take a look at it. The tourist bureau put out a brochure listing it as a sight to see in Denver." Blank isn't resting on his laurels, though. In October, he'll be in San Francisco, leading 400 wheelchair activists as they try to shut down the national nursing home administrators' convention. "We're going to lock all the doors at the Moscone Center and let them know what it feels like to be locked in a nursing home," Blank says. "Then we'll hit California Clinton headquarters unless we get a position paper by October 1 spelling out that if he's elected, Clinton can and will implement a national attendant service program." That program is Blank's main focus these days. "We need to rethink nursing homes," he says. "The patient is a commodity. You can talk quality care, but when you're a commodity you're not really talking about humanity. It's like saying we want o have nice clean barns before we slaughter the cattle. It's not bad service, it's the system." That's another thing I like about Blank: He's not afraid of hyperbole. His only fault is that he's a Cleveland Browns fan. He stand up to the system and wins. He embodies everything that was good about the Sixties, with a Nineties addition: Blank has a publicity coordinator in Hollywood. Michael Smith's story was made into a television movie a few years ago, and Blank is talking to Quantum Leap producers about dramatizing the 1978 standoff in downtown Denver. And still Blank defects all credit to disabled activists. Even the PR agent furthers the cause of the Atlantis Community rather than Blank's personal triumphs. "Mike [Smith] is the acorn of the oak tree, says Blank. "He left quite a legacy." Blank's leaving quite a legacy himself. Westword 9/2/93 - ADAPT (1783)
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[Headline] 2 Globevile schools cleared of heavy metal danger [Subheading] Study results in court's dismissal of parents' bid to keep son out of first grade at Garden Place By Greg Lopez Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Students at two Globeville elementary schools are not exposed to unacceptable levels of lead, cadmium and arsenic from the ASARCO Globe Plant, according to a study released this week. The study, commissioned by Denver Public Schools, tested air and dust inside and outside Swan-sea and Garden Place elementary schools in the Globeville neighbor-hood for the three substances, all of which are believed to cause cancer. All levels were lower than federal guidelines for exposure, although most were higher than normal. The study suggested that air filters be used and areas in the school be cleaned regularly to lessen exposure. The study, the most comprehensive look so far at the old smelter's effect on the schools, is one of many studies of pollution from the ASARCO plant. A motion filed by Wade and Lois Blank seeking to keep their son from entering first grade at Gar-den Place was denied yesterday in Denver District Court after the study was presented. The Blanks said they are satisfied that the schools are safe. "This is good news for every-body who has their children there," Wade Blank said. "I'm happy for them, if the study is accurate." The Blanks said they have en-rolled their son, Lincoln, 6, in the private Gilpin Grammar School be-cause they are angry that DPS ignored earlier requests for information about the safety of the school. The study, conducted by Chemistry and Industrial Hygiene Inc. of Wheat Ridge, found that cadmium levels at Swansea, 4650 Columbine St., were a concern because students also may be exposed to heavy metal outside of school. At Garden Place, 4425 Lincoln St., the major concern was the level of lead concentration in dust, a problem possibly caused by lead-based paint. The study also noted that lead-based paint poses a similar problem in other older Denver schools. The study concludes that, "there are no environmental conditions at the two schools which would result in arsenic, cadmium and lead exposures to children or staff which represent unacceptable health risks if school management continues and/or implements appropriate control procedures." The study is only the latest development in more than a decade of concerns about emissions by ASARCO. ASARCO plant officials say their operation meets all state, local and federal emission standards. Nine Globeville residents sued ASARCO last week, charging that the plant has contaminated soil, lowered property values and endangered their health. [image] [image caption] Debra Reingold/Rocky Mountain News. Lois and Wade Blank are glad study shows safe schools, but son Lincoln, right, is in private school. At left is daughter Caitlin, 4. Stapleton Homes, a public housing project in Globeville, was closed last year by the Denver Housing Authority because of fears of toxic pollution, among other reasons. Tests then showed none of the children in Globeville schools had dangerous concentrations of toxic materials in their bodies, according to the health department. - ADAPT (1807)
- ADAPT (1796)
- ADAPT (1805)
"...I do a lot of theater. One Presbytery meeting, they had the Council of Churches in for dinner, of all the Akron churches, and I hired this guy to dress up like Santa Claus and come in the middle of dinner, "Ho, ho, ho," and he had a big bag of toys, and then I had a bunch of little kids run in behind him--white kids--and everybody thought that was the gig with the supper. So then he's giving out gifts, and then I had twelve black kids run in behind him, and he started hitting them with his bag. We were trying to make a statement on racism in the church. You can imagine how that affected my fellow clergy..." Wade Blank, 1992 - ADAPT (1800)
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- ADAPT (1799)