Contributed Photo
Outraged Elders Monday on the Green.
Activist Melinda Tuhus submitted the following write-up about an event she helped organize on the Green Monday.
Dori Dumas wanted to celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s birthday on March 15, so she pitched the idea to the other members of the core group of Outraged Elders.
They showed up in single digit windchill temperatures on the Green on Monday, paper lace collars around their necks, signs displayed around “the bench” across from the federal courthouse to signify the wisdom “the notorious RBG” dispensed in her decades on the Supreme Court.
Outraged Elders is the group of Black and white women who planned two Covid-safe Black Lives Matter rallies on the Green last summer to enable older residents who were staying home to avoid catching a deadly disease to safely express their support.
“As a group of women activists, we thought it most appropriate during Women’s History Month to honor the life and legacy of the honorable Ruth Bader Ginsberg, ‘The Notorious R.B.G.’ on her birthday,” said Dumas, who is also president of the Greater New Haven chapter of the NAACP. “The bench is a reminder that we have to keep the pressure on. We have to use our power of the vote and keep pushing for laws that protect and advance equality, women’s rights and more,” she said. “The struggle continues, but the fight continues as well.”
The women used this outing to express support for many struggles, sometimes reading a relevant quote from Ginsberg. The Rev. Allie Perry promoted the efforts of Stop Solitary CT to pass the Protect Act to end solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. She said that although R.B.G. did not go as far as her colleague Anthony Kennedy in calling for a total ban on the practice, “I’m sure if she were alive today, she would support the Protect Act.”
“One of Justice Ginsberg’s most famous dissents was on the 5 – 4 decision that sadly struck down a key section of the Voting Rights Act,” said Sally Connolly.
The quotable quote was, “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
“This ruling on preclearance, from which R.B.G. strongly dissented, freed mostly Southern states from having to clear voting changes with the federal government,” Connolly continued. “This matter is particularly pertinent at this time when some states are trying to limit access to voter registration and election information, prevent mail-in ballot applications, reduce absentee ballots and abridge early voting – all of which are particularly harmful to minority populations. Happily, Connecticut is seeking to increase and enhance voter access, not limit it.”
Dottie Green quoted R.B.G. saying she wanted to be remembered as “Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.”
Green continued, “Each of us have the power to repair the tears in our society by being a force for racial justice, equity. White people can help repair the tears in society by courageously revealing, acknowledging and dissenting against the white privilege and white supremacy. Open the flood gates of equity for all.”
This quote resonated with Melinda Tuhus: “Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” Tuhus is a climate activist who said in recent years the movement has become more intersectional, honoring the Movement for Black Lives and working with immigrant rights groups, because it is the poor and people of color who are hurt first and worst by the climate crisis. “We see the connections among all these different struggles,” she said. “We all need to bring each other along and not set up barriers. We need to build bridges.”
Meg Bloom’s R.B.G. quote was, “Women’s rights are an essential part of the overall human rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy.”
She added, “We are still fighting for the equal rights of all women regardless of economics or ethnicity. Women must have the freedom to make decisions regarding our health care, the control of our bodies, equity in our workplace, equal access to jobs and equal pay, and equality in our relationships.”
To show her support for equal rights, R.B.G. also said, “The pedestal upon which women have been placed has all too often, upon closer inspection, been revealed as a cage;” and “Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”
Becky Sandmann read those quotes, which led into a pitch for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which says simply, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
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Asked how Outraged Elders came to be, Green said, “During the summer, as the disgrace of the George Floyd killing, Breonna Taylor, Covid, the racism… as it all came to a head, elders were urged to stay in and avoid crowds. It was frustrating to not have our voices heard. Outraged Elders is the coming together of black and white women who are committed to social justice. We come together to have candid conversation, not for the sake of talking, but to understand, to use our experiences, power, privilege to make impact. It is a space that is not necessarily ‘safe’ in that hard realities are expressed. But it is a space where we can risk real expression and bring it all back together to make a real difference. The Outraged Elders group is empowering and refreshing.”
Outraged Elders and other groups helped make it possible for seniors to support civil rights and fight against social injustice during a pandemic as safely as they could. Society often discounts the social value of women and black and brown communities and the LGBTQ communities. But when everybody stands together in the fight for justice, we are stronger than if we allow ourselves to be divided. The turning point in the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War was when the media televised the atrocities that the people in power were willing to resort to in order to keep the status quo. The turning point of the current civil rights struggle is that everyone with a smartphone can post their truth about what they see happening. It's awfully hard to justify police knocking down an old man and walking past him with no attempt to aid him during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest and you can't say he was violent or a threat when we have visual evidence to the contrary. When the veteran protestor was hit repeatedly with a baton and pepper sprayed by police as he peacefully stood his ground during BLM protests in the Pacific Northwest. As the DC BLM peaceful protestors and media were beaten and pepper sprayed as the police cleared the way for the Ex-President to have a photo op in front of a church with holding a bible upside down. When the white suprematist domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol and attacked the police while hunting for our legally elected officials with the intent to lynch them. The whole world is watching. Let's make it a better world for everyone. Stand up, speak out, and share the truth for the world to see.