Happy Patricia Okoumou Day🗽🇺🇸
My annual holiday tradition
Every year on July 4th, I make a donation to Patricia. Money will never cover the labor and emotional martyrdom that comes along with activism, but it’s a start. On this day in 2018, she risked her immigration status and un-incarcerated freedom to scale the Statue of Liberty in an act of protest.
There are people who sobbed in fear on election night in 2016, who shared these photos of Patricia in 2018, and who feigned outrage at the over-turnings of Roe in 2022 and Affirmative Action in 2023 …. who will be happily celebrating today’s holiday with the people in their lives whose votes have harmed us.
On its own, Patricia’s solo protest was a dramatic leap into action. When I compare it to those of you who can’t even muster up the energy to set personal boundaries, it’s monumental.
More, including Patricia in her own words, from Time:
“On July 4, 2018, Patricia Okoumou shocked the world by climbing the Statue of Liberty to protest the detention of migrant children. She remained on the base for more than three hours, and Liberty Island was evacuated. One year later, as migrant children continue to be housed in U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities in conditions that have been described as unsanitary, Okoumou says she has struggled to find support and is now considering stepping back from her activism.”
“On that day we met at Liberty Park, we got our tickets, we enter together, we unfold a banner— it wasn’t easy, it was very windy. We were able to hold the banner for at least 20 minutes before security came in. There was a park police officer or two wearing white T-shirts, they did not want us there, they asked us to leave and they were taking the banner. In fact they were taking us into custody. Somehow I became invisible. When everybody was taken, they were directed to one direction and I just don’t follow them and go to the left. As they’re going down, I’m looking for a way up the pedestal. I was always thinking about the children and why we came there. We came there to protest, but something inside of me felt I could do better than that.”
“I see an elevator where people are coming in and there’s an officer directing them. Here I am, and I say, “Oh my god, I’m not supposed to be right here, nobody’s here, I’m obviously in an area that is restricted.” The officer doesn’t see me – again I’m invisible – so then I see a door and I cross there, and I find myself outside on the pedestal just below the foot of the statue. It’s very narrow.”
“I decide to climb on the wall first. And it’s free fall, it’s several feet down, I cannot hold on to much of anything, so I’m using my balance to maintain my position there. I see this tourist with his mouth drop, [laughs] like, “We don’t do that!” Another park officer comes very quickly soon after that. He starts telling me [to] come down, so I decided now to jump to the statue and cling to her. There’s no grips, so I’m using my fingertips and my toe tips. He says “Come down! Come down!” and I’m praying because he can just grab my leg, I’m so low, he can grab my leg and pull me down, but he doesn’t do that for some reason.”
Read the rest here.
As of March 2023, she has 8 months left in her five year probation. She’ll turn 50 later this year.
Follow Patricia:
https://www.facebook.com/officialpatriciaokoumou/
https://www.instagram.com/officialpatriciaokoumou/
Thanks for resharing her story 🫶🏾