Grannies in Court

I have an especially busy schedule for the rest of this week and my RSI problems make my hands and shoulder ache a bit so I will avoid typing too much to let the body rest and so I can complete other items on my task list.  Recently, I published three items about people with vision impairments taking matters into their own hands and standing for their beliefs.

In Blind News this morning, I received an article from the New York Daily News titled, “Grannies are grand on stand” that describes some of the highlights from the item I posted called, “Grannies With Guts.”

The short article quotes Marie Runyon, the 91 year old granny who walks with two canes and has a vision impairment, who walked all the way from Harlem to Times Square to participate in this peace rally.  With dedication like that, she may have become my favorite elder and I’ve never actually met her.

The article follows:

New York Daily News
Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Grannies are grand on stand

By HELEN PETERSON, STAFF WRITER

They may have trouble seeing, hearing and walking, but three grandmothers on trial for an anti-war protest had no problem standing their ground in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday.

The members of the so-called Granny Peace Brigade - who have more than 250 years of life experience among them - testified in their own defense and against the war in Iraq.

Molly Klopot, 87, of Brooklyn had a pretty good excuse for not being able to estimate her distance from the door of a Times Square military recruiting center she and the others are charged with blocking.

"I'm legally blind, so I'm not going to be too good at that," said Klopot, a retired social worker, mother of two and grandmother of four.

Marie Runyon, 91, testified she tried to get inside the locked recruiting center to enlist, but said she would not have physically blocked any aspiring soldiers.

"I wouldn't trip anyone or punch anyone," she said. "I banged on the door for a while and carried on. I've been known to do things like that."

Actress Vinie Burrows Harrison, 77, who has three great-grandchildren, admitted she heard the police order to disperse and ignored it.

"I felt very strongly that my being there was saying something about how deeply I felt that our invasion and occupation of Iraq was wrong," Harrison said.

Afterward

I will try to follow up on this and the other stories of blind activists as I receive information about them.