I suppose using "Shit" in the heading and to lead into the article is
an attempt to catch our attention, but for me, it takes away from the
seriousness of the sit in. Of course, the heading did cause me to
save the post and read it later.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/4/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A Sit-In Almost Turned Into A Shit-In At Cory Gardner's Office
Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp is heading into the second day of
a sit-in with the disability rights group ADAPT, at Republican Senator Cory
Gardner's office. Kalyn Heffernan
Resist! Health Care, Senate, Sit-In
For Kyle Harris, www.westword.com
June 29th, 2017
Above Photo: Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp is heading into the
second day of a sit-in with the disability rights group ADAPT, at
Republican
Senator Cory Gardner's office. Kalyn Heffernan
A sit-in almost turned into a shit-in when disability rights activists with
ADAPT started needing to use the restroom - which had been shut down -
after
they had spent the night in Republican Senator Cory Gardner's Denver
office,
trying to force him to vote against a Republican healthcare proposal that
the Congressional Budget Office says would leave 22 million uninsured by
2026.
"We brought in a makeshift shitter," says activist and musician Kalyn
Heffernan, the MC with Wheelchair Sports Camp, which won Best Hip-Hop Group
at the 2017 Westword Music Awards on Tuesday, June 27, the same night she
was occupying the senator's office.
When the DIY toilet arrived, "I think that's when they they decided to let
us [into the restroom]," she says. "Once that came in, shit got real. We
had
so much coffee, someone was bound to shit."
It's not like the activists were holding back their bodily functions. After
they had been denied the restroom on Tuesday, several activists urinated in
the senator's office in cups, bottles, a trash can, diapers and through
catheters.
"We all just peed in his office! Victory," Heffernan texted me on Tuesday.
Gardner's state director narrowly avoided a shitty situation by opening the
bathrooms up today, June 28, ADAPT activists say. The state director has
been accommodating, although he has not responded to the activists'
demands,
laid out below.
img_8623
ADAPT is demanding Gardner sign this statement pledging to vote against any
bill that would reduce Medicaid funding for seniors and people with
disabilities. Kalyn Heffernan
Gardner's office, which has yet to say whether the senator will support the
Republican-led bill, has not returned e-mails and phone calls from Westword
about the situation.
Volunteers brought the activists food throughout the night, and the
protesters have no plans to leave until Gardner commits to opposing the
bill
or the police drag them out.
"People are spoiling the shit out of us," Heffernan says. "We have so much
food. It was like the most privileged protest we've ever been at - minus
sleeping in here. That was not great."
Most of the activists slept on the floor, others in their chairs. Heffernan
says it was like sleeping at the airport: hard floors, bright lights and
crammed conditions. But as a touring musician, she's more accustomed to
roughing it out than some of her comrades.
The MC has taken to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram throughout the protest;
Wheelchair Sports Camp is trending on Twitter, and a live-stream of the
sit-in has garnered more than 20,000 views.
img_8625
The ADAPT protest at Gardner's Denver office continues for a second day.
Kalyn Heffernan
