ADAPT, scenes from a Monday

I meant to write yesterday when I got in, but I was just to exhausted. I had to write my examiner column first. They are the people paying me to be here after all. HHowever, If I actually used the words I wanted to (and probably will slightly use) this in entry, Examiner would fire me tomorrow. I spent part of my day blockading a white house gate with about 40 adapters, mostly women. I think there were only two men present on that gate.

In case you don't realize it, arresting women in wheelchairs is a big pain for the DC police, because if they have to help us go to the bathroom, which they legally do, it's not just "a point and click operation", as my assistant calls it, as it is with men. You can't just grab it, put into a cup, dispose of said full cup, put it back and be done. So I'm sure they were not thrilled at the idea of arresting 38 women. So they bribed us.

One of the Texas PCAs. whose name is Joey, got himself arrested when he was running in the front of a group of stampeding wheelchair users running for the White House gate. he crashed with a bicycle and they threw him to the ground and beat him up slightly. Happily. it was mostly minor injuries (bruises and scraps) but he was charged with assaulting an officer, which makes no sense to me. At least, they said he was going to be charged with that.

However, they said that if we let them have the middle gate where we were located, they would only charge joey with a misdemeanor and release him tonight. I'm not making this up, I actually heard them say it. as the dc police have been pretty much straight up with ADAPT over the years, we backed off in Joey's best interest. we got tot he hotel tonight, all the while I'm expecting to see Joey at some point, as is everyone else. Imagine my surprise when I run into my color leader friends Anita and Dawn in the lobby after sign making and discover that not only is Joey not with us, he's in jail with regular criminals in the Washington DC lockup.

What was that thing Ricky Ricardo used to say? "Lucy, you got some splainin to do!" as far as i'm concerned, the DC police have some splainin to do tomorrow. And ADAPT doesn't tend to be as nice as Ricky Ricardo.

i think that they'll be really unhappy when they discover that ADAPTERers don't take them at their word anymore. Anyone who's dealt with us realizes this is just a bad move on our opponents' part. if you lie to my face, I'm likely to never speak to you again, never believe a word you say, and or plot vengeance against you. If you lie to a bunch of adapt women, we're going to spend hours plotting ways to make your life difficult. as my assistant said, who agreed to help put stranded Texans to bed after i accidentally volunteered her for it, "someone just screwed up really badly".

Before this event, my opinion of the DC police was, "they're cops but they're not assholes!" After today, remove the not. When will bureaucracy learn that if you lie to ADAPT, especially if you lie to ADAPT women, we'll find a way to get you. I hope that whatever they promise tomorrow comes in writing with a bunch of signatures. I don't intend to believe it otherwise.

Word of warning to bureaucrats, ADAPT women may not be able to move in ways you consider normal. Some of us can't even clean ourselves post bathroom usage. But we remember real good for a real long time.