Esmin Green Tribute

DEMONSTRATION IN REMEMBRANCE OF ESMIN GREEN SURVIVORS OF PSYCHIATRIC ATROCITIES AND ALLIES TO SPEAK OUT AND HOLD A VIGIL IN HONOR OF EMSIN GREEN WHO WAS MURDERED-BY-NEGLECT AT THE KINGS COUNTY HOSPITAL CENTER PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY ROOM. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact/Interviews: Lauren Tenney, Psychiatric Survivor phone: (516) 319-4295 e-mail: laurentenney@aol.com website: www.theopalproject.org/vigil.org Who: Esmin Green who was murdered-by-neglect at the Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room, All People. What: Demonstrations, Speak Outs and Candle Light Vigil to mark 2 years since the murder-by-neglect of Ms. Esmin Elizabeth Green, mourn her loss, and condemn continued human rights violations by organized psychiatry. Why: WE THE PEOPLE call to shut down Kings County Hospital Center's psychiatric services; for an end of abuse, torture, and neglect in the wake of Ms. Green's death on June 19, 2008, while detained at Kings County Hospital Center's Psychiatric Emergency Room; and to call attention to human rights violations committed since then. Where: Kings County Hospital Center, Psychiatric Emergency Room, Building R. 410 Winthrop Street Brooklyn, NY 11203 Date: June 18, 2010 5 PM - June 19, 2010, 5 PM Time: Press Conference 6 PM June 18 (Demonstrations begin at 5 PM June 18, Candle Light Vigil, 8:30 PM - 5 PM June 19) Websites: www.theopalproject.org/vigil.html www.mindfreedom.org WE THE PEOPLE began as an alliance of people who were accused of and treated for "mental illness". We have survived with our lives, unlike Ms. Green. However, our liberty, our health, and our futures continue to be under the threat of the therapeutic state - and so is yours. Sanford Rubenstein, the attorney for the family of Ms. Green will be speaking at the press conference. He urges, "Only by people speaking out and remembering what happened to Esmin Green can we prevent others from suffering her fate". Also speaking out will be people who survived commitment at Kings County Hospital Center and now work to make sure others do not have to experience what they were subjected to and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, Chair of the Mental Health Committee (invited). On June 19 it will be two years since Esmin Green was murdered-by- neglect at the Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room. In February 2010, it was reported by the media that a male “patient” was raped by an employee of Kings County who was charged for the crime. As recently as April 27, 2010 more citations of abuses were published in the news. Not only does this abuse and torture happen - but it happens in the multi-million dollar new psychiatric building. This was supposed to end murder, abuse, rape, and torture of people confined within its walls - after the City agreed to court monitoring because of the abuses and torture that people were subjected to while detained in the facility. •This abuse and torture has been going on for centuries with no end in sight - we must make our voices heard! •Kings County is not safe. •Kings County should be closed down. •Rape and Death are not good outcomes. •COME CALL TO CLOSE THIS PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTION DOWN. SOME OF OUR QUESTIONS: Department of Justice; Center for Medicaid/Medicare Services; Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration; Health and Hospitals Corporation; New York City Department of Mental Hygiene; New York State Office of Mental Health; Commission on Quality Care; --- where are you? Why are independent external advocates still not allowed into this facility? Why is the government paying for this with millions of tax-dollars pumped into this place? Why is the NYPD Department of Investigations report siting multiple systemic problems being ignored? When is the Grand Jury going to present a bill? The experience of involuntarily detainment in a psychiatric emergency room or in a psychiatric institution is tantamount to torture. Human rights and feminist activist Kate Millett during the negotiations on the UN Convention on the subject of forced treatment and confinement of persons with disabilities stated, “"The power of an entire civilization massed against one lone individual. Every phone and lock and guard and drug . . . Everything conspires to make you completely alone and terrified. Malleable. These are the conditions of torture”".. As in the HIGHLANDER STATEMENT of 2000, we call on all people to "act individually and collectively to ensure that self-determination, respect, ethical behavior, and humane voluntary supports and services become the foundation of a reinvented mental health system. This system must first and foremost do no harm". We invite you, we implore you, to meet with us and work with us towards a humane environment and to establish alternatives to the atrocities of confinement, drugs, electroshock treatment, restraint, and seclusion. We let our light shine in remembrance of the victims of the mental illness system - for people who have suffered because of fear and ignorance - for people who have been traumatized - for people who have been disabled - for people who are dead - and for people who are not really living We are lighting candles to celebrate Esmin Green's life and passion as a way to spark necessary change and call for the respect of human rights in mental health. We offer the light of these candles as a sign of love for our families and friends, and our elected officials, and broader communities who often trapped in circumstance and by the psychiatric system cannot understand us as we struggle to communicate. All people committed to human rights, join us. We invite all people to join us during this 24-hour period and stand united in support of the demand that everyone receive the full benefit of their human rights and the preservation of their liberty, dignity, and respect. There are vigils happening all over the world for Ms. Green to stand in solidarity with New Yorkers. If you can attend the vigil or not, call Governor Patterson (518) 474-8390, Mayor Bloomberg, (212) NEW-YORK, and your elected Representatives to express your outrage about Ms. Green's murder and insist that the City of New York stand in full compliance with International law and Human Rights. If you would like to co-sponsor or endorse this demonstration, vigil, and its follow up forums, please contact us. WE THE PEOPLE ###

Come June 18 - 19, 2010 to mark the 2 year anniversary of Esmin Green's murder-by-neglect and help us get our questions answered concerning historical and up-to-the-minute abuses that have occurred and are occurring at this facility. Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room For information and PDF download, www.TheOpalProject.org/vigil.html Thank You, WE THE PEOPLE In remembrance of Esmin Green who was murdered-by-neglect at Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room, June 19, 2008. Contact: Lauren Tenney (516) 319-4295 www.TheOpalProject.org/vigil.html