candle light vigil for E. Green

NEWS RELEASE - PLEASE FORWARD

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.

Contact: Lauren J. Tenney, Psychiatric Survivor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

phone: (516) 319-4295 e-mail: lauren@theopalproject.org

website: http://www.theopalproject.org/vigil.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.

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.

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".

David Gonzalez, a former patient of the "G" Building at Kings County

Hospital Center asks, "What has brought Ms. Green's appalling death

to public scrutiny is not that it was unusual or uncommon in any way,

but that it was caught on video. The lack of compassion, callous

indifference, and subsequent cover-up exposes not only the hypocrisy

which allows this type of systemic abuse to take place under the

guise of treatment, but more importantly exposes the perversion of

institutional psychiatry".

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities and other International law has been violated. Daniel

Hazen, of the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights®) and

Stop Force asks, "Was Ms. Green's medical emergency in any way

related to the toxic and debilitating psychiatric drugs she might

have been taking, possibly through intimidation, coercion, or force?

This seems likely in light of the known connection between such drugs

and fatal leg blood clots."

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.

On July 25, 2008, we invite all people to join us 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

on July 25, 2008 to stand in solidarity with New Yorkers.

ACTION:

If you can attend the vigil or not, on Friday, July 25, 2008, 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.

Who: All People.

What: A demonstration and candle light vigil to mourn the loss of Ms.

Esmin Elizabeth Green and condemn human rights violations.

Why: WE THE PEOPLE call 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.

Where: Kings County Hospital Center, Psychiatric Emergency Room,

Building G. 606 Winthrop Street Brooklyn, NY 11203

Date: July 25, 2008

Time: Demonstration begins at 5 PM, Candle Light Vigil, 8:30 PM

Websites: www.theopalproject.org/vigil.html www.mindfreedom.org