The members of Rise and Resist NY are going to continue on working to secure the best legal representation for Therese Patricia Okoumou. These are the plans as to what Rise and Resist NY are making for Patricia.
On the date of July 4, 2018, NYPD apprehended an African woman named Therese Patricia Okoumou after taking up a temporary residence on Lady Liberty's right foot on the Statue of Liberty to protest ICE and US immigration policies. NYPD took Therese Patricia Okoumou downtown into federal custody at 5:00 PM that day. Therese Patricia Okoumou had been in federal custody for 1 day and was released on July 5, 2018.
Since then she has been released on bail but is still under the eyes of federal police. Legal officials are still monitoring her court case as charges are still pending. NYPD is keeping a close watch on her as well.
Jay W. Walker, an organizer, told The Los Angeles Blade that “Patricia is a powerful, committed, and passionate activist. She has become an integral member of Rise and Resist over the course of the last several months.
On July 5, 2018, Rise and Resist (@riseandresistny) released a statement on twitter and in public at the United States District Court Southern District of New York stating the following.:
[The members of Rise and Resist have listened to the criticism of the statement we released earlier Wednesday evening. On reflection, we realize that in our haste to complete the statement so that we could continue working to secure the best legal representation for Therese Patricia Okoumou (Patricia).
We unintentionally led people to believe that we were distancing the group from Patricia. Nothing could be further from the truth. Patricia is our friend, our comrade, our sister. From the moment that we realized that this amazing woman whom we have gotten to know, love, and respect was the person who had climbed to the foot of Lady Liberty, we had three concerns: one for her safety from falling, second, for her safety as a woman of color who was about to be engaged by law enforcement, and third, to find her the best legal representation that that we could. We will have an additional statement later with updates.
Rise and Resist will be doing jail support for Patricia, and is arranging great legal representation for her. We will let everyone know how they can further support her as soon as we find out more info.
We’ve received several requests to help Patricia, a member of Rise and Resist who climbed the Statue of Liberty today. Once we find out her legal needs, we’ll post any efforts to help her on our Twitter feed. It’s reported that she’s been charged with federal misdemeanors.
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