WE THE PEOPLE, a coalition of survivors psychiatric system, users of psychiatry, and their allies, born out of the murder-by-neglect of Esmin Green will hold a demonstration and candlel ight vigil in her memory at Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room, Building R 410 Winthrop St., Brooklyn, NY on Friday, June 19.
The demonstration will begin at 5pm, followed by a candlelight vigil from 8-10 pm.
Esmin Green died in the Kings County ER one year ago, after sitting for 23 hours in the waiting room. Her murder by neglect highlights the need for human rights protections and an end to psychiatric atrocities including involuntary confinement, drugs, electroshock, restraint, seclusion and aversive “behavioral20interventions.”
The death of Esmin Green is indicative of a failure in the system that was supposed to be there to care for her. The solution to protecting the lives and dignity of people with psychiatric histories is not simply to increase staff and services and/or to improve staff training. As evidenced by Ms. Green’s death, these measures are nothing more than temporary band-aids that consistently fail.
Independent external advocacy and HHC complying with human rights, International Law, and the United Nations Treaties are concrete strategies to take to assure that nothing like this ever happens again.
"It is really important for people to make their v oices heard so that what happened to Esmin Green never happens again". --Sanford Rubenstein, Esq.
Speakers will include Sanford Rubenstein, Esq., the attorney for Ms. Green's Family; legislators, Assemblymen Nick Perry and Peter Rivera, and dozens of activists including Dally Sanchez, Eva Dech, Sabrina Johnson, George Badillo, Tina Minkowitz, Anita Cameron, George Ebert, David Gonzalez, Kathie Casio, Marian Merlino, and Rolando Bini.