'Bury Me Furiously' - Political Funerals from the 80's and 90's.

[Bluenorthwest]

This link remembers the funerals of activists during Reagan and Bush and Clinton, funerals that were political because the deaths were political and the fallen desired to speak out even in death, they wanted their loved ones not just to mourn but to fight back.

There are many people on DU who might benefit from reading and watching some of this material. Read them with gratefulness for these lives.

Ashes Action
October 13, 1996
Washington, D.C.
ACT UP took the cremated human remains of those we have loved
who were murdered by AIDS and killed by government neglect
throwing the ASHES onto the White House Lawn.
In their report released in July 1996, Clinton's own Advisory Counncil on HIV/AIDS
expressed "grave concern" that Clinton's federal HIV prevention strategy is
"underdeveloped and timid."
http://www.actupny.org/diva/polfunsyn.html

Video by Tony Arena:

[Jefferson23]

1. JON GREENBERG

July 16, 1993
Funeral Procession in the streets
of the Lower East Side to Tompkins Square Park




"I DON'T WANT AN ANGRY POLITICAL FUNERAL. I JUST WANT YOU TO BURN ME IN THE STREET AND EAT MY FLESH."

Jon Greenberg, announcing to all of his friends on many occasions -- especially in crowded elevators and in the presence of small children. ( end)


Thank you for posting this OP

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Thanks for the thanks, it is intense material and I offer it because that's what those activists

would want me to do. I offer it up because I live to tell the tales.

[Jefferson23]

4. +1. It is both a beautiful and gut riveting tribute. n/t

[Betty Karlson]

2. Human Rights Campaign, do you still stand by that endorsement of yours?

HRC may be for HRC, but will HRC have HRC's back or stab it - like today - and then tweet "oops sorry I misspoke"?

It's all about winning, you see. Are you sure that you will always be on the winning side of Hillary Clinton? Because she seems like the ultimate Fair Weather Friend...

[H2O Man]

5. Recommended.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Bob Rafsky's eulogy for Mark Fisher- clip from the film 'How to Survive a Plague'

[Jenny_92808]

7. K & R

Reagan and others expressed an evil sentiment that was so wrong and their inaction was so wrong - They believed that AIDS is g-d's will and judgement to remove those who were born gay from the earth. HOW EVIL!

So many lives could have been saved if they didn't believe that way.

[Zorra]

8. Newly Unearthed Tapes Reveal Reagan Administration's Shocking Response To HIV/AIDS

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ronald-reagan-aids-crisis_us_565e002ae4b08e945fecef1d

In honor of World AIDS Day, Vanity Fair debuted "When AIDS Was Funny," a new documentary short by filmmaker Scott Calonico that shows how the administration shrugged off the spread of HIV in the mid-1980s.

Featured in the movie are never-before-heard audio tapes from three separate press conferences in 1982, 1983 and 1984 in which White House Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes can be heard laughing and even cracking homophobic jokes at reporters' questions about the crisis.

"If we come up with any research that sheds some light on whether gays should cruise or not cruise, we'll make it available to you," Speakes, who died in 2014, is heard saying to a reporter in 1983.

When asked about President Ronald Reagan's take on the crisis in 1984, Speakes responded, "I haven't heard him express concern." When the reporter pressed further, he added, "I must confess I haven't asked him about it."

[tk2kewl]

9. Kicked and recommend for the righteousness and bravery of ACT UP

And for lost lives