Black Activist Climbs Statue Of Liberty For 4th Of July Protest

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

The woman who scaled the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday has been identified.

SEE ALSO
4
Woman climbs Statue of Liberty amid ‘Abolish ICE’ protests

Cops say Therese Patricia Okoumou — a 44-year-old immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo — was the person responsible for the Fourth of July protest.

She lives in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island and is currently in federal custody, according to police sources.

Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unittransported her to a federal detention center Wednesday night following her three-hour standoff with authorities. Her case is being handled by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

Sources said Okoumou told investigators she climbed up to the feet of Lady Liberty to protest President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration and the separation of families at the border.

According to court records, she’s a Congolese immigrant who once filed a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, seeking a judicial review and reversal of a “determination” it made regarding alleged incidents of abuse that Okoumou suffered at the hands of a social services agency on Staten Island where she worked.

SEE ALSO
How cops rescued protester who climbed Statue of Liberty

Specifically, Okoumou claimed that in 2005, she was treated “in a demeaning manner” by her bosses and told that she would be fired “for complaining of discrimination.” It’s unclear why her complaint was tossed out.

In 2011, Okoumou made headlines after she was hit with an astounding 60 violations for illegally posting ads for her services as a personal trainer.

The Department of Sanitation slapped her with $4,500 in fines that year after she spent five hours one Sunday posting the fliers on Manhattan utility poles.

In 2017, she was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration, unlawful assembly and trespassing during a demonstration at the Department of Labor building on Varick Street. She had allegedly covered her mouth with tape and refused to respond to police demands.

On Wednesday, Okoumou told investigators she was part of a group protest organized by Rise and Resist NYC. The activists unfurled a banner on Liberty Island less than an hour before her climb that read: “ABOLISH ICE.”

Organizers initially tried to distance themselves from Okoumou’s Statue of Liberty stunt — saying she had “no connection” with their cause — but later admitted that she was part of the group.

Members described her on social media as a “total bad ***.”

MORE ON:
IMMIGRATION
Guatemalan mom briefly reunited with kids says she's fleeing gang

'Abolish ICE' is a sign of the left's rising extremism

Scams are overwhelming the US asylum system

Woman climbs Statue of Liberty amid 'Abolish ICE' protests
“She’s very dedicated to the resistance generally, but specifically to the issues surrounding immigration and the treatment immigrants have been receiving from ICE and Customs and Border Control,” explained Jay Walker, a Rise and Resist activist. “She’s been an active member for about four or five months.”

Walker told The Post that Okoumou helped plan the banner demonstration, but carried out the Statue of Liberty stunt on her own.

“She didn’t tell any of us about this plan,” he said. “We were all really shocked.”

The group had announced their Fourth of July stunt on social media moments before carrying it out Wednesday, but made no mention of the climb.

“We were all really taken back,” Walker said. “At first, we didn’t realize it was our fellow member. It wasn’t until we were able to see closeup photos of her that we realized it was her.”

According to Walker, Rise and Resist has been working to ensure that Okoumou gets legal representation now that she’s in federal custody. He told The Post that she managed to make it up to the feet of Lady Liberty all on her own — without ropes or climbing gear.

“We came through all the security protocols that we needed to when getting onto the Liberty Island ferry,” Walker said, noting how Okoumou made it through the metal detectors.

“I guess she just had some hidden climbing skills that none of us knew about.”

 

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

 

[ebonysweetie]

I watched the whole thing unfold yesterday with mixed feelings. I’m just glad she didn’t fall.

 

[yamilee21]

With the current anti-immigrant climate, I really, really hope that she has been naturalized for a few decades already.

 

[RossBoss]

Does she want open borders for her homeland?

She has no right to attempt to dictate what our immigration policy should be and she is not even a native born Black American, ya know, the group that stands a lot to lose from the insane open borders that the radical left and rich white business owners would love. It's obvious that she did this dumb stunt to go viral on social media. They should have left her up there and shut the Statue of Liberty down and then she would see it's not fun and games.

 

[Kiowa]

Good on her...on another note, I need to get to the gym..stat

 

[Laela]

^^ Risky business, but she made her point. Those abs, though....

 

[HappilyLiberal]

Not my fight, not my problem, I ain't climbing !

 

[Sridevi]

I wish people of other races would climb statues for the injustices Blacks face.

 

[dyh080]

Anyway, the ultimate and most serious act of protest against U. S. policies/laws would have been for her to return to the Congo.

 

[RossBoss]

Anyway, the ultimate and most serious act of protest against U. S. policies/laws would have been for her to return to the Congo.

And then when she gets there send 20k immigrants per month to flood her country and she'd be singing a different tune.

 

[TCatt86]

Are people really for open borders?? That's crazy. That said I thought she was protesting the zero tolerance policy that's separating small children from their families. She's crazy though because they will probably deport her once her case is done.

 

[Kanky]

How much did it cost taxpayers to get her down? They need to send her home.

 

[intellectualuva]

I was not feeling this for some of the reasons listed above, but the original story was that she intended to stay up there until the children were returned to their families. I wonder if it's to abolish ICE or for the kids....what was her original mission.

The little I was able to hear of KSC live yesterday was spot on....so much of this is on some grandstanding "Witness Me" path to Valhalla sacrificial energy.

 

[intellectualuva]

Are people really for open borders?? That's crazy. That said I thought she was protesting the zero tolerance policy that's separating small children from their families. She's crazy though because they will probably deport her once her case is done.

Yes they are. It's crazy talk to me. I dont get it. I know a few black folks advocating for it and say closed borders are one more way white supremacy is protected or something.

 

[Kanky]

Are people really for open borders?? That's crazy. That said I thought she was protesting the zero tolerance policy that's separating small children from their families. She's crazy though because they will probably deport her once her case is done.

There are a few radicals for open borders. Most Democrats want reasonable immigration and border security.

 

[intellectualuva]

I didn't know where to post this, so I am posting here and the BB thread because at the very least the first bullet point has been mentioned around here.

https://www.facebook.com/Naima.Bint.Harith

There is a HUGE number of Black Women on my page who believe **Without association with Black Men**....racism, White supremacy, Pathological Violence and the issues of Black destruction will no longer be an issue for Black Women/children. These Sisters believe we will be able to sit around looking "Dainty & Pretty" and not partaking of any social protests BECAUSE --with the Black Man mated off to other races of women & no longer a part of us ---we black women will cease being seen as a threat. In many social contexts, I agree with these women. I was the main one shouting "Let these men fight their own battles!!!" But when these women denounced the immigrant Congolese sister who climbed the Statue of Liberty as merely a "mammy" trying to save the world & not themselves (despite the fact African immigrants are being separated from their children & Therese herself has been harassed by ICE and threatened with deportation for nearly a year), when they said that Black MEN should be climbing the statue and not her....and denounced her as a loser for making such a spectacle...it suddenly dawned on me how one dimensional our BW thinking can be.

The responses by these Black Women really goes to show you how Black Women don't understand WAR and SUPREMACY in the first place. They've bought into the notion that **THE BLACK MAN*** is the threat....not the Womb....that produces him. These sisters believe that we can just "do nothing" and HE ALONE (the BM) will be lynched and destroyed.

#1--BLACK WOMEN refusing to fight for themselves & for black children....is NOT going to FORCE Black men to step up to the plate. HARRIET TUBMAN SAID THIS in her autobiography (she could not count on or wait for black men to free her slave shackles), SOJOURNER TRUTH said this in her autobiography too. They both stated that they could not wait on Black men to free us from slavery.

So this notion that we should "sit out" world events and WAIT for the men to be the "FACE" is absolute suicide. Black women traditionally have not raised any MEN who put the Black Race & BW first. NOPE....black women allowed the Sons to get HYPED UP in "false race pride" directly connected to their Penises. SEXISM was not discouraged or challenged by Black Women. The community Altar was all bout **THE BLACK MAN** ---it was us women who foolishly assumed the BM automatically stood for the BW.

When WHITE WOMEN inserted "Feminism" to ensure their men recognized their wombs as crucial to the White man's survival, when White women announced they would create their own paradise without WHITE MEN.......the Black Woman SCOFFED at Feminism and claimed she was "already free" and her man loved her simply because the Bible (written by White people) was our proof of the importance of being a "Back bone." So from the 1930's to the 1960's, Black women did everything to become "The Back Bone" to the Black man.

We're the only race of women who DO NOT raise our sons to fetishize OUR race/color....and it goes all the way back to Africa when QUEENS led armies at Dahomey, in Ethiopia, in Sudan and countless tribal Kingdoms. African women have always did the fighting and coddled and babied their men.

These New Black Women in 2018 do not realize that we have a lot more work to do before we can sit down and "wait on" MEN (of any race) to do our bidding and protect our interests. That day is nowhere in sight!

Countless Black women have been shot in the face, unarmed & killed (Children too)....and the ONLY people who showed up to Protest were BLACK WOMEN. We don't have a choice....we HAVE TO congregate and march for each other's rights.

POLICE Brutality will only quadruple and the SILENT VICTIMS (Black Women & Black children) will become a routine event if BW "sit home" and say nothing....just because sorry ass BM aren't standing up for us.

From 2018 and beyond.....WE Black women will be forced to do the protecting, fighting and changing of the laws. OTHER RACES don't give a **** about our desire to be "Dainty & Pretty"....they don't give one ****. They are competing for resources and wealth to build up their groups. One fo their objectives is to wipe us out so that NO Black people (of any type) will exist.

What Black women had BETTER learn to do in all our lonely anger...is start producing a different type of SON (and yes, we will continue to be pregnant whether we're used as Paper Cups or not). Because a huge part of these "Baby & Coddle me" Black boys comes from their self-hating Black mothers who never raised them to be responsible and leadership material in the first place. Their hatred literally comes from Black women who didn't know HOW to teach their children love and valuation of Black women, because those dark black women hated themselves to being with.

LIFE AND THE WORLD are not going to stop just because Black women aren't protected or cared for. We will be forced, time and again, to secure a place in this world for ourselves and our children.

Some Black women have this ludicrous notion that WHITE MEN have a vested interest in saving Black women. Even a White man who loves you & his children with you.....cannot protect you from his Brothers, Cousins and Womenfolk who will eventually want you PURGED from the equation.

You're so delusional and ignorant if you believe simply marrying into & being part of the fabric of a White/Other family is going to protect and save you. Once they kill off our sorry ass Black men....we're next. I don't care if you're only 10% Black and look mostly White & beautiful; you are next once the real blacks are gone. WHITE SUPREMACY stands for something that Black people (and other beat down races) simply do not have. It stands for All-Might dominance and power by any means necessary. Something MALCOLM X tried to explain to us before fellow Blacks helped the CIA gun him down.

STOP DEMONIZING BLACK WOMEN ....for taking part in racial activism.

Thoughts ladies???

 

[Laela]

OT:
Just wanted to point out that - at the bolded - Justice Douglas wrote that "the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive."

Article 2 of the Constitution only draws one difference: that only ‘natural born’ citizens are eligible to be President. So, naturalized citizens have lots to lose as well...

Carry on...

Does she want open borders for her homeland?

She has no right to attempt to dictate what our immigration policy should be and she is not even a native born Black American, ya know, the group that stands a lot to lose from the insane open borders that the radical left and rich white business owners would love. It's obvious that she did this dumb stunt to go viral on social media. They should have left her up there and shut the Statue of Liberty down and then she would see it's not fun and games.

 

[Keen]

I sympathize but i’m not going to jail.

 

[intellectualuva]

OT:
Just wanted to point out that - at the bolded - Justice Douglas wrote that "the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive."

Article 2 of the Constitution only draws one difference: that only ‘natural born’ citizens are eligible to be President. So, naturalized citizens have lots to lose as well...

Carry on...

I thought that its come that she is neither naturalized nor native-born citizen. I saw that she could be deported and has been "avoiding ICE" for years.

 

[Laela]

^^^ thanks, I got that.. my post was more a PSA to the "natural born" ones.. lol

 

[momi]

I wonder what would have happened if they had just left her up there.

 

[dyh080]

OT:
Just wanted to point out that - at the bolded - Justice Douglas wrote that "the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive."

Article 2 of the Constitution only draws one difference: that only ‘natural born’ citizens are eligible to be President. So, naturalized citizens have lots to lose as well...

Carry on...

Yes I would think us "natural born" citizens learned that in 7th grade social studies.
I don't speak for all, but I THINK when we speak of different rights we are not referring to legal rights.
In my opinion anyone who volunteered to come here has no "right" to criticize what they find here.
Being here obviously must be better than the "hole" they abandoned.
Don't like it? Go back home.

 

[LivingInPeace]

Yes I would think us "natural born" citizens learned that in 7th grade social studies.
I don't speak for all, but I THINK when we speak of different rights we are not referring to legal rights.
In my opinion anyone who volunteered to come here has no "right" to criticize what they find here.
Being here obviously must be better than the "hole" they abandoned.
Don't like it? Go back home.

Does that apply only to immigration or should people not complain about anything they chose?

 

[dyh080]

Does that apply only to immigration or should people not complain about anything they chose?

ANYTHING that they consider United States related.

 

[LivingInPeace]

ANYTHING that they consider United States related.

So an immigrant to the U.S. has no right to complain about social and political issues in the United States because....

 

[dyh080]

1. They volunteered for whatever treatment, policies, laws, etc. they complain about. They didn't HAVE to come here.

2. Don't like it? You are free to return to you country of origin. Otherwise,

3. Instead of complaining, be grateful you are permitted to live here.

 

[LivingInPeace]

1. They volunteered for whatever treatment, policies, laws, etc. they complain about. They didn't HAVE to come here.

2. Don't like it? You are free to return to you country of origin. Otherwise,

3. Instead of complaining, be grateful you are permitted to live here.

That’s not how problems get solved and that’s not how humans operate in any sphere. That’s like saying if I start working at a company I have no right to complain or try to come up with solutions.

 

[Theresamonet]

OT:
Just wanted to point out that - at the bolded - Justice Douglas wrote that "the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive."

Article 2 of the Constitution only draws one difference: that only ‘natural born’ citizens are eligible to be President. So, naturalized citizens have lots to lose as well...

Carry on...

No one said that naturalized citizens don’t have equal rights. But most still have strong ties to and citizenship in their native lands. When it hits the fan here, y’all can go home. Black Americans are going down with this ship, because we have no where else to go. There are losses to be had all around, but it is not equal.

 

[HappilyLiberal]

I wonder what would have happened if they had just left her up there.

She would have had to figure out a way to get her butt down... or, maybe she would have fallen to her death!