Activist Viola Plummer dies at age 86

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Activist and chairperson of the December 12th Movement Viola Plummer has died. Her passing was announced on Monday, January 15, 2024. She was 86.

“This evening it is with a heavy heart that we announce the Black Liberation Movement’s loss of one of its most resolute and determined leaders, Cde. Viola Plummer, chairperson of the December 12th Movement,” a statement said.

A longtime civil and human rights activist, Plummer previously served as chief of staff to Brooklyn Assemblyman and City Council Member Charles Barron.

When Plummer’s passing was announced on social media, former Congresswoman and 2008 Green Party Presidential Nominee Cynthia McKinney commented, “WE ARE LOSING GIANTS; ARE WE CREATING MORE? Viola Plummer Joins the Ancestors.”

In a 2016 interview with the AmNews, Plummer said she had been a freedom fighter since 1954 and always believed that “our people should unite as one against our oppressors.”

At the age of 17, she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after witnessing what she called a racist, unjustified act by the United Nations.

“I didn’t just want to be a witness, I wanted to be a part of the movement,” she said. Her activism led to her involvement with the Urban League, the Black Panthers, the Sunrise Collective, the African Information Service, and the New York 8+.

In 1986, along with Sonny Abubadika Carson and many other activists, Plummer created the December 12th Movement (D12). After Carson died in 2002, Plummer became the head of the organization.

As a New York City-based human rights organization, D12 has been predominant in the fight to end sanctions against Zimbabwe, they lead the annual May 19 “Shut Em Down” marches in Harlem to celebrate Malcolm X’s birthday, and D12 took part in the historic United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Their record of attendance at the WCAR is recorded in the film “Durban 400.”

“She was a force among us! Loved her fiercely,” said an impassioned Zayid Muhammad of the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee. “In our bold reclamation of Malcolm’s legacy from the grassroots over the last 30-plus years, she was one of our fiercest warrior queens… From the epic fight to Save the Audubon, to our stepping to Spike Lee, to the shutdowns of 125th street, to reclaiming our voices in the international human rights arena, and to the practice of Pan Africanism in its most radical expression, Viola was boldly out front on all of those points of challenges!”

Muhammad recalled a time when he worked as Plummer’s bodyguard: “My proudest confrontational moment was when the police attacked a May 19th march back in ’92 we did to the UN. Big demo: several thousand easy. I’m trying keep to her behind me but she jumped out from behind me and tried to physically engage the situation.  I had to pull her back and ‘engage’ for real. I and a number of others got taken in, but they didn’t get Vi… Not on my watch… Totally fearless; loved her dearly.”

“I am so glad that through the 62 years of being a freedom fighter, I meet people who still have the same views as me,” Plummer told the AmNews back in 2016. “It is important for our young people to know that you have to fight for justice, and that they, too, have a role to play in securing our rights for self-determination.”

Memorial donations can be made to Harriet Tubman Fannie Lou Hamer and sent to Harriet Tubman Fannie Lou Hamer c/o Sistas’ Place 456 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11216 or through CashApp at $htflh. For further information call 718-398-1766 and check the website D12m.com.