Sam, Dolly, and Gloria - ¡Presente! - Poster of the Week
R. SAMUEL PAZ
(1943-2026)
To Protect and Serve the Rich Jail the Homeless
Mark Vallen
Silkscreen, 1987
Los Angeles, CA
3330
Sam Paz was a lawyer for the people. After serving in the Navy in the 1960s, he attended UCLA and received his JD degree from the University of Southern California Law School in 1974. A lifelong fighter for human rights and justice, he won numerous victories against police agencies for violations of civil liberties and civil rights.
In 1978, as a principal member of an ACLU litigation team, Sam obtained a substantial monetary award and injunction against the Los Angeles Police Department for illegally infiltrating and spying on community and political organizations. He successfully sued the LAPD and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for unjustified shooting deaths of local citizens. His efforts forced policy changes in the California Youth Authority following the failure of the CYA to provide suitable care that resulted in two juvenile suicides.
Sam lectured widely on human rights, including Europe and Israel. In 1994, then President Clinton nominated Sam to a seat on the federal bench, but a conservative Senate blocked his confirmation because of Sam’s strong and uncompromising stand on behalf of justice for all. Sam met his beloved wife and partner Sonia Mercado in 1992 when she reached out to Sam to help in a civil rights case addressing inmates' right to medical care. Together, they successfully obtained numerous published opinions regarding the rights of the incarcerated to reasonable security.
Among Sam’s numerous honors are: the Honorable Robert W. Kenney Award from the National Lawyers Guild; the Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award from the American Civil Liberties Union; the USC Law School’s Inspirational Alumnus Award presented by La Raza Law Students;;and, co-honored with Sonia, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics’ Culture of Liberation Award presented by Aris Anagnos and Dolores Huerta in 2013.
Our world is smaller without Sam, and our challenges are greater, but our fight continues!
Sam Paz
¡Presente!
DOLLY PARTON
(1946-2026)
Dolly Parton Could Have Written the Communist Manifesto
Brittney Gorelick; Zygote Press
Letterpress, 2022
Cleveland, OH
Last week, Dolly Parton, queen of country music and great unifier of humankind,
died at 80. Parton was not only an extremely talented and prolific song writer–with over 3,000 songs in her catalog–but one of the single most magnanimous people of the past century.
Though she resisted giving herself political labels, Parton's impact on the world was definitely political. Two of her overtly political songs include her 1980 cover of Woody Guthrie’s 1948 “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” showing solidarity with immigrants. It has become even more timely today. Her song "9 to 5" raised awareness of sexual harassment at the workplace more than a decade before it was raised by Anita Hill.
To name a few acts of generosity:
She was a huge advocate and supporter for reading and literacy. By 2024, 1 in children under the age of 5 in the U.S. received a free book in the mail each month from her Imagination Library program.
She reduced the dropout rate in her home county from 35% to 6% with her Buddy Program which gave $500 to every seventh and eighth grader who finished high school. She also gave a $500 scholarship to any Sevier County, Tennessee graduate who wanted to attend Hiwassee College.
She used some of her royalties from Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” to invest in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Nashville.
She raised $1 million dollars to open a new hospital and cancer center in Sevier County in 2007 and opened the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services in 2010.
In 2016, Parton raised $13 million in a telethon after the devastating East Tennessee wildfires and gave $1,000 a month for six months to families whose homes were destroyed. Her support still helps residents pay for rent and utilities, food, and mental health.
In 2017, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital.
In 2020, she donated $1 million to coronavirus research which helped fund Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
She raised $700,000 to help residents hit by catastrophic flooding in Middle Tennessee in October 2021.
And she openly expressed love and support for everyone, no matter how controversial: trans people, the Black Lives Matter movement, people struggling with addiction, and people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
No matter how many times she expressed support for a community under attack, she remained impervious to the hate and vitriol commonly used against the marginalized. Her genuine kindness and generosity offered us all hope that, through the darkness, we can all find a way back to each other.
Dolly Parton
¡Presente!
GLORIA STEINEM
(1934-2026)
We Women Refuse
Lisa Link
Offset, circa 1990
West Roxbury, MA
80968
Full Text:
“"We Are Marching Here To Ask, "Is The Supreme Court Going To Affirm That Women Are Full Citizens And Not Property?" Gloria Steinem, Washington D.C., April 10, 1989
"We Women Refuse To Let Ourselves Be Regarded As Baby Machines ... Our Slogan Is Not Back Into The Family Resolution Of The Second Reich's Women's Conference, Germany, March 1931
Gloria Steinem, journalist, activist, and a leading figure of the women’s liberation movement, died this week at age 92. Steinem was a tour de force for second-wave feminism and a fierce advocate for abortion rights. Steinem was co-founder of Ms. magazine, National Women’s Political Caucus, Women’s Action Alliance, Women’s Media Center, and Choice USA.
While Steinem did not spark the second-wave feminist movement, she was one of the most famous feminists. Her mix of charisma and a commitment to building relationships and friendships beyond non-middle class, white women–including Florynce Kennedy, Shirley Chisholm, Wilma Mankiller, bell hooks, and Devaki Jain–helped explode the popularity of women’s liberation values in the 1970s.
Steinem also supported the civil rights and Black liberation movements and was a critic of the Viet Nam War. She was arrested for protesting South African apartheid, opposed the 1991 Gulf War, linked arms with 10,000 Korean women at the DMZ to urge for the reunification of Korea, and in recent decades expressed unequivocal support for the trans community. Throughout her life as an activist, she pushed for solidarity and community-led movements for justice. Feminist consciousness would not be where it is today without her tireless labor.
Gloria Steinem
¡Presente!
References:
Sam Paz
Dolly Parton
Gloria Steinem
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