Before embarking on our trip to Albany, I was unsure of how we were going to be effective. I thought with so many people on the trip, someone would get lost or it would move rather slowly with lots of people and wheelchairs to move around. When we arrived in Albany though, I was amazed by the cohesiveness of our whole group to get off the bus, unload all of the wheelchairs and start the Action immediately. Moving at such a rapid pace, I feared that I would get lost throughout the labyrinth of the Empire State Plaza. However, I learned quickly that the cohesiveness of the group did not end with the unloading of the buses, but continued throughout our whole Action in Albany. There were people from our group strategically placed throughout the Plaza directing and helping the whole group to ensure everyone arrived in the governor’s office.

Once we arrived in the waiting room for Governor Paterson’s office, I realized that we had accumulated more people; our group of 80 had grown into at least 150. Our bright orange shirts were now accompanied by blue shirts, white shirts and everyday clothing. All of these people were here for the same reason: to protest against the six percent budget cut to independent living centers and homecare. To see the amount of people who truly cared about these cuts had a huge impact on me. It was no longer just “a work thing” to me, it became something more. I had always agreed that independent living centers are important and desperately need the funding they receive, and I had also agreed that homecare was especially important to individuals, but I had no idea how many individuals were impacted by these cuts. To hear about the numbers of people affected is one thing, but to actually see the people is a whole different story.

Once I had a full grasp of the impact our group was making, I became filled with ambition to make everyone else feel the power of our group. I began leading a chant, trying to get this mass of people, who had been chanting for a good hour already, even more energized. The experience of leading the chant was enthralling. By the end of our chant, the organization of our group was revealed once again when troops of orange shirts charged in with what seemed like endless bags of McDonald’s. If anyone else was as hungry as I was at this point, they might have also thought about pouncing on those bags of food to make certain that they would not miss out on eating. However, rather than seeing a stampede of protesters mauling each other for their share of McDonalds, we all passed around bags of food ensuring that each person received a burger and fries.

After lunch, we decided to move and reassemble our group into a more imposing area. We moved from chanting in the waiting room to chanting in the hall right outside of the “restricted” area that led to Paterson’s office. While we chanted outside of the glass doors, we watched as security and state troopers stared back at us, clearly uncertain of their next move. The troopers demanded that there be a clear path throughout the hall and on the stairway where people were holding a banner that read “Stop the Cuts Now!” I was amused by our groups’ compliance with these demands. Bruce asked the people on the stairs to move one step over, enough room for one person to walk through, and then created a zigzag path through the crowd of wheelchairs and standing protesters. I saw that even if we were complying with police orders, we could still be defiant.

As we continued our chanting outside of the doors, I turned my head to see that the stairs had filled with many onlookers that included the press, along with State Senators and other governmental dignitaries. The viewers watched as we chanted, and eventually, as one dignitary decided to enter through the doors that we were blocking, we were able to hold the door open long enough to create a massive struggle between our group and the troopers attempting to keep us at bay. My passion to get in those doors grew as I watched the troopers use physical force against my fellow protesters. As the troopers attempted to move our power chairs back, I continued to push forward. We were not giving up, that was for certain. After several minutes of struggling, a compromise was finally made: they would allow two people in to represent our group, as long as the rest of our group brought down the noise level and moved back into the waiting room. This was our first step toward victory.

In the following hours we sang quietly, waiting to hear back from those allowed to pass through the restricted glass doors. We then heard that they were allowing a small group to meet with the Governor himself. When the meeting came to an end, our representatives came to the waiting room and delivered the news to us. They told us what they had talked about and the Governors reactions. At the end of the day, we do not know if the cuts to independent living centers and homecare will be stopped, but we do know that as a group, we were able to meet with the Governor and be heard for nearly an hour, which in itself, is quite a feat.

I have heard the chant “How do you spell power? A-D-A-P-T” many times, but during the Action in Albany, I found out how we define our power. Our power lies in our ability to act and produce an effect. We acted in Albany with unbound enthusiasm and produced the effect of meeting with the Governor. That is power. Our power can be attributed to our unified, organized effort and to our passion for civil liberties and human rights for everyone. Most of all, I think our power can be attributed to our compassion and caring for one another. After completing my first action, I can truly say that I am proud to be a part of that power.