Dorli Rainey, a self-described “old lady in combat boots” who turned an emblem of the Occupy protest motion when she was photographed after being pepper-sprayed by Seattle police, has died. She was 95.
The longtime political activist died on Aug. 12, the Seattle Times reported. Her daughter, Gabriele Rainey, informed the newspaper her mother was “so active because she loved this country, and she wanted to make sure that the country was good to its people.”
Rainey was a fixture within the native progressive motion for many years, demonstrating for racial justice, reasonably priced housing and public transit, and in opposition to battle, nuclear weapons and large banks.
In November 2011, within the early days of the Occupy Wall Street motion, Rainey, then 84, joined protesters in blocking downtown intersections. She was hit when Seattle police used pepper spray to clear the gang.
Fellow protesters poured milk over her face to ease the sting, and a seattlepi.com photographer, Joshua Trujillo, captured a surprising picture of her staring defiantly into the digital camera, her eyes purple and milk dripping off her face.
The photograph grow to be a worldwide image for the protest motion. She was profiled by The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Associated Press and The Guardian.
“It’s a gruesome picture,” she informed the AP. “I’m really not that bad looking.”
Then-Mayor Mike McGinn apologized and ordered a evaluate of the incident. Rainey was again out protesting a pair days later.
“Dorli is legendary, and deservedly so, for her activism,” McGinn mentioned Friday. “She was just omnipresent and a conscience and a voice for change, and I deeply, deeply, deeply respected her.”
Rainey was born in Austria in 1926. She was a Red Cross nurse after which labored in Europe as a technical translator for the U.S. Army for 10 years. She married Max Rainey, a civil engineer who received a job with Boeing, they usually moved to the Seattle space in 1956.
She labored as a court-appointed particular advocate, representing youngsters who’ve skilled abuse or neglect, and as a real-estate agent. She served on the Issaquah School Board and ran for King County Council a half-century in the past, and she or he made a short run for Seattle mayor in 2009.
She had three youngsters, Gabriele, of Asheville, North Carolina; Michael, of Boston; and Andrea, who died in 2014. She was additionally preceded in loss of life by her husband, Max.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”