In May 2006, Advocating Change Together  (ACT) received a Minnesota State Grant to fund Remembering With Dignity.  The $275,000 grant will continue the effort to provide human dignity and recognition for all the people buried anonymously in unmarked graves at state hospital cemeteries.

There are approximately 12,500 numbered or unmarked graves in Minnesota state hospital cemeteries.  Of these, Remembering With Dignity has already marked 2500 graves from two previous state grants.  Slated for improvement in this current grant are cemeteries in St. Peter, Rochester and Hastings.  In St. Peter, 800 of the 2600 graves received a named headstone in 2004.  Plans are to install another 420 in St. Peter, and begin the work in the other two communities, with 500 in Rochester and 300 in Hastings.

Advocating Change Together was able to bring back Community Organizer Jim Fassett-Carman to implement the grant and bring the project back up to speed.

Richard Mathison was quite correct when he said at Remembering With Dignity’s 10^th anniversary celebration in 2004,  “I have learned that the legislature does not act very fast.  But I have also learned that if we dream a little and then speak up, we can change things for the better.”  (Richard Mathison’s quote continues below, in italics)

Minnesotans should be glad that their legislators realize that an injustice was done here are willing to act to improve the state hospital cemeteries, by recognizing people with disabilities with their names and dates of birth and death and no longer as just a number.  The last state appropriation was in 2001 and we hope that the legislature will step up the pace of funding for this project.

The current funding for the project was appropriated at the end of the legislative session in May of 2005.  Ten months later, in March of 2006, requests for proposals were announced, and only now, June, are the funds being made available.

“This project is important to me because it has given me a voice.  It has given me an opportunity to speak up for the civil rights for people with disabilities.  Look around, all the graves you see are here are people, people like me, and you.  There are over 12,000 unmarked graves across Minnesota”.

Thanks to both Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the House Ways and Means Committee and to Sen. Keith Langseth, Chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee for their work on the 2005 bonding bill.  The 2005 legislative session ended with a state bonding bill, which included funding of $300,000 for state hospital cemetery restorations.  This was great news!

“For most of history people with disabilities were not treated with respect.  It hurts to be discriminated against.  If this was a group of veterans, or any other group of people, do you think they would still have numbered graves?  Remembering With Dignity has been asking the legislature year after year for an apology for the way people were treated in state institutions.  We are still waiting.” 

ACT had been providing the funding for a community organizer and covering the costs of events taking place around the state.  As the Department of Human Services (DHS) delayed releasing the appropriation, the prospect of finding funds to do all the research, oversight, administration and organizing to continue the Dignity project with ACT as the main financial supporter could not be sustained.  The work on Remembering With Dignity slowed way down.

“We have been working for 10 years and in that time have done a lot of public speaking, done a lot of research, and have placed over 2500 named headstones in Faribault, Willmar, Cambridge and St. Peter.  We still have more to do to finish the cemeteries in St. Peter, and there are groups in Hastings and Rochester who want to get going on cemeteries in their area.”

Finally, in March 2006, a Request for Proposals from DHS, in the amount of $275,000, was announced.  ACT submitted a proposal and was awarded the grant in May.  We are glad to say that the project is moving forward once again with self-advocate leadership.

“Thank you to everyone who has worked on this project.  And we are not stopping here; join us as we move forward.” (Conclusion of Richard Mathison’s remarks)

Also in 2005, we were successful with legislation for changing the name of the cemetery in Cambridge to “Garden of Remembrance”.  This legislation passed quite easily in both houses.

Plans for the 2007 legislative session include:

• Seek an apology from the state legislature and/or the governor for the treatment of people in the past institutionalized in Minnesota state institutions.

• Revise current law regarding county funerals to prevent the continued burial of people in unmarked graves.
• Continue the improvement of state institution cemeteries.  Appropriate funding for named headstones, cemetery maintenance and public access, and ensuring disability leadership in this process.

If you have questions, it is likely others you now have questions about voting as well.  Remembering With Dignity has self-advocates who are trained and willing to help you and your group understand the voting process and get registered to vote.  We can answer questions about guardianship issues, absentee voting, filling out the forms and the procedure on Election Day. 

You can vote. Everyone can vote. 

Call us.   Arrange for a short voter registration presentation and get registered to vote. 

If you would like a voting toolkit, Advocating Change Together has a complete get-out-the-vote kit “Community Power Vote”, for voter registration and empowering your group.  This kit gives you everything you need to lead workshops or training sessions to get out the vote in November.