Chestnut Hill woman arrested during healthcare demonstration in Washington, D.C.

Posted 8/3/17

Hiller Andrea Koplove was arrested during a healthcare protest in Washington D.C. by Linda Kreiger Andrea Koplove, 42, of Chestnut Hill, was hardly a slouch when it came to political engagement. She …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Chestnut Hill woman arrested during healthcare demonstration in Washington, D.C.

Posted

Hiller Andrea Koplove was arrested during a healthcare protest in Washington D.C.

by Linda Kreiger

Andrea Koplove, 42, of Chestnut Hill, was hardly a slouch when it came to political engagement. She paid attention to politics and attended the Washington Women’s March, the March to Save Our Care in late June in D.C., a vigil for healthcare in Philadelphia and, occasionally, Tuesday’s with Toomey.

But until July 19, the former Philadelphia public defender had never intentionally committed civil disobedience and invited arrest. Here’s how it happened that an upper middle class mother of three came to be arrested earlier this month:

It started when Andrea developed a friendship with someone from an adult education class in Philadelphia. The friend told her that people were needed to protest the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Washington, D.C.

“I thought long and hard about it,” said Koplove, a slightly built woman with shoulder length black hair and a shy smile. “I decided to do it. Part of the reason was that I had gone to Sen. Toomey’s (Philadelphia) office when Rev. William Barber spoke.

“Rev. Barber stages Moral Mondays in North Carolina. He’s a powerful speaker and an amazing person. He asked whether we would stand with adults and children who are sick and disabled. Will we stand with the most vulnerable among us? He invited us to put our bodies on the line for one another. So I did.”

Andrea went to Washington on July 19, knowing she would likely be arrested. There were two buses, she explained, one for people who had to be back in Philadelphia at 6 p.m. and the other for people who were willing to be delayed, either by being arrested or standing in support of those arrested.

All 500 protesters from all 50 states met at St. Mark’s Church in Washington and listened to speeches by people who believe that health care is a human right. The protesters visited every Republican senatorial office. Pennsylvania protesters were partnered with Kentucky’s.

“We had a huge group of people walking to the Senate Office Building,” she said. “People in the front were walking too fast. ‘We’re all going to slow down,’ said a man from Kentucky. ‘We’re all a part of what we’re doing.’ At that moment I kind of calmed down and said, ‘Okay, I’m doing this.’

“We went through metal detectors. We could hear that one group had already started the protest. It echoes. It’s so loud in there. We couldn’t get through where we needed to go because a protest was being cleared by police, who would go from office to office arresting people.”

Finally, they got to Senator Toomey’s office.

“There were about 80 in our group.,” Koplove said. “A couple of people went inside to speak to the Senator. Staffers said he’s not here. In the hallway, one person would share their story. My name is so and so. I live in Philadelphia. I’m a grandmother who’s been living with HIV for 23 years. We would repeat their story sentence by sentence very loudly.

“Eventually, the Capital police came and asked us to clear out. The majority backed away, and we sat down and linked arms in front of his office. At some point we started chanting ‘shame’ over and over. It felt like the floor was vibrating. This went on in front of Sen. Toomey’s office for 30-35 minutes. They started arresting us. They put zip ties on your wrists behind your back. All told, about 175 people got arrested. Of the 70 people from Philadelphia, 18 were arrested. Capital staffers thanked us for doing this as we were being taken out and there was so much media.

“They took us outside the office building to a grassy field and patted us down. “We were put into wagons, eight of us in a wagon. I have never ever been so hot in my life. There was no air. For me, that was the worst of it. They transported us to a warehouse. It wasn’t a jail. They had chairs set out. They had a lot of Capital police to process us. We were charged with crowding, obstructing and incommoding (to incommode is to inconvenience or disturb). Every person who was released paid a fine of $50.

“My experience was that the police were professional,” she continued. “A few of them actually told us they agreed with what we’re doing. I was there for maybe four hours until 8 p.m.. A grandmother from Philadelphia was released at midnight. A few were held over for resisting arrest. Charges were dropped for all those people. When we got out, everyone who supported us was waiting across the street with food. I was told that the senators from Vermont provided the pizzas. We waited for the bus and got back to Philadelphia at 3 a.m.”

Andrea’s husband is a banker who supports her political work and regularly attends Tuesdays with Toomey.

“He took off from work so I could go,” she said. “It was my 4-year-old daughter’s camp visiting day.”

Andrea’s mother, supportive but nervous for her, helped with Andrea’s son’s travel baseball game.

“I’m not done,” Andrea said of her political activity. “I don’t know if and when I’ll engage in civil disobedience again. The biggest take away for me was how connected I felt to everyone who was there sharing their stories. If it hurts one of us, it hurts all of us. We have to move out of our comfort zone and stand up.

“I’m not advocating that everyone get arrested. I believe in doing what you’re able to do. I was always someone who cared, “but I wasn’t an activist.”

Maybe she was not an activist by her own definition, but Andrea plans to canvass in Upper Darby to help people get elected to the school board “so we can change the political landscape of Pennsylvania from the ground up.”

“I see myself doing that in the near future,” she said. “I’m working on a project called Turn PA Blue to help change the balance of power in the state legislature.”

This is what democracy looks like.

Andrea Koplove serves on the Steering Committee and Linda Kriger is chair of the Free Press working group of Indivisible Northwest Philly. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/IndivisiblePhiladelphiaNorthwest/

news