What qualifications do I have to stand in the election for Commissioner of Coconut Creek?
PUBLIC SERVICE
I ran a program in the California Institute for Women, a prison just outside LA. It was for women serving life sentences, having murdered their partners and all victims of abuse. The program was based on my book When Loving Him Hurts. The women who completed my course got time off their sentences.
I was involved with a group of speakers in LA, The Muslim Womens Movement consisting of three Muslim women, I was the Jewish member. We gave talks all over LA to unite people from diverse backgrounds. As a result of the work we did, we were asked to participate in a music video, You Belong. This is the perfect message for my campaign as Commissioner. The song depicts my ideology of inclusiveness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDOYEvhgdFc
In LA, I was awarded the Soroptimist Ruby Award in 2017, “for all you have given back to the community.”
In the two years I have lived in Coconut Creek I have exposed how elderly residents are abused, treated with contempt, and dismissed and fought to protect them.
1. I fought for the residents who were going to be denied their elevator over the holidays. I protested with them and within minutes of Wynmoor staff seeing my involvement, the installation was delayed a few months.
2. I fought against denying residents the convenience of email when requesting documents and won.
3. I exposed and ended hiding of bids, violating state statutes by not providing more than one bid. In so doing, I protected wasting residents money.
4. For two years I have dedicated my time to protect Coconut Creek/Wynmoor residents from having their money mismanaged. This effort was so successful, it resulted in multiple investigations to protect the interests of Coconut Creek residents.
5. As a result of volunteering my time, the evidence I gathered was submitted to the city, who have appointed a retired Judge to investigate ethical and abuse of power issues as it pertains to Commissioner Railey.
6. I have exposed the denial of official records to residents which is a third-degree felony.
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
I grew up fighting injustice in South Africa. One of my achievements was challenging the government’s law of white only public swimming pools. The day I arranged for people from all the communities to swim in a public pool, was the day white only public pools ended in the country.
The Australian Jewish Times recently printed an article about my parents. They were mentioned as prominent Jews in South Africa who stood against the Aparheid regime. My father, who was mayor of Johannesburg during the 1976 riots was the first mayor who defied Apartheid and invited Black people to the mayoral chamber. Up until then, a Black person had never been invited to the mayoral office. My parents never had a function without people from all the communities in South Africa.
My mother was a Shakespearean actress and was the first white woman to act with a Black man on stage. This had to be done in secret. My mother was also a member of The Black Sash, a group of women who protested regularly against the Apartheird regime. My mother often monitored court cases because Black people never got a fair trial. I grew up with our phones tapped. My mother was nearly killed when the engine of her car was tampered with after she monitored the famous Delmas Treason trial. Her car crashed on the freeway driving back from the trial.
My family were friends with Mandela, my uncle was Mandela’s physician, and my mother and I used to drive the 1000 miles from Johannesburg to our holiday home in Cape Town each year to visit Winnie who was banished to a town in the middle of nowhere. Mandela was allowed to do one credit a year for university when he was on Robbin Island. He would pass messages to my mother about books he needed via Winnie. My mother would then tell Helen Suzman who was the only person in parliament against the Apartheid government who brought him the books. She was allowed to visit him.
My cousin was in the ANC when it was banned. She was constantly on the run from the secret police and was eventually caught. She served eight months in solitary. Her brother, a doctor, was arrested for removing a bullet from a Black man who was shot by the police. My family managed to get him out of the coutry and he came to live in the US.
Oliver Tambo was the head of the ANC when Mandela was in prison. He manged to get out of the country with his family before getting arrested. When Apartheid was abolished and he returned to South Africa, his daughter Tembi Tambo and I met and became great friends. We were appalled by the way women were treated in the alimony courts.They lined up as early as 4am to collect their money garnished from their ex-husbands. The men who worked in the courts often stole it. Tembi and I were determined to expose and end it. Our determination resulted in getting the first television show for women by women called Backchat. Tembi later became the Ambassador to Italy and England.
I helped elect Tony Leon to parliament who later became the leader of the Democratic Party. Tony credited me with his victory in his book.
When I moved to Coconut Creek and became aware of how residents are treated in Wynmoor, the strand of my DNA that is allergic to injustce got to work. Only transparency and accuntabilty is acceptable, qualities my oppononent lacks. I am standing to protect the residents of Coconut Creek. Whether it is from elder abuse, or subjecting them to the expansion of the Turnpike or the expansion of Mount Trashmore. I will fight to protect them with the same vigor I fought against Apartheid.
