Iris Canada Passes from Our Hearts to Our Memories in San Francisco
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| An inspiration and the picture of health, just last November, Iris Canada votes in the presidential election, after an Eviction Notice on her door in September sent her to the hospital. |
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San Francisco-News of 100 Year Old San Franciscan Iris Canada's death this past Saturday hit the airwaves, Internet and papers...I received a call today from a radio host and columnist giving me the news I was not prepared for...and I ask myself why not? What did I expect? I immediately called Iris Merriouns, her namesake and niece and had a very short conversation...She confirmed she had passed.
"I guess she just gave up, said Merriouns. "She asked me on Thursday did Peter have her things? I had been keeping the lock out from her, but she knew something was wrong. I finally said yes."
A month after being evicted and locked out of her apartment, in little over 48 hours after being told her lifetime of possessions had been moved, Ms. Canada passed from this life. Mahalia Jackson's "Trouble of this World," came to mind.
That song that was also in "The Imitation of Life" defined the moment for me...as I wanted to cry for so many reasons, but I listened to Iris Merriouns, a strong Black woman who stood by a strong Black woman to the end. If she could be composed while talking about the fact that her aunt was locked out of the Page Street Apartment not having access to medication that resulted in her being rushed to the emergency room because her heart rate could not be brought down and now not having the life insurance papers that were among Ms. Canada's things that were moved without notice, who was I to breakdown. But at some point, its important to grieve to move on, but not to be overcome as
God's word inspires.
San Francisco poet Tony Robles, within moments of my speaking to Ms. Merriouns about Ms. Canada's passing sent me and others this lamentation...
You killed Iris Canada. You poisoned the trees that greeted her in the morning with your toxic real estate speculator cloud. You killed her with your smile in court, pretending to care about her, treating her like a child saying "We want what's best for you". You killed her by filing that Ellis Act eviction and thinking she'd let you roll over her. You killed her when you thought she couldn't see through what you were doing. You killed Iris with your stares and glances from both near and far, as if she were a flea on a dog. You killed Iris with your photo-op in front of the courthouse while the sheriff's looked on. You killed iris from afar in your safe hometowns with absences of color and your many choices while those choices are subsidized by the rest of us. You killed Iris when you were asked to lift a finger to help but were held down by paperweights. (
Click Here for Complete Elegy)
Ms. Canada dies during "Women's History Month!"
What can be said? Surely there could have been a more humanitarian solution to the Iris Canada case...Surely!
News of Ms. Canada's passing:
Vigil from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, 2017
From February 18, 2017...
On KGO Radio, Iris Merriouns Namesake for 100 Year Old Iris Canada Evicted and Locked Out of Her Home of over 50 Years...
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Iris Merriouns speaks with media on behalf of aunt in April 2016 after court proceedings.
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Days after losing a battle that has your frail elderly relative virtually out on the streets, can't Imagine the emotional control it takes to deal with the pressure of a live-talk show radio interview under the circumstances of having defended for two years your mother's aunt after your mother's death.
On Friday, February 10th, bottom line, Iris Canada had no home of her own to go to, after paying monthly rent without missing a beat since 1965. After paying for a Life Estate (it wasn't given to her as accounts have indicated in the past and that point was not brought out in the interview), Ms. Canada is now locked away from the address that gives her access to San Francisco based medical services and according to Iris Merriouns she has not been allowed to go in the home and get the medications her aunt needs now. Listen to Brian Copeland's interview of Iris Merriouns. "The devils in the details"...and I add "the devil's in the actions"... The fact that the family wasblindsided with court proceedings and Merriouns says the documents for condo-conversion had "alternative facts" stating Iris Canada lived in Texas among other inaccurate things, I could see why their attorney counseled them not to sign papers that would leave Canada unprotected.
Where is the San Francisco Mayor's initiatives to stop the out-migration of African Americans in this and other unnoticed cases? What is or has been done other than produce rhetoric about African Americans leaving San Francisco? Why couldn't parties have been brought together to create a new document ensuring Ms. Canada's protection and allowing Owen's to have the signature he wants for condo-conversion?
Peter Owens and Carolyn Radisch spoke on Brian Copeland's Show, on Thursday, February 16, 2017.
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