Activist Viola Plummer dies at age 86

Activist and Chairperson of the December 12th Movement Viola Plummer has died. Her passing was announced on Monday. She was 86.

“This evening it is with a heavy heart that we announce the Black Liberation Movement’s loss of one of its most resolute and determined leaders, Cde. Viola Plummer, Chairperson of the December 12th Movement,” a statement said.

A longtime civil rights activist, Plummer previously served as chief of staff to Brooklyn Assemblyman and City Council Member Charles Barron.

Plummer said she had been a freedom fighter since 1954, and always believed that “our people should unite as one against our oppressors.”

At the age of 17, she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after witnessing what she calls a racist unjustified act by the United Nations.

“I didn’t just want to be a witness, I wanted to be a part of the movement,” she said.

In 1986, along with Sonny Abubadika Carson and many other activists, Plummer created The December 12th Movement. After Carson’s death in 2002, Plummer became the head of the organization.

“I am so glad that through the 62 years of being a freedom fighter, I meet people who still have the same views as me,” Plummer told the AmNews in 2016. “It is important for our young people to know that you have to fight for justice, and that they, too, have a role to play in securing our rights for self-determination.”