Philipa Ryan has died. She was a Gitksan woman, from around New Hazelton in BC. She lived in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. She was a warrior and a feminist. All women were important to her, no one more or less than another. She volunteered at the Dugout, a drop-in centre in the downtown core, and at the Downtown Eastside women’s centre, and worked with Grassroots Women, a gang of activist feminists fighting for (among other things), an end to prostitution, freedom for women, an end to male domination. That’s what Phillipa wanted. too. She believed that we could achieve it, too. she knew that we white women profited from the degradation of her people and their lands, but she also knew that we are all enmeshed in systems of male domination. We need each other. She was kind, generous, and disciplined. she knew a lot. she had suffered. She was deeply politicized and compassionate, and she didn’t take no shit, either. she never raised her voice when she was angry. she was always angry. and she laughed with her whole body. Phillipa. I can’t imagine a world without her in it.
So long as we remember her, she is still in the world.
An empty spot, though. there’s and empty spot here now…
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