She seems to be everywhere, this crusader for many causes.
You may not know her name, but surely you’ve seen her.
Dallas-born Olinka Green has been organizing, protesting and challenging power brokers and elected officials for decades. Now more and more, her status is rising as a speaker and organizer in various cities for such issues as environmental justice, women’s equity and domestic safety, civil rights, police-community relations and reducing gang violence.
You might as well say that anywhere there is a need for a voice from the people. Green is ready and willing to step out and speak up.
Recently, I sat down with Green for a conversation about her life as an in-demand activist and speaker and her evolution from a frightened preschooler growing up in underserved Dallas communities where drugs, violence and dysfunction were common.
“There were people in my family that were toxic and did not know how to nurture,” Green said. “But it is important for me to stress that the core people around me did the best they knew how, and I am grateful to them.”
Green got involved with community activism as a 15-year-old high-schooler in 1984. Students were helping to sign up West Dallas residents for lead poisoning tests during an environmental controversy. In 1991, at age 21, she cut her teeth in earnest as one of the few female members of Dallas’ New Black Panther Party.
She said something had stirred in her as she watched broadcasts repeatedly show Los Angeles police violently beating intoxicated Rodney King during his arrest for speeding and fleeing. Caught on a neighbor’s home video camera, the beating set off a national firestorm of protests. In Dallas, Green attended a Panther-sponsored community meeting about the beating and became hooked on the group’s purpose and energy. She signed up and soon got her first Panther uniform: black pants and shirt, black high-top boots, black beret, and Panther pin on her shirt.
“I was booted and suited!” she said, remembering her excitement. “I was happy!”
Hearing Green recall various traumas from her childhood and young adult years — all due to bad behavior by adults and abusive mates — it’s hard to reconcile that image of brokenness with the confident advocate she is today. Green now visits different cities with advocacy groups, talking about issues and sharing her survivor’s stories. Still, she insists, the good outweighed the bad and served a purpose. Asked to recall a searing memory, she said quietly:
“At age 4, watching my mama shoot needles in her arm. ... And watching adults in the room cook heroin.”
Her mother’s older sister, whom Green called “Big Mama,” raised Green and her sister with Big Mama’s own three offspring. Green’s mother spent more than 30 years in and out of prison on various drug charges and died a week after her final release in 2000. In grade school, Green said she felt out of place among kids from more stable families. At one point, she said, she ran away and lived with her father, who worked but also was a hustler and dice player.
By the time Green joined the New Black Panther Party in Dallas at age 21, the former little girl who once wanted to be a ballerina had had her own experiences being arrested and serving time. She had gotten pregnant, dropped out of high school and had a second child through an abusive union. She left that relationship and later got into a physical dispute with a couple who wanted to keep her two small sons from her while she was struggling as a single parent in a shelter. Ultimately sentenced to seven months for fighting the couple — and police — she put the time to use by earning a GED.
“I could see my life going down just like my Mama’s,” Green said. “I started getting my life together.”
After her release, she worked a series of odd jobs and stumbled upon the New Black Panther Party meeting. She immersed herself in community organizing and wore her uniform while attending almost nonstop meetings about civil rights and police-community relations.
U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, at the time a Texas state senator, was impressed by Green’s speaking at one meeting and became a mentor.
“She said she saw something in me,” said Green, who in time got better training and better jobs. Along the way, the New Black Panther Party dissolved. But Green has never wavered from her commitment to activism.
Last month, she helped lead various environmental justice and women’s equity activities in Dallas, including a Nov. 26 bus tour of local sites facing ecological threats and a Nov. 23 forum about police violence against black women. In recent times, she has spoken in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Chicago. And she plans to attend a big environmental rally on the National Mall in June.
But with all her activism, her primary goal always is being a positive example for her three grandchildren.
“Looking back, some toxic grown-ups would tell me, ‘You have bad blood.’ That haunted me,” Green recalled. Later, she said, “I learned my existence is not a thing to be ashamed of because a toxic grown-up says so. ... Love your babies. Protect them. They will one day grow up to be someone special. Just like me.”
To learn more, contact Green at oyinkagee09@gmail.com or call 214-625-2970.
ABOUT TOWN: Panel discussions, a plenary session and a keynote speaker will explore human trafficking at a conference of the North Texas Cluster of The Links Inc. from 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 11 at the University of North Texas at Dallas, 7300 University Hills Blvd. Participants will include educators, social workers, law enforcement and faith groups. Retired state Rep. Helen Giddings will chair the conference that aims to help the public know how to recognize and report human trafficking. To learn more, call 214-943-1068.
