Dorothy Dixon Memorial
On January 31, 2008, Dorothy Dixon was found dead in the home she shared with five others in Alton, Illinois. She had been burned, beaten and starved to death. She had a developmental disability, was pregnant with her second child, and was 29 years old. Dorothy was also a woman of color. Six people were charged with torturing her to death, including another woman with a developmental disability. The initial cause of the abuse allegedly stemmed from a fight over Dorothy’s SSI check, which her caregiver was using to help pay the rent.
Shocked and horrified by what had happened to Dorothy, and disgusted at the lack of mainstream media coverage of the case (as opposed to such examples of nondisabled, white murdered pregnant women as Laci Peterson), FRIDA wanted to memorialize Dorothy’s life as a fellow sister with a disability. We reached out to IMPACT CIL in Alton as our partner to hold a memorial service and march in honor of Dorothy’s and her unborn child’s life.
Nine FRIDAs from Chicago traveled to Alton for the Dorothy Dixon memorial service at 11 am on May 31. We joined with several IMPACT CIL staff and community members. Afterwards, we walked, rolled and drove in a procession to the home where Dorothy and her unborn child died. We chanted “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” and “Up with respect! Down with abuse!” The residents of the house joined us in a moment of silence. We were escorted by patrol cars from the Alton Police. Thank you officers for keeping us safe!
We then gathered at IMPACT again for lunch and a break. Several of us then visited the grounds of the old state hospital at the Alton Mental Health Center. IMPACT Board member Susan Shobe gave us a tour of the field where state hospital residents were buried. Security officers from the Department of Human Services joined us. It was extremely hot but very moving to be able to visit these grounds. Due to the heat and logistics, some of our group left, but four of us were able to then stop at Mt. Olive to visit the memorial to Mother Jones, the famous labor organizer.
We really want to thank our friends at IMPACT for their hard work in making this happen, and also to our friends from Springfield and St. Louis who came out for the day. About 30 folks showed up to make sure the right thing was done. It was a really tremendous learning experience.
To read about the Dixon case as a story of the year by the Alton Telegraph, please visit: http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/dixon_21712___article.html/charged_police.html. This is the most recent information we have on the case.
To read the Alton Telegraph news story from May 31, 2008, please visit: http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/dixon_14619___article.html/people_group.html.
To read about the six people charged with Dorothy’s murder in March 2008, please visit: http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/old_11972___article.html/year_hillcrest.html
To view some photos of the trip on Flickr, please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/25181282@N04/sets/72157605386361303/.
