Pauline Pearce - Wonderful Woman No. 100

Pauline Pearce - Born 1966 (Unconfirmed)
"The Hackney Heroine"

I wish this lady was in politics.
Lee, A Wonderful Man

Last year, while I still lived in my native United Kingdom, England withstood a terrible spurt of rioting in cities across the country. Most violently in London, Birmingham and my beloved Manchester. The nation watched as hoards of people ransacked our cities, destroyed businesses, set fire to buildings and terrorised neighbourhoods.

The original reason for the riots was the death of a young man in London. Though like many, I believe that the subsequent days a wreckage and violence had little to do with that event and were rather acts of organised criminalism by the forgotten under-classes. I was fixated with the rolling

BBC news channel and Twitter. In my lifetime, in my country, I had never seen anything like those riots before.

After five days, the streets were reclaimed, the post-mortem by newspapers and television began and then ended when the next big story came along.

Through these events, some remarkable people came to the public's attention. Not politicians, who were slow to respond and ineffectual when they did, spouting rhetoric about "broken society" and blaming social media, but ordinary people who did extraordinary things. The people who organised mass clean-ups in the area's where the chaotic events had taken place, the huge display of compassion and dignity from Tariq Jahan whose 21 year old son was one of three young men killed whilst attempting to protect their neighbourhood, and the bravery of a woman with a walking stick by the name of Pauline Pearce.

Pauline stood in the midst of rioters and looters in Hackney wielding the stick she uses to walk with because of severe arthritis, shouting words of disgust at their actions, chastising their greed and thuggery. An ordinary woman who felt the need to raise her voice and say that what was happening was wrong, as I write this, I am reminded of Rosa Parks (Wonderful Woman No. 12), another extraordinary woman who felt the power in her soul to raise her voice and be heard. Despite the personal danger these women faced, they still spoke up and said that what was happening was immoral and wrong.

Undoubtably, a Wonderful Woman.

The problem here is that you are born and you come out of hospital and you are brought to the estate and you hardly ever leave it after that. Not for christenings, not for birthdays, not for weddings, not for funerals. People turn inwards and can't see a way out.
Pauline Pearce

>>>> That's 100 women in the blog. There are already more than a hundred more in the album who will appear here in time. A huge thank you to everyone who has made suggestions, to all those who have shared the link to the blog, for all the positive comments and thanks to everyone for reading. The experience of celebrating these women is truly wonderful. <<<<<