… and we will carry on.

She was there at the beginning, from when the Green Party US came into existence, and remained a fighter to the end. On Christmas Eve, Julia Aires, 74, passed away in her home from complications caused by diabetes, and the Green Party of Florida has lost a strong voice for peace and social justice and the environment.

Born in North Carolina, she first moved to Sarasota with her family at age 11, and had had four children by age 23, when she was becoming political. She became a full-blown activist in San Francisco in the 1970s where she joined a women’s peace group, going on to work for Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign and supporting several South American liberation movements.

Moving back to Sarasota in the 1980’s, she became a well-known, respected and vociferous community activist; speaking out against the war in Iraq, as well as promoting environmentalism and humane immigration reform.

Julia met David Poston at the Harmonic Convergence on August 17, 1987. They had done separate TV interviews, and saw each other there for the first time. Later that night each went to a meditation, saw each other again, noticed that they were both driving the 1972 Ford vans, and love grew! They were married September 22, 1988 (the Autumn Equinox).

Among her accomplishments:

• She organized a 2,200 person protest against the Iraq war in 2007, the largest peace protest in Sarasota history.
• In 1986, she co-founded the Peace and Justice Center.
• She led a successful counter-protest against a KKK rally in Sarasota, before which “somebody” spray painted “No KKK” on the courthouse.
• She was part of the successful fight to amend the Florida State Constitution to make it easier for alternative parties to get ballot status, a landmark victory for the Green Party of Florida.

Becoming Green in 1984, she attended the first organizing meetings of the Green Party of Florida, and became one of its active leaders, serving as spokesperson and co-chair for many years, and representing the Sarasota local on the party’s Coordinating Council. Although her failing health prevented her from maintaining the party’s Sarasota local, Julia was a highly-respected at-large delegate on the Council, keeping the party informed through her committee work and reporting on the party’s national affairs. Her no-nonsense approach to politics, her deep sense of the party’s history, and her basic humanity gave the party a strength and stability it has needed in recent years.

“Political activism was my calling,” she once related. “It’s what I have wanted to do with my life. I just want to make this world a better place for my grandchildren.”

Her husband and occasional co-conspirator David, along with her large extended family would agree that she did just that. David recalls a protest especially important to him:

Manatee County used to hold an annual Desoto Celebration in Bradenton, where they reenacted the landing of Hernando de Soto on the beach there. The ritual included actors dressed as Native Americans attacking the landing party, and then being slaughtered by the conquistadors. He, Julia and a daughter were so disgusted with it that they decided to protest. Enough was enough. We dressed ourselves in full Native American regalia and passed out fliers protesting the reenactment. Middle-school children from all over the county had been bussed in to witness it, and the children and their teachers thought that our creatively garbed family were part of the show! Before anyone was the wiser, we were able to pass out fliers to almost everyone informing them about just how wrong it was! That reenactment was never again performed.

Granddaughter Nakita also reminisces:

Grandma always wanted me to get more involved and join the online groups. I just never got around to it before. I always relied on her to teach me about what was going on politically. Now I will have to do some work myself to stay informed. So I thought I’d start by joining the groups she was so passionate about.

That was Julia. She is survived by her mother, Julia Surles, age 91, as well as 4 children and 11 grandchildren.

Julia was not big on monuments or ceremony. She would surely agree with the final words of IWW organizer Joe Hill, “Don’t mourn. Organize!” We honor her by doing just that. There could be no better memorial than for the Green Party of Florida to keep building in 2015, adding new locals in areas like Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Palm Beach and, oh yes, Sarasota.

On Sunday, February 8, at 2:00 p.m., family and friends will hold a Memorial meeting for Julia. Many people cared for her, and all are invited.

The Memorial will be held at:

Sarasota Friends Quaker Meeting House
3139 57th St.
Sarasota, FL

 Directions:

From I-75 take exit 213 for University Parkway.
Exit West into Sarasota and continue on University Parkway to Lockwood Ridge Rd.
Take a left and go South on Lockwood Ridge.
The Sarasota Friends Quaker Meeting House will be on the right on 57th St.

If you hit Desoto Rd. you’ve gone too far.