Nov
02
2009
Mobilize for Health Care
distributed by:
Dear Friend,
Today the Mobilization continued to spread across America and our movement showed again that we will not rest until health care is a right for all. In Louisville, seven of the many supporters who occupied the Humana lobby yesterday spent the whole night in the office and only emerged late this morning to tell their story to waiting press and supporters. (Check our website for press coverage and video.) Their sit-in lasted more than 24 hours and set a new standard of determination for our campaign. As the old song says, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.” The right to health care is a freedom that we believe in, and as we move forward now we will have to follow the lead of the Louisville 7 and prepare to occupy the insurance company offices we enter for as long it takes to force them to make a decision – accept our demands or have us arrested.
We are also inspired today by the incredible dedication of Dr. Margaret Flowers, who was arrested at the CareFirst office in Baltimore yesterday despite the risk of a 6 month jail sentence for violating her probation for a previous arrest. Margaret was released from jail in the very early morning today despite her best efforts to remain in police custody until CareFirst CEO Chet Burrell agreed to a public meeting with her. However, her courageous leadership has inspired another person to follow in her footsteps already!
In Philadelphia today, 13 people were arrested while blocking the doors to the Blue Cross Blue Shield office there after company staff refused to meet with them. As we send this out, all 13 of those arrested in Philadelphia are still in custody. And Judy Esber, a 24 year-old union organizer among them, has decided that she will take the torch from Margaret and Sam and try to stay in jail to build our movement as well. Judy has told us that she is going to remain in jail until 100 new people have committed to sit in and risk arrest at our website! In particular (but not exclusively!), she hopes to inspire more young people to join our fight. If you haven’t yet committed to sit in or you’ve been on the fence, please honor Judy’s call to action and sign up today. And forward this email to others who might be inspired to step up.
Thank you so much to everyone who donated to support Margaret! Please donate today so we know we can pay any necessary bail to get Judy out of jail when she decides to consent to be released. Every little bit helps. Messages of support for Judy at our Facebook page are a great contribution as well. She can’t – and we can’t – do this without you.
Over 200 people have risked arrest in 20 cities in our campaign so far, and 132 of them have been to jail. 13 are still in jail right now, and 1 of them is committed to stay in until 100 more of us rise to meet the challenge of this moment. It’s amazing that we’ve come this far so fast, but our work is just beginning. To finally win Medicare for All, hundreds and perhaps thousands more of us will need to step up to put our bodies between the insurance companies and our democracy. We’re making an impact, we can’t rest now.
Thanks for everything you do -
Kevin, Katie, Kai, Lacy, Julia, and the Mobilization team
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