Montco Healthcare Rights Committee takes photo after Saturday’s action
Montgomery County Healthcare Rights Committee held its first ever action on August 8th in Willow Grove on the theme of Where do we go from here? It was a call to get organized after an incredible summer of multiracial protest. We highlighted the three interrelated crises of racist police violence against the poor and people of color, inaccessible healthcare, even during the pandemic, and an economic system which has left millions hungry and homeless and facing extreme poverty.
Our Put People First! PA (PPF-PA) speakers included three new members. Nineteen-year-old Melanie Copman spoke passionately about her chronic condition which requires medication costing $19,000 per month, and her insurance that refuses to pay, leaving her sick and un medicated for eight months. She also proclaimed that since she found PPF-PA, she was emboldened to speak in public for the first time and, and urged others to do the same. “The message is clear,” she said, “getting organized is one of the most important actions that one can take.”
Our newest member of only two weeks, Jenn Ware, spoke about having her pain dismissed in the healthcare system because she is African American. She commented on the Action, “Though small, it was mighty and encouraging to me and showed me that there are people in Montgomery County who believe in the mission of PPF-PA and are ready to engage.”
March to End State Violence; Fight for Human Rights, Aug 5, 2020
On Wednesday August 5th, 2020 Put People First! PA’s Lancaster Healthcare Rights Committee called for a “March to End State Violence: Fight for Human Rights”. The purpose of the event was to hold all power holders accountable to ending state violence in all its forms and to refocus our community’s attention on fighting for our basic needs as our human rights. We called for an expansion of Medicaid to all, cancellation of the rents, reopening of closed hospitals, ending the deadly conditions in Lancaster County Prison, stopping police violence and an end to gentrification. The event was co-hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation- Lancaster, Unapologetic 717, Lancaster County Homeless Union, and the PA Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
Despite the nonviolent nature of our action, there was a heavy police presence from the very beginning, following us throughout the march from a distance. Near the end of the march outside Senator Scott Martin’s office and across the street from the Lancaster City Police station, officers decided to approach and instigate us, which resulted in an escalation of the tension between the police and us and the impromptu decision of one of the protestors to engage in a spontaneous act of Nonviolent Civil Disobedience (NVCD). Two other protestors followed suit in solidarity. We want to underscore the fact that a nonviolent action that was against state violence was met by the state’s chief instrument of violence against us.
We endorse the demand that has already been put forth to drop all charges of those arrested on August 5th, Jessica Lopez, Dylan Davis and Tiara Wolf. If the police had not come over to agitate these protestors would not have felt the need to engage in the spontaneous NVCD action by sitting in the road which then led to their arrest. We are also demanding the charges be dropped on Sabrina Espinosa, a nonviolent protester that was arrested in early June 2020 during the BLM protests in Lancaster, PA.
The arrests that took place that day are an example of a common tactic used by the state throughout history to squash, divide and conquer, or co-opt a revolutionary social movement. We need to understand the role of police within our system. They are an instrument wielded by the ruling class to protect their capital and they are the enforcers of laws put in place by elected officials for the very same reason.
Protests alone are not a strategy, they are not the end of our struggle. They are a tactic and part of a larger strategy in the movement to end poverty and all the interlocking injustices. If we want to win against this system of oppression then we must get organized and develop into clear, competent, committed and connected leaders, across all lines of division. If we want to fight against actions of the police, we need to organize against the Powers That Be because that is for whom the police work. In order to win we must take down the whole system of oppression, not just a segment. If you’re interested in organizing for systemic change in the movement to end poverty and all the interlocking injustices sign up here to get involved and join us for our upcoming nation wide tactic, our Medicaid Marches which will take place the week of September 28.
Photo from Put People First! PA action in Johnstown
Recently, three incidents of state violence against people in need of healthcare have wracked Pennsylvania. Residents in physical and/or mental health crisis need medical attention, not police violence. These are only the most recent examples of our for-profit healthcare system discriminating against poor people, unhoused people, and Black people. To get involved in the fight for Healthcare As A Human Right and against state violence, go to www.putpeoplefirstpa.org
Philadelphia: On July 12th, an immunocompromised resident from the James Talib Dean (JTD) encampment on the Ben Franklin Parkway was sent from the medic tent to Jefferson Hospital because he was experiencing high fevers, nausea, vomiting and dehydration. The patient entered through the emergency department and was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of norovirus, a highly contagious and potentially fatal pathogen with symptoms matching that of the patient’s. The primary care team at the hospital was made aware that the patient was homeless and had been residing in the encampment.
Despite the diagnosis, the patient was discharged by the hospital to the street with no assistance for self-quarantine planning and given only bus tokens. This demonstrates an extreme lack of care for the public health of the citizens of Philadelphia.
Allentown: On July 11th, Allentown police officers held their knee on the neck of a man in medical distress outside of St. Luke’s Hospital Sacred Heart Campus. The Lehigh Valley Coalition for Equity is calling on on the DA to re-open the investigation, release the body cam footage, and release the names of the officers involved in the incident.
Johnstown: On June 17th two Johnstown Police Department officers brutally beat a 60 year old man suffering from a mental health crisis. Put People First! PA has organized a number of recent actions on state violence and is taking action again on August 1 to call on city officials to: 1. Create public health alternatives to policing in Johnstown 2. Hold the officers involved in George Corson Jr.’s beating accountable 3. Release the names of the officers who killed Elip Cheatham in 2012 4. Protect our human rights during the Covid19 pandemic, including the right to healthcare and housing
Right now – sign the petition to release the names of the officers who Johnstown officers who killed Elip Cheatham in 2012! bit.ly/Justice4Elip
MontCo Healthcare Rights Committee co-coordinator Jacob Butterly responded to a last-minute request to help organize a rally in Norristown on Saturday, July 11th, to protest the privatization of the city’s sewage and wastewater treatment. Requests came fromNorristown Opposed to Privatization Efforts (NOPE) and BuxMont Democratic Socialists of America, both of which had tried since May to persuade the City Council not to approve the purchase agreement with AQUA America. Instead, the city rushed the deal through with virtually no public awareness. The rally was part of an attempt to build public awareness and gather signatures on a petition that could send the deal back to the drawing board.
Speakers pointed out that the parent company of Aqua America has been aggressively buying up water utilities and now owns them in 8 states, and is the second-largest water utility in the country. Aqua typically raises rates up to five-fold over pre-privatization rates.
Jacob Butterly put privatization in a broad frame. “Corporate takeovers are part of the same system,” he said, “that drains our economy with endless wars, militarizes the police, and shrinks budgets for basic human needs, such as housing, healthcare, and education. Corporations, accountable only to shareholders, are in effect waging economic war on the poor.”
We did not gain enough signatures to overturn the deal, but our allies are planning to continue the fight with a ballot initiative in the fall. Our HRC made several contacts among attendants, and formed a potential alliance with the two co-hosting groups.
