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10:30 am
National Medicaid March: Healthcare is a Human Right!
The Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign and Massachusetts Peace Action joins with Pennsylvania Nonviolent Medicaid Army and other state Nonviolent Medicaid Armies participating in the National Medicaid Marches (September 28 – October 4) to demand Healthcare for all Americans.
Join us on October 2nd, for a socially-distant, car-caravan, Medicaid March, to demand Healthcare for all! We will be meeting at the White Church (10 Putnam Street, Roxbury, MA 02119) at 11:30 am, to use washable “car-chalk” to write messages on our cars, make signs, and have fun! The Medicaid March will be from 12 pm – 2pm.
We recognize that:
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 700 Americans were dying each day from the effects of poverty.
31,000,000 Americans were uninsured prior to efforts to roll-back of the Affordable Care Act — Since then the number has risen to 46,000,000.
27,000,000 Americans have lost job-based health insurance since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Massachusetts, even with Mass Health, 380,000 Massachusetts residents have no health insurance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had worse impact on the poor and communities of color than wealthier, white communities. For instance, Blacks are 13% of the US population but have 30% of COVID-19 cases and are twice as likely as Whites to die from COVID-19.
Meanwhile $738 billion goes to fund the US military—more than half the discretionary budget. Congress has increased that amount to $750 billion this year.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, as the US economy declines, and as the need for healthcare and preventive services skyrockets, it has become clear that linking healthcare to job status is idiocy.
Therefore we demand, simply:
Equitable, quality healthcare for all Americans, regardless of job status: Specifically: a publicly financed, non-profit single-payer national health program that fully covers medical care for all Americans
Healthcare that recognizes and responds to the specific needs of communities of color
Preventive services that focus on and address the needs of the most at-risk communities and groups
$300 billion reduction in the military budget to pay for this human right for all Americans
5:00 pm
Unite Against Racism: Weekly Vigil supporting Black Lives Matter
You are invited to join in a weekly gathering to mourn and deepen our collective resolve to promote justice.
We will gather weekly on Fridays at 5 pm, starting this Friday, June 12, at Field Park in Williamstown (the green on the rotary). Together, we will join in respectful silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, in honor of George Floyd and the countless other Black people killed by police brutality and other forms of white supremacist violence. We aspire to practice this every week until the November election.
All are welcome. We hope that this weekly gathering may serve to deepen our commitment as a community to dismantle systemic racism. We recognize that Williamstown, too, must uproot white supremacy. Williamstown, too, must change so that those of us who are Black can breathe. We gather on Fridays to recognize these truths and recommit ourselves to the work.
Please wear a mask, practice social distancing, and invite your friends and family.
You are invited to bring signs or works of art if you are so moved. Anger is welcome. Rage is welcome. Grief is welcome. Exhaustion is welcome. We welcome all heartfelt expressions in honor of Black liberation and ending white supremacy.
Parking is available at the Williamstown Public Library and the Old Williams Inn.
Please spread the word!
Questions? Contact Rachel Payne at 617-309-0186 or rachel.r.payne@gmail.com