Tag Archives: Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS)

SOS holds statewide rally in Birmingham;
Increasing voter turnout for November 8th election and elevating Medicaid Expansion issue

Posted on by
Ms. Yolanda Flowers, Democratic candidate for Governor addresses SOS meeting

By: John Zippert,
Co-Publisher

The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) together with other organizations held a statewide rally to increase voter turnout in the upcoming November 8th General Election and raise the importance of the issue of Medicaid Expansion and others as reasons to vote in this election.
SOS was joined by the Alabama Women’s Roundtable headed by Jefferson County Commissioner, Sheila Tyson; Faith and Works, an organization of church leaders promoting voting, Alabama New South Coalition, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Democracy Project, and other groups supported this statewide convening.
Yolanda Flowers, Democratic candidate for Governor, stopped by the meeting and made some short remarks on the importance of voting. She also referenced her platform of educational reform, criminal justice reforms and approving Medicaid Expansion as part of her agenda to improve health care for Alabamians.
Attorney Faya Rose Toure, SOS Steering Committee member, opened the meeting with a plea for unity and solidarity among organizations in Alabama working on counteracting voter suppression and preserving democracy. She also communicated a warning that the powers against democracy have used violence in the January 6th attack on Congress and threaten to use violence again to defeat democracy.
Faya Rose also warned that the opponents of democracy have prepared a legal case, Moore vs. Harper, which will be heard by the conservative leaning Supreme Court in the Fall term. “This case asserts the independent state legislative theory, which would give the state legislatures the final authority in deciding voting matters, including certification of electors for the Electoral College, which determines who will be elected President. This would give Republican Legislatures the power to override the choice of voters in statewide elections, based on any rationale they choose,” said Toure.
“Democracy is in danger in this country and the Supreme Court’s decision in Moore vs Harper will be a key to the future of democracy in our nation. So, we need to pay close attention to this case when it comes before the Supreme Court,” said Toure
Ushe Bean with Faith and Works spoke about her efforts to re-engage Black churches in social justice work and encouraging voting, based on teachings in the Bible. She asked interested clergy and churches to contact her organization through their website at faith and church.com.
John Zippert and Mayor Johnny Ford, Co-chairs of the SOS Health Committee, stressed the importance of elevating the issue of Medicaid Expansion, as an issue in the upcoming November election. “Medicaid Expansion, which would provide health insurance to over 250,000 working poor Alabamians, would improve the health care of all Alabamians. This decision has been on Governor Ivey’s desk for seven years and she has not acted,” said Ford.
John Zippert reminded the group that Ivey’s reservations that the funds are not available for Medicaid Expansion was not true. “The funds are available to the State of Alabama in the American Rescue Plan to Expand Medicaid. Alabama can get an increased reimbursement for its current Medicaid recipients which would pay for Medicaid Expansion for three years. After three years, the 30,000 new jobs and revenues created in the health system by Medicaid Expansion would support the state’s matching contribution going forward. There is no reason not to pursue this policy which would help people and save lives,” said Zippert.
Several representatives of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity were present who spoke to their Voting and Democracy Project, which seeks to involve the 324,000 Black voters, who did not vote in the 2018 Gubernatorial Election, and register the 300,000 Black eligible voters in Alabama who are not registered. October 24, 2022 is the last day to register before the November 8th election, which is now about 50 days away.
The people present agreed to work on a “20 for 20 program” to register 20,000 people each on September 20 and October 20 before the November 8 election.
At the end of the meeting, SOS held a press conference to highlight the issue of Medicaid Expansion in the upcoming election. You can contact SOS on our website, Facebook page or by calling 334/262-0932.

Newswire: February 20, National Day of Solidarity with Bessemer, Alabama warehouse workers

Posted on by

Amazon Bessemer warehouse

Between Feb 8, and March 29, approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU).
The Southern Workers Assembly has issued a call for a National Day of Solidarity with Alabama Amazon Workers on Saturday, February 20. Actions are being planned across the South and the U.S. on that day at Amazon facilities (warehouses, distribution centers, Whole Foods, etc.). There is a demonstration planned at the Whole Foods Store at 1450 Taylor Road, near Eastchase Shopping Center in Montgomery, Alabama, at Noon on Saturday February 20th.
The harsh working conditions at Amazon warehouses, along with Amazon’s refusal to adopt measures that protect workers from COVID 19, have pushed Amazon and Whole Foods workers every- where to step up organizing and fighting back.
These predominantly Black workers who have in recent months formed the BAmazon Workers Union (www.bamazonunion.org), are on the cusp of launching a history-changing workers organization against one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super rich union busting owner, Jeff Bezos.
In addition, these workers are standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South. Bessemer is a majority Black city in the Birmingham metro area.
Many of the workers at Bessemer warehouse are Black and the city has a history of labor union support dating back to the 1930’s when the CIO was organizing coal miners and steel workers in and around Birmingham.
Solidarity from every corner of the labor and progressive movements is needed now to show the workers in Bessemer that they are not alone, that all eyes are on the historic struggle that they are leading. This is especially needed as Amazon ramps up their union-busting tactics.
“The union struggle in Bessemer is not only about worker rights, wages and working conditions but also about civil rights, human rights and dignity for Black workers and all workers for large multi-national companies that are trying to dominate and control the lives of people,” said Mike Foster, union organizer.
The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) is supporting and co-sponsoring Saturday’s solidarity protest at Whole Foods in Montgomery and encourages its members to attend.

SOS protests plans of Tuberville and Republican Congressional delegation to challenge Electoral College as undemocratic and racist

Posted on by

On Monday January 4, 2021, members of the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) held a protest and press conference at the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse in Montgomery to denounce the actions of newly elected Senator Tommy Tuberville and all six of the Republican members of Alabama’s Congressional delegation, who plan to challenge the certification of the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The action of SOS was to protest and denounce as anti-democratic and racist the planned actions of U. S. Senator Tommy Tuberville
and all six Republican Alabama Congressmembers: Mo Brooks (5th District – Huntsville area), Jerry Carl (1st District – Mobile area) and Barry Moore (2nd District – Montgomery area) Robert Aderholt (4th District – central Alabama),
Mike Rogers (3rd District – Wiregrass) Gary Palmer (6th District – Birmingham) to challenge the electoral votes of the states of Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia on Wednesday January 6, 2021, when Congress meets to tabulate the results of the Electoral College.
On November 3, the American people voted for Joe Biden by a popular vote majority of more than 7 million votes. The Electoral College has voted on December 14, 2020, 306 to 232 to confirm Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice-President of the United States. President Donald Trump has challenged this result in the Courts, State Legislatures and now wants Congress to award him victory in an election he did not win. His prior court cases, as many as 60 of them in different states, were denied or overruled by state and Federal judges, many named by Republican Presidents.
“We must protest the actions of our new U. S. Senator Tommy Tuberville and Republican Alabama Congresspersons who have said they were planning on challenging the Electoral College results. This is a racist and undemocratic act, to throw out votes, mostly Black and Brown votes in urban areas of these states, who voted overwhelming for Biden against Trump,” said Faya Rose Toure, an SOS Steering Committee Member.
“This fits the pattern of Black voter suppression, intimidation and disqualification that Trump and the Republican Party have long followed in Alabama and around the nation. These actions by Alabama Congresspersons, led by my own Congressman, Mo Brooks, is another example of trying to deny and discourage Black voters, which we cannot accept or tolerate.” said Jessica Fortune Barker, Huntsville leader of Lift Our Vote.
Judson Garner, an SOS youth leader from Montgomery, pointed out,
“Alabama Republican Congressmen and Senator Tuberville are challenging Pennsylvania for allowing people to vote absentee on an emergency basis because of the coronavirus pandemic, when we did the same in Alabama and many of these votes helped to elect these very same Congressmen, who are now objecting to this practice in other states. This is hypocritical!”
“We are concerned that Senator Tuberville and these Alabama Congresspeople are taking these undemocratic actions which will hurt ordinary Alabama citizens and make it more difficult for Biden-Harris to implement their agenda of health care reform, criminal justice reform and systematically ending the coronavirus pandemic. SOS has been fighting for many years for Medicaid Expansion and other steps to improve the quality of life for poor and working-class Alabamians. These steps by some in the Alabama delegation will be a set-back for this agenda,” said John Zippert, SOS Steering Committee. 62-0932
For more information, to join SOS or to contribute to its work, please contact the: SOS Survival Fund at 838 South Court Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104; or call 334-262-0932; or visit us on Facebook and the World Wide Web.

Newswire: SOS calls for using the Alabama Bicentennial to remember, recognize and rectify past history

Posted on by 
        The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) held a press conference on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama to call for Governor Kay Ivey, the Alabama State Legislature and the public to use the celebration of the Alabama Bicentennial to “remember, recognize and rectify the state’s racial history.  
        SOS is a movement comprised of more than 40 statewide organizations in Alabama focused on improving the lives of all Alabamians.  Sanders said, “We call upon Alabama to use this occasion of the celebration of the Bicentennial to remember all the history of the State of Alabama and to recognize the wrongs committed in order to repair and to restore the deepest hope for Alabama’s future.”

      “This year Alabama is celebrating its Bicentennial – the 200th anniversary of our state’s founding.  It is good to celebrate, but we need to understand what we celebrate. We need to know that we can do better.  We need to correct that which we did not do right.  To celebrate Alabama’s Bicentennial without acknowledging all the history of Alabama – including the taking of Native American lands, the enslaving of Black people, and the taking of the dignity and rights of Black Alabama citizens during Jim Crow segregation – does not lay a strong foundation to build the next 200 years,” said attorney and former State Senator Hank Sanders at a news conference on the steps of the Alabama Capitol today at noon.

“To celebrate the Bicentennial without changing the present does not truly the 200 years since Alabama’s founding. Alabama has hundreds of thousands of citizens without medical care, and Alabama can do something about that right now. All it has to do is expand Medicaid. That would be a true celebration of Alabama’s first 200 years,” said John Zippert, Chair of the SOS Health Committee and Chair of the Board of the Greene County Health System.

“The advertisements for the Bicentennial show Native Americans, African Americans and Whites, and that is good but it is misleading. The Confederate monuments still stand on Capitol grounds, and a statute of Dr. J. Marion Sims still stands on Capitol grounds. We can truly honor these 200 years by removing the Confederate monuments and putting up monuments to those who fought to preserve the United States of America, including the 6,000 Black soldiers from Alabama who served in the Union Army,” said attorney and Civil Rights activist Faya Rose Toure.

“The promotions of the Bicentennial honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and Booker T. Washington, but there are no statues on the Capitol grounds recognizing them. As we go into the next 200 years, in the spirit of unity we need to start by expanding Medicaid, removing from the Capitol the statutes of those who fought the legitimate government of the United States, and including statutes of people who fought for and lifted those who were excluded. Today is International Human Rights Day, which is especially appropriate because we need to acknowledge the denial of human rights in Alabama’s past,” said Martha Morgan, attorney and Law Professor Emerita at the University of Alabama School of Law.

The Greene County Democrat is publishing a Guest Editorial, by Attorney Faya Rose Toure, on page 4 of this newspaper, which gives more details on the concerns which prompted the SOS press conference.

SOS alerts voters to urgency of Medicaid expansion

Posted on by

Shown above ANSC President John Zippert, Latasha Brown, Shelly Fearson, Senator Hank Sander, Jeanette Thomas, Johnny Ford and Faya Rose Toure

 

The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) a coalition of forty social justice organizations in the state, held a press conference at the State House in Montgomery, Alabama. State Senator Hank Sanders of Selma said, “We are here today to alert voters, candidates and the press to the importance of healthcare and the expansion of Medicaid in the November General Election. Governor Ivey, as Governor, can take the step of expanding Medicaid for thousands of people.” A study by the Kaiser Foundation indicates that 500 to 700 people each year in Alabama are likely to die without Medicaid expansion – so this is a matter of life and death. The Alabama Hospital Association, a trade association for over 100 hospitals in the state says, “If Alabama expands Medicaid, almost 300,000 uninsured Alabamians would receive health insurance coverage, an estimated 30,000 jobs would be created, and $28 billion in new economic activity would be generated.  Alabama would also save millions of dollars on current state services.  “On average, in Alabama, almost one out of every 10 hospital patients does not have health insurance, resulting in more than $530 million annually in uncompensated care,” said Danne Howard, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the Alabama Hospital Association.  “Currently, 75 percent of Alabama’s hospitals are operating in the red, meaning the dollars they receive for caring for patients are not enough to cover the cost of that care.  Expanding Medicaid would be a significant investment in the state’s fragile health care infrastructure and would help maintain access to care for everyone.”

“In Greene County because we are a poor county, one in three patients do not have any insurance, which means we provide an average of $100,000 in uncompensated care per month. Expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would help people in our county whose earn less than 138% of poverty (approximately $20,000 annual for a family of four) to secure affordable health insurance coverage,” said Dr. Marcia Pugh, Administrator of the Greene County Health System. Former Mayor of Tuskegee, Johnny Ford said “The SOS Health Committee would be remiss if we did not point out that Medicaid expansion is the issue, which must be in the forefront of voter’s minds as they go to the pools in one week. Walt Maddox and the Democratic candidates for statewide office have pledged to expand Medicaid to 300,000 working poor people on their first day in office. Incumbent Governor Kay Ivey has not expanded Medicaid during her tenure. She says that the state cannot afford the costs of expanding Medicaid. She is also supporting a proposed rule change, which will eliminate 70,000 caregivers from Medicaid unless they meet a work requirement, which will also make them financially ineligible for Medicaid coverage. Maddox says that Alabama needs to help its neediest people to receive health insurance coverage to improve healthcare and economic opportunities in the State of Alabama.” John Zippert, SOS Health Committee Co-chair pointed out that since 2010 when Medicaid expansion has been available under the Affordable Care Act, Alabama has lost $7 billion in Federal support under the program. For the first three years of the program, there was no cost to the states to participate. This has increased by 2.5% a year until it reached the maximum 10% this fiscal year. In addition in coming years beginning in 2020, the disproportionate share reimbursement rate payment to rural hospitals will decline because the program assumes coverage for low-income people in the state by Medicaid expansion under the ACA. Rural hospitals in states like Alabama, that have not expanded Medicaid, will begin to take a “double-whammy” for not expanding Medicaid – more patients without insurance coupled with lower reimbursement rates. Danne Howard, with the Alabama Hospital Association, notes that a recent study showed that hospitals in expansion states were 84 percent less likely to close than hospitals in non-expansion states.  “Alabama has had 12 hospitals close since 2011, and more are on the verge of closing if something doesn’t change,” she added. “Plus, the economic impact in other states has been tremendous; Louisiana has added 19,000 jobs; nearly 50 percent of new enrollees in Ohio have been able to receive mental health and substance abuse treatment, and the state has seen a 17-percent drop in emergency department use; Kentucky has seen an increase in state revenues of $300 million.” SOS calls this critical issue to the attention of voters and urges every registered voter to vote on November 6, 2018 with the need for equitable health insurance coverage in mind.