500 Protestors From Across the State Converge at Capitol
They came in wheelchairs; they came with the aid of walkers and canes. They were the elderly, the sick, the disabled, and their pastors, families, friends, and other supporters. The crowd of 500 came to downtown Nashville to tell Governor Bredesen that if he pulls the plug on their healthcare, they’ll pull the plug on his governorship come election year 2006.
With a fiery passion reminiscent of the civil rights era, a long line-up of Black pastors blasted the Democratic Governor for failing to keep his campaign promise to fix TennCare. They said “if TennCare dies, people die,” and that the Governor’s decision to privilege saving money over saving lives was contrary to God’s decision. As one Black pastor put it, “we serve as God’s instruments” in this fight against Governor Bredesen. Time and time again, the Black pastors advised the crowd that if Governor Bredesen continues to forget who put him in office, he will be defeated in 2006.
The crowd of 500 (video available here) converged at the 15th Avenue Baptist Church and then marched to the Bicentennial Mall at the base of the Capitol. As they marched, they chanted, “Governor Bredesen, don’t pull the plug,” and ”Hey, hey, Bredesen, give us back our medicine.” The Nashville Peace and Justice Center distributed bumper stickers asking: “Who Would Jesus Cut?”
The parade was led by disabled TennCare enrollees confined to wheel chairs.
The impressive line-up of Black pastors made liberal use of the Bible in a unified condemnation of Governor Bredesen. They said that it is a moral imperative for the Churches of Tennessee to unite against the Governor’s plan to balance the budget by wasting the lives of Tennesseans.
Speaker after speaker advised the crowd that the destiny of TennCare is directly tied to the destiny of the current governor. As one pastor put it, for every person Bredesen cuts from the healthcare rolls, the Governor’s opponents will register two new voters.
Repeatedly, the point was made that there are 400 Black pastors in Memphis who “will not forget.”
They came from Memphis, Columbia, Cookeville, Knoxville, Jackson, Johnson City and Murfreesboro. They made the trip in wheel chair accessible vans, buses and even a hearse. One Black pastor advised the crowd to invest in funeral homes. He said that if Bredesen succeeds in his effort to cut 323,000 and drastically reduce the benefits for another 396,000 Tennesseans, the result will be one unnecessary death every 20 hours.
According to Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group, "What Bredesen is proposing is by far the largest state cutback in public health coverage in the history of the country. Many people will die. They will die silently and quietly outside of public view, but they will die."
Pollack said there are ways to avoid the drastic cuts advocated by Bredesen.
The clergy urged legislators to “demonstrate moral courage" by standing up to the Governor and voting against his budget. They advised the crowd that if legislators failed to act with “moral courage,” it would be time to “clean house”, or elect a new General Assembly. They spoke at length about the need to “clean out the Governor’s House,” and urged the crowd to contact the Governor and their representatives.
Of the 132 state representatives in Tennessee, only two attended the well-advertised event. Rev. Victor Singletary, of the Inter-Denominational Ministerial Fellowship and senior pastor of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill, noted their absence: “Where are they? They need to wake up and smell the coffee.''
According to one passionate speaker, U.S. Senators Alexander and Frist have remained unconscionably silent on the Governor’s effort to save money by jeopardizing the welfare and lives of hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans. The clergy warned that if the Governor fails to heed their message, they will return.
Toward the end of the riveting line-up of resolute speakers, the crowd joined hands and sang “We Shall Overcome.” A spokesperson from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization founded by Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Since we have come together, let’s stay together and develop a People’s Platform Agenda.” Like many of the speakers before him, he said it was time to “un-elect” all those who fail to demonstrate “moral courage.”
As the crowd dissipated, a delegation of pastors carried a copy of an ultimatum to the Governor’s office. The “Declaration to Save Lives” was signed by representatives of the event’s sponsors. When the delegation arrived at the Governor’s office, they were told Bredesen was “unavailable.”
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Declaration to Save Lives
When, in the course of human events, our state leaders allow the health and welfare of thousands of our citizens to be put at risk while maintaining lavish health care benefits for themselves;
When, in the course of running our government, our state leaders place balancing the budget over the lives of our most vulnerable citizens;
When, in the course of deciding policy, our state leaders choose to ignore options that would save millions of dollars and allow the state to care for our most vulnerable citizens;
When, in the pursuit of power, our state leaders decide to minimize the rights of our citizens rather than protecting the lives of the people whom they are supposed to serve;
and,
When in the pursuit of re-election, our state leaders are willing to jeopardize the lives of 719,000 of our brothers and sisters, then,
We the People of this State DECLARE that this government must reconsider its decisions, reexamine its motives, reassess the issues involved, and FIND ANOTHER WAY.
United in our declaration, we declare, "NO," to terminating health care coverage for 323,000 of our citizens.
United in our declaration, we declare, "NO," to minimizing the benefits of 396,000 of our citizens.
We, the undersigned, declare that the lives of these 719,000 are worthy of our attention and that their lives are God-given, valued and are gifts to our State. We declare that our government SHALL not turn its back, that it SHALL not ignore our plea, and that it SHALL not be allowed to say that the State does not have the money.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference – Memphis Chapter
Rainbow Push Coalition
Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association
Mohammad Mosque #55
Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship of Nashville
NAACP of Nashville
TennCare Saves Lives Coalition
Nashville Peace and Justice Center
Missionary Baptist State Convention of Tennessee
Tennessee Health Care Campaign
April 8, 2005
For the full document and more info, see Tennessee Health Care Campaign
There were participants from many churches and organizations, such as Citizens to Save TennCare, Jobs With Justice, the SEIU, Democracy for Tennessee, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Tennessee Alliance for Progress, United Way of Memphis, Hobson United Methodist Church of Nashville, Fairfield Baptist Church of Centerville, Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church of Memphis, Metropolitan Interdenominational church of Nashville, and others too numerous to list here.
The event was sponsored by the: Memphis Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship of Nashville, Missionary Baptist State Convention of Tennessee, Rainbow Push Coalition Memphis, Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association, Muhammad Mosque #55, Nashville Branch NAACP, TennCare Saves Lives Coalition, Nashville Peace and Justice Center, and the Tennessee Health Care Campaign.
Speakers and participants included: Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Nashville’s Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church; Dr. Lasimba Gray, President, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Memphis; Rev. Sibert, President, Missionary Baptist State Convention of TN; Minister Anthony Muhammad, Muhammad Mosque #55, Memphis; Rev. Judy Hoffman, Edgehill United Methodist Church, Nashville; Dr. Coleman Crawford, Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association; Rev. Victor Singletary, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill Nashville, Rev. Dwight Montgomery, President, SCLC Memphis, Matt Leber of the Nashville Peace and Justice Center, and Tony Garr of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign.
