Over the course of this polarizing presidential election, much focus has been on the “battleground states” of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Maryland was not one of those states. And yet what gets lost in this partisan mapping, is that the poor and dispossessed of every state and every county, whether red or blue, have more in common than they have differences. This truth can be hard to see, particularly as politicians and the corporate media seek to divide us along lines of race, region, nationality, gender, age, religion, and party. But the growing ranks of the multiracial poor—rural, urban, and suburban, in battleground states and non-battleground states—are in a battle for our survival everyday. This reality is what compelled us to make the decision 2 ½ years ago to expand statewide—to connect the struggles of the poor in Baltimore to the struggles of the poor across Maryland.
In Maryland, one of the richest states in the U.S., almost 40% of residents are unable to meet their basic needs for housing, food, healthcare, transportation, childcare, etc. Maryland is not unique. This growing impoverishment is reflected across the country and becoming even more dire as a result of post-pandemic cuts in public benefits like the Expanded Child Tax Credit, SNAP benefits, and Medicaid. According to a recent Urban Institute report, more and more people are having to rely on various forms of debt (credit cards, payday loans, and Buy Now, Pay Later) just to pay for essentials, with 60.5% of adults resorting to credit cards to buy groceries. In the last year, over 25 million people nationally, and more than 343,000 people in Maryland, have been cut off of life-saving Medicaid. Decades of attacks on the poor and rising inequality is producing a health crisis in this country with poverty now the fourth leading cause of death.
Each of these startling facts represents a question - how can this be that in the richest country in human history we are experiencing so much poverty and suffering? And whether you are the party on the rise or the incumbent going down in defeat, neither party has managed a compelling answer to this existential question.
We launched the Right to Health Campaign to call out this death-dealing system, to unite the poor in Maryland around the survival issues we have in common and to demand answers from all power holders. This year, we kicked off our Right to Health campaign on Memorial Day at the site of our state’s very own Potter’s field to honor those fallen soldiers in this war on the poor. Through base-building outreach in Baltimore and Central and Western Maryland counties, we have been connecting with our base, hearing about the right to health struggles people are facing, and developing leaders from the ranks of the poor.
In September, as part of the Nonviolent Medicaid Army (NVMA) Week-of-Action, our regional committees organized Right to Health Speak-Outs testifying to the myriad of ways that the denial of housing, living wages, healthcare, and dignity is affecting our mental and physical health, even leading to premature death. We had members courageously share about attempting suicide due to facing eviction, becoming homeless along with their five children following the death of their husband, and the death of their mother from an ear infection because she couldn’t afford the ambulance bill.
We were not simply telling sad stories, but breaking our silence and isolation. Black and white, women, men, and gender non-binary, urban, rural, and suburban, we revealed that these are not isolated incidents, but rather all too common experiences for the growing poor in Maryland and this country. Despite our differences, we saw ourselves in each other's stories. Through the sharing and hearing of each other’s stories, we agitated ourselves and deepened our commitment to each other and this fight to demand our Right to Health and right to live.
Three weeks ago, we held our 3rd annual Statewide Membership Assembly in Sharpsburg, Maryland, the site of another historic battleground—Antietam. We reflected on how the battle at Antietam was a historic turning point during the Civil War not just because it initiated the Emancipation Proclamation, but because it also served as a vehicle that brought poor black slaves and poor whites in unity with one another. Today there is a narrative being pushed that our class is incapable of uniting. During our assembly we proved that not only can we unite in Maryland across urban and rural divides, and across state lines throughout the country, but also internationally. In addition to members from Maryland, we had leaders join us from nine other states, from Alabama all the way to Vermont, as well as comrades from the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil and the MLK Center in Cuba.
The unity and solidarity of the poor across deep and historic lines of division whether geographic, racial, or partisan is what we need in order to transform the politics of this nation. This doesn’t happen overnight or by itself. This kind of solidarity must be created and fought for by transgressing the boundaries that contain and divide us.
If you think that this sort of class solidarity is needed now more than ever. If you are tired of what Dr. King called the “cruel manipulation of the poor” by the powers that be, then sustain the work of United Workers by donating today. Help us raise $20,000 by the end of the year, so we can continue to unite the poor around what we have in common and demand a Right to Health for everyone, everywhere.
United Workers' 2024 Membership Assembly
Upcoming Events:
The NVMA’s November Saturday School of Struggle is tomorrow, November 9th. This special edition of the Saturday School will take place at 11:30 am ET because we will be broadcasting LIVE from the Vermont Workers Center Membership Assembly with a strategic dialogue on the post-election terrain! Our very own, Michael Coleman, will be on the panel from Vermont.
FB event and registration link are here:
FB event- https://www.facebook.com/share/19dqcWqioE/
Registration link- https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkd-ugrDwtGNMAVU46wmIpDeY7wRnS0Dwc#/registration
Updates: Right to Health Speak-outs
On September 26th and 27th, we held our Right to Health Speak Outs in Baltimore, Cumberland, and Westminster. Our Speak- Outs were a part of the Nonviolent Medicaid Army’s Week of Action where 12 states across the country came together to connect our struggles and strengthen the broader movement to end poverty. We heard powerful testimonies from our members across the state that called out this death-dealing system of poverty and showcased the power and leadership from the ranks of the poor. Click on the links below to watch the live streams of each region’s Speak- out.
Baltimore Right to Health Speakout
Westminster Right to Health Speakout
Cumberland Right to Health Speakout
A Mother Knows: Exposing The Human Cost of America’s For-Profit Healthcare System
Western Maryland Speak-out Shines Light on Systemic Neglect of American Workers and Their Families
United Workers member Ginger Lee testifying at Cumberland's Right to Health Speak-out
“….During the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, over 25 million people were disenrolled and over 56 million had their coverage renewed. Overall, 31% of people whose coverage was redetermined during the unwinding were disenrolled, but that share ranged widely across states.
That's why Ginger and many others members across the state recently held our Right to Health Speakouts to demonstrate how America's for-profit system is failing us all. They gathered on a rainy Friday night at Allegheny College in the hills of Western Maryland, across from UPMC Western Hospital – a rural hospital struggling with understaffing, which has led to the closure of beds and reduced the hospital's ability to care for patients. And most of the patients they can treat can't afford it, leading to crushing medical debt and denial of services….”
Click here to read full article written by United Workers member, Mike Hughes
Arts and Culture:
What Would You Do?
Poem By: Melissa Wiertz, United Workers' member from Cumberland, MD
What do you do?
When your health is failing
When your medical insurance is cut
What do you do?
When you can’t afford food
When you can’t afford medicine
What do you do?
When doctors stop listening
When tests aren’t enough
What do you do?
When bills can’t be paid
When costs go up, but income stays down
What do you do?
When a months pet food is cheaper than a months human food
When doctors can’t find the answers
What do you do?
When you have more questions than answers
When your food budget shrinks but you still need food
What do you do?
When you can’t afford rent
When you can’t find clean water
What do you do?
When rent goes up but income stays the same
When utilities get shut off
What do you do?
When vet bills are cheaper than doctors bills
When being poor costs too much
