Residents, Writers Turn Out to Raise Voices, Rally to Save Health Care

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — More than 40 residents gathered in Southampton Sunday to raise their voices in a "Rally to Save Health Care" in Southampton.

Carrying signs with messages that read, "No Repeal Without A Plan," and "Medicare for All," the group gathered peacefully at Montauk Highway and Tuckahoe Road in Southampton, just past the canal.

The rally was a local event organized as part a national day of action to save the Affordable Health Care Act; Dem leaders and Bernie Sanders have called for the nationwide effort, #OurFirstStand.

Locally, the group East End Resistors hosted the Rally to Save Health Care.

Joyce Roper, along with Anne Hastings, is a founding member of East End Resistors — both were involved with Organizing For Action early on, in the fight to pass affordable health care, presenting workshops on enrollment and providing resources to assist people in finding navigators, she said.

Speakers included Julie Sheehan, who described a friend in East Quogue battling breast cancer, who is "still solvent, thanks to the ACA. "She does children’s theater, not a line of work that typically provides health insurance," she said.

Writers Resist

After the rally, next up on the schedule of events for Sunday was a "Writers Resist: Teach In/Speak Out event, held indoors at Chancellors Hall at the college; an estimated 30 to 50 attendees were expected.

And at 4 p.m., a "Speak Out" portion will feature readings by writers sharing both their own original work and work by others, among them Thomas Paine, Lucille Clifton, Robert Kennedy, Emma Lazarus, Octavio Paz, and Wendell Barry.

The readings from historical works will "reaffirm our belief in diversity and our dedication to equality, liberty and justice," said Kathryn Levy.

Writer LB Thompson of Greenport plans to read from N. Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain, in addition to one of her own poems.

During the "Speak Out portion," a short break after the sixth reader will be scheduled for a Twitter "storm" based on segments of the Langston Hughes poem, "Let America be America Again." Live streaming on Facebook of parts of the event will take place, as well.

Similar resist events took place in more than 90 locations Sunday, with the organizers staying in touch via social media.

Thompson said she believes the event is critical because it's linked to a nationwide effort, with the literary community linked via social media and the news. "It's a way for writers and readers, people concerned from the literary community, to resist and to raise awareness, as well as the opportunity to be in solidarity with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

In honor of Dr. King's birthday, she said, members of his "beloved community" will remember his life and legacy and "resist in a peaceful way. That's what our group is doing."

Each of the readings from historical documents "speaks to the theme of resistance," she said.
Emma Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus," inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, is especially meaningful in today's world, Thompson said:

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand, A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame, Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name, Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand, Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command, The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame, 'Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she, With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'"

A goal of the effort, Thompson said, is unifying.

"We're making sure the voices of those who are afraid they're not going to be heard, are heard," she said.

Her own reading, she said, is by a Native American writer, an excerpt about Native American children taken away and put in boarding schools as soon as they are able to speak. "This was an organized thing," she said, so that the children would learn only English and not their own native tongue.

"It's about the power of even a single word," she said.

Another reading will focus on the Japanese interment camps, with recently discovered photographs of the camps by Dorothea Lange.

While the current political climate is "frightening," Thompson said, "It's a necessary practice, trying to learn from history. There is a precedent for these things we are afraid of — but there is also a precedent for progress, and for resistance, that has been made — and can't be unmade. It helps us to keep working."

Recently, scores of East End residents turned out to rally outside Zeldin's office and express their concerns regarding Donald Trump.

Of constituents speaking out about their fears, a statement from Zeldin's office read: ""The Congressman always appreciates hearing from constituents and encourages an open dialogue with residents in NY-1."