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VOICE Buffalo
VOICE-Buffalo Pilgrim-St. Luke's was instrumental in starting VOICE-Buffalo, a community organizing action group of faith-based institutions in the Buffalo area. We have several members who meet to set mission goals and work with other churches to hold political leaders accountable.
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With sleep still blurring our eyes, we tried to make sense of the materials we received As the sun crested the low hills surrounding us, we approached and crossed into What a thing to be left behind. Yet it happens every day in this rich land. We have all Fifteen miles down the road we finally came to a turnaround and headed back to reclaim our straggler. He had grabbed his camera and gone back out on the patio to get a picture of the misty valley. When we got back to him the fog was gone the sun was blazing and we were behind schedule, but we were all together, no one left behind. As we got close to DC, we broke up into groups that would each visit a legislator. "Who wants to visit Schumer? Who wants to visit Higgins?" etc. I chuckled at how many wanted to visit Chris Lee’s office. We all knew from previous encounters that he was opposed to any public plan being included in the health care package. One of the trip leaders had come up with an ingenious prank to pull on the Congressman. Everyone who went to that office would have an empty prescription bottle with them, empty but for two cents. That two cents would of course be our two cents for him. Anyway, we started putting together our office visit plan, who would lead, who would give testimony, what questions to ask and what our expectations should be from it all. I was with the group visiting Gillibrand, our new Senator. We had finished up our planning and were just getting to know each other some as we pulled up to the first staging area of the days events. Because of our turn around we only had about ten minutes to wolf down lunch and change into a red t-shirt we were handed as we got off the bus. The t-shirts would ID us as a common group here in DC to lobby for universal health care. These t-shirts would also provide some comic relief at Union Station, but I get ahead of myself. Lunch done, we were off to our first destination, Capital Hill! The Lee group got the No brainer indeed. Another part of our info packet included a news blurb on the Anyway, we got our commitment from Senator Gillibrand (probably on the advice of Schumer, but that is another whole story in itself), but it may not mean anything. There are ten democratic senators who all oppose a public option being included in the health care legislation right along with the Chamber of Commerce. What kind of world is this? We think a certain party affiliation might have something to say about the trend of a conversation or the nature of the compromises that might come from those conversations. Instead we find ourselves held hostage by powerful lobbies with the money to sway supposed allies away from their true constituents. If what we propose is to have a chance, these people need to be swayed back. If what we propose is going to work, many more will need to be swayed. Hope is dim looking through this lens of reality. On we went to fun on the Metro. Hundreds of us descended on Union Station to await the train that would bring us to Farragut North. Down into the tunnels we went, a sea of red shirts raising glances of alarm, "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!" That of course is an exaggeration, but it was fun to watch people’s faces as we crowded the platform and even more fun engaging people in conversation around what the shirts stood for. There was plenty of agreement around the need to change the reality we have now, reason for hope. We crammed into the cars like sardines. The next four stops were like a rubics cube of people getting off and on the train. Finally we arrived at Farragut North and disembarked. As we ascended on the escalator, there were so many of us at the same time we broke it and had to climb up to the open air. Uh oh! We're still waiting for the bill on that one. We organized ourselves in Farragut Square Park which is a short walk from the Chamber of Commerce Building. "Singin songs and a carryin signs" we marched to the chamber building. Plenty of chanting the whole way, "What do we want?! Health care! When do we want it?! Now! "and another good one, "Everybody in, Nobody out!" I didn't chant too much. I don't WANT healthcare as much as I NEED it, kind of like education or water. I may have chanted more if we were saying "What do we need? When do we need it?". "I want" just sounds too much like a spoiled brat. Sometimes I get that feeling about us as citizens, "Just give it to me because I want it...Now!" We congregated in front of the Commerce Building and began singing. It was hot under the baking sun and we were sweating from the short hike, but water was provided all along during the day so the singing was easy. One of the group leaders said later she saw the president of the Chamber crossing the park across from the building, but he got headed off by alert staffers who prevented an encounter with us. She said she could see his face and knew he could hear what we were saying and he looked worried. After a short news conference and a prayer, we headed to Freedom Plaza for refreshments, fruit and pizza before a worship service to culminate our visit to the Capital. More singing, it was good. More speakers, they were good. It all felt good. It's a good cause to be working on. The only thing that was missing, about one hundred thousand more people. We won't win this battle. None of the legislators think we are powerful enough. Sure, we get nods and winks and "Ata boys", but guys like Chris Lee will just shrug it off. He doesn't think we have power. Bill Nelson of Florida, same thing. He'll just shrug it off. Max Baucus of Montana, he'll shrug it off. So will Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ron Wyden of Oregon. These are all democratic Senators. Until they are told with a powerful presence that health care for ALL the people of our nation should come before corporate profits, they will continue to follow the money. We are the only...ONLY (as in singular, by ourselves, gold medalists) first world nation that does NOT provide health care to all its citizens. We need to continue hammering away with the truth of this. We need to get people up off their ass's and involved in their own struggle, until it becomes an easy thing to get A MILLION people to an event like we just had, or even a hundred people to each legislator’s local office all on the same day. How about both at the same time. Wouldn't that be something. Imagine that. Then maybe we would see some action. Our hope lays in not giving up and not being silenced. We have to continue to bring truth to the people and the people to the table. We CAN win the War. The trip home was long but uneventful. It was a worthwhile journey. We didn't leave anyone behind either. Peace with Justice, Bob Cook About VOICE Buffalo Pilgrim-St. Luke's was instrumental in starting VOICE-Buffalo, a community organizing action group of faith-based institutions in the Buffalo area. We have several members who meet to set mission goals and work with other churches to hold political leaders accountable. For further information:
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