"It is inhumane when it is a majority minority community and your hospital doesn't have an ICU. Not only will we save this hospital but we will transform it."
- Rev. Stephen W. Pogue at the Rally to SaveMt. Vernon Hospital
On Friday, September 17, The New York State Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival joined, The Coalition to Save & Transform Mt. Vernon Hospital, and the New York State Nurses Association for a rally to save Mt. Vernon Hospital. Poor People's Campaign members from NYC, Long Island, and the Capital Region joined the effort anchored by the emerging Hudson Valley Regional Committee. The rally was a part of a week of action coordinated by the Nonviolent Medicaid Army, a growing force of the poor and dispossessed, united across identities, regions, races and issues, modeled after King’s ‘nonviolent army of the poor’ from the first Poor People’s Campaign of 1968.
Located in one of the poorest cities in New York, Mt. Vernon Hospital alarmingly closed its ICU during the pandemic. The hospital now only offers a limited range of services and is being threatened with total closure, a threat that has been proposed for years. Further, Mt VernonHospital is tasked to serve a population whose majority is Black and African American. The defunding of this community is a policy choice and an absolute moral failure. We will not be silent in the robbing of resources.
The NYPPC Media Team was there to witness and document the rally. Peter, a Media Team Coordinator remarks, "Poor people's history is a vibrant story filled with pathos and courage, and as a Mount Vernon community leader said on Friday, full of persistence. We must overcome the lies that we have been taught. Our job is to scream out a different story, one that embodies our lived realities, and reminds us that we are powerful. Our PPC media team is joining with comrades from all different fronts of struggle in this effort to change the narrative."
We will not be silent! Share the video widely. If sharing on socials be sure to use these hashtags: #NonviolentMedicaidArmy #UniteThePoor #HealthcareIsAHumanRight @nysppc
Forward together, The New York State Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival