Local 'SiCKO' Action
Getting Together Around SiCKO
Across the country, 'SiCKO' has been lighting a fire under people who want to see our broken health system dismantled and free, government-run care given to everyone.
Here is just a sampling of what people across America are doing to make the film's message a reality:
Texas church group congregates at 'SiCKO':
SHERMAN — Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church activities begin at 9:45 a.m. Sunday with a breakfast/snack reception. Worship starts at 10 a.m. with Rev. Lander Bethel’s sermon based on Luke 10: 25-37. Sandra Miller will read 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20. Hugh Moody will read the scripture lessons from Amos 7 and Col. 1 and sing the anthem. Lunch will be served after worship.
Friday, July 13, a group is attending the Michael Moore film “Sicko” in Plano. Call the church for details.
[CLiCK here to read more]
Activists in Hanover, IL distribute flyers outside a 'SiCKO' screening, and meet at a local pancake house afterwards to discuss the film:
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"What do we do now?"
We sat at a table cluttered with empty coffee cups, crumpled napkins and crumb-filled plates. Although the showing of "SiCKO" had ended nearly two hours before, the dozen-plus members of our party had lingered at the nearby pancake house to discuss the movie, a satirical documentary about the U.S. health care debacle. Of all the comments offered over the course of our late-night meal, that simple question, posed by a HanDI friend from Barrington, has stood out most prominently to me: "What do we do now?"
In the week-and-a-half since then, I have heard echoes of that question in other blog entries, in conversations with friends, and at our HanDI members' meeting on Monday. Of course, we already took a small step by distributing nearly 100 flyers with information about health care and HanDI at the AMC South Barrington following our showing of "SiCKO." And now thanks to luck, a little curiosity and the wisdom of others, I have found further resources for learning and activism that I share in my next blog entry. First, a few more words about why change is necessary.
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[CLiCK here to read more]
Strangers talk to strangers as an impromptu health care discussion group convenes outside of the women's bathroom in a Texas movie theater. The group pledges not to check the film's message at the door as they exit the theater:
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The talk gradually centered around a core of 10 or 12 strangers in a cluster while the rest of us stood around them listening intently to this thing that seemed to be happening out of nowhere. The black gentleman engaged by my redneck in the restroom shouted for everyone’s attention. The conversation stopped instantly as all eyes in this group of 30 or 40 people were now on him. “If we just see this and do nothing about it,” he said, “then what’s the point? Something has to change.” There was silence, then the redneck’s wife started calling for email addresses. Suddenly everyone was scribbling down everyone else’s email, promising to get together and do something... though no one seemed to know quite what. It was as if I’d just stepped into the world’s most bizarre protest rally, except instead of hippies the group was comprised of men and women of every age, skin color, income, and walk of life coming together on something that had shaken them deeply, and to the core.
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[CLiCK here to read more]
Activists in Wisconsin organize meetings around 'SiCKO' and talk about bringing the film's message to the state level:
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Trudell was part of a four-member panel, "From 'SiCKO' to Sanity: Why Our Health Care System Doesn't Work and What We Can Do About It," on Thursday night at Escape Coffee Gallery on Williamson Street.
About 70 people crammed into the coffee shop's back room and vowed to start a movement and lobby for Healthy Wisconsin, the Democratic-controlled state Senate's comprehensive health care insurance proposal. They plan to meet again at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday in the same location.
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[CLiCK here to read more]
A group in Valencia, CA demands their local theater play 'SiCKO' and then organizes meetings about the movie:
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Lutness, who supports universal health care, and her allies are hoping to bring the debate over the contentious single-payer health care plan to Santa Clarita as the movie continues to play.
They're sponsoring a health care forum on July 31 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Valencia.
A panel of experts is scheduled to address the issue of health care in the United States and includes a speaker from the California Nurses Association and other advocates for universal health care.
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[CLiCK here to read more]
Californians leaflet for a week outside 'SiCKO' screenings - and get told by the cops to 'scram.'
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"Did Michael Moore's 'Sicko' make you sick about our broken health care system?" their leaflet reads. "You can do something about it!"
The leaflet goes on to urge support for Senate Bill 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act.
The theater's manager politely asked Bailey and Alspaugh to leave the area under the dome that covers the theater box office and entrance, Bailey recounted.
Which they did; they stood nearby in adjacent Janet Leigh Plaza holding a "Sicko" poster and handing out the flier to anyone who expressed interest, she said.
A gray-haired retiree, Bailey said she was not aggressive. The encounters were "very positive. ... People stopped and told some of their horror stories about their experiences with the insurance industry."
After about 20 minutes, two Stockton police bike patrol officers pedaled up and - very politely, very professionally, Bailey says - told Bailey and Alspaugh to scram.
They obeyed. But Bailey objects. "We believe we should have the right to exercise our free speech," she said.
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[CLiCK here to read more]
