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John Mitchell
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For Immediate Release
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. Begins South Carolina Manifesto, Medicaid
Crusade in Rock Hill, South Carolina and Spartanburg, South
Carolina
On July 28, 2015, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., national civil rights leader and founder of the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, led a spirited town hall meeting in Rock Hill, South Carolina, calling
on Governor Nikki Haley to reconsider her decision to reject nearly $1.2 billion in Medicaid
money for the state in 2016. Joined by State Representative John King and Former State
Representative James Felder, Rev. Jackson led a full crowd of Rock Hill residents at the Freedom
Center in a rousing call for Medicaid expansion.
The next morning, Rev. Jackson and Former Representative Felder appeared at a leadership
breakfast with State Representative James Mitchell. City officials from Spartanburg, along with
local ministers, community leaders, and Greek Letter Organization members joined the
assembly.
Rev. Jackson praised Governor Haley for removing the confederate flag from state capitol
grounds, but explained that South Carolina voters must understand the difference between the
cosmetic and the structural; the symbolic and the substantive. The flag agenda must come down
with the flag, Jackson said to thunderous applause. The flag agenda, he continued, is
separation of races and denial of resources.
By rejecting the $1.2 billion in Medicaid money from the federal government for 2016, Governor
Nikki Haley guarantees that 23,000 people will not get cholesterol screenings, 6,500 women will
not get mammograms, and 432,000 South Carolinians will not make an annual visit to a doctor.
The poor will not have prescriptions. The sick will not have sedatives. The disabled will be
unable to get treatment. The wounded will not heal. Beyond race and beyond politics, Medicaid
is a human issue and right with literal lives hanging in the balance.
While the rejection of Medicaid invites fiscal and medical death, an acceptance of Medicaid
expansion promises life. 200,000 South Carolina residents without health insurance, equally
divided between white and black citizens, will have access to hope and healing. The states
leading hospital associations support Medicaid expansion because they accept that their care and
treatment rests on the foundational support of social services and programs. A Medicaid
expansion will bring 45,000 jobs to South Carolina.
Medicaid gets us to look past black and white and onto wrong and right, Rev. Jackson told the
Rock Hill and Spartanburg audiences, pointing out the obvious that we all need medical care.
Medicaid and health care enable everyone to aspire toward social transcendence and political
togetherness: We can leave the racial battleground to find economic common ground and reach
for moral higher ground.
Rev. Jackson, Former Representative James Felder, State Representative John King, State
Representative Harold Mitchell, elected officials across South Carolina, Hospital Association
members, and Greek Letter Organizations will continue their tour of the state, making stops in
major cities and small towns, to mobilize Medicaid support, attracting audiences and gathering
petition signatures. The crusade will culminate on August 28 in Columbia, South Carolina, where
Jackson and local leaders will issue a statewide agenda. At the conference, they will elevate care
and compassion for children, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly at the highest place of
political prominence by demanding Governor Haley turn on the faucet, let the Medicaid funds
flow, and allow the healing to begin.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
Keep Hope Alive!
Are you a Member?
Call us at 773-Freedom
Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization that was
formed in December 1996 by the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. through merging of two organizations he
founded Operation PUSH People United to Serve Humanity (estab. 1971) and the Rainbow Coalition
(estab. 1984). With headquarters in Chicago and offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston,
Los Angeles, New York and Oakland, the organization works to make the American Dream a reality for
all citizens while advocating for peace and justice around the world. RPC is dedicated to improving the
lives of all people by serving as a voice for the voiceless. Its mission is to protect, defend and gain civil
rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields while promoting peace and justice around
the world.