How does emotion fuel action in a tumultuous time?
Late last month, a 60-hour “Protect Medicaid Vigil” took place on the National Mall across from the Capitol. Featuring live music, speakers and a collaborative art table, it was a space for collective grief, anger, joy and hope in response to steep Medicaid cuts in the recently enacted Republican spending package.
The event was organized by Caring Across Generations, a national organization of family caregivers, care workers, disabled people and aging adults advocating for social and political change. It spanned 60 hours to represent each year of the Medicaid program to-date.
During the vigil, Caring Across Generations lit 8,000 candles as a visual representation of the nearly 80 million Americans who rely on Medicaid coverage for healthcare.
The Medicare and Medicaid Act of 1965 was a groundbreaking effort to expand health coverage to the poor, elderly and disabled. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recently called it “one of the country’s great civil rights laws” in her Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic dissent.
Once the vigil ended Saturday morning, Families First rallies and events in over 200 locations across all 50 states and D.C. began, marking the 30-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the soon-to-be 60 year anniversary of Medicaid. Amidst attacks on a healthcare program essential for individuals with disabilities, the anniversaries held particular importance this year.
Rallies called for Medicaid funding restoration and Medicaid expansion. Events included food distributions and school supplies drives around the country, a circus in Missouri and family-friendly events and speeches on the National Mall in D.C.
The Big Ugly Bill
The Republican budget, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, will cut more than $1 trillion over a decade from federal spending on Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and SNAP.
As Ms. reported in June, the work requirements imposed to achieve such seismic cuts will harm vulnerable groups. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates more than 10 million people will lose health insurance because of the new policy, and about 3 million people will no longer benefit from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
The budget also increases Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding by more than 300 percent. This dramatic funding surge comes at a particularly dangerous time, as ICE is sending immigrants to notoriously abusive prisons and detention centers without due process. In a reversal of Biden-era policy, the Trump administration is permitting ICE raids in churches and schools and asking ICE agents to prioritize the detention and deportation of all undocumented immigrants rather than violent criminals alone. With new funding, these operations are expected to accelerate.
“We’re taking away essential healthcare that families need to live, and we’re using it to commit human rights abuses against immigrants and their families,” said Ai-jen Poo, event host and co-founder of Caring Across Generations, at the Protect Medicaid Vigil.
In addition, the spending package ends most clean energy tax credits from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and adds new tax credits and leases for oil and gas projects. The budget changes will increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 190 million metric tons per year in 2030 and 470 million tons in 2035.
Emotions Belong Here.
Feminist thought-leaders, including Audre Lorde and Judith Butler, have theorized that emotions (particularly grief and anger) are essential to any successful social movement.
By holding a vigil followed by a joyful day of action, Caring Across Generations and its partners showed how emotion can fuel and sustain activism under Trump.
The Protect Medicaid Vigil and Families First day of action were led by Ai-jen Poo, who is also the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Poo is an award-winning labor leader, policy advocate and organizer influential in the 21st century women’s movement, including #MeToo.
“This was the space for us to be able to dream about what could be possible, and what should be in place for our families, and to also just support each other through all the fear, anxiety, the sense of loss, anger and frustration that we feel,” Poo said.
“We feel that we shouldn’t have to stand vigil for 60 hours for the bare minimum, which is what we had,” she continued. “They cut the bare minimum. What we actually need to be able to take care of our families is so much more.”
Even with Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, over 25 million Americans were uninsured in 2024. Childcare, disability care services and eldercare remain incredibly difficult to access as costs skyrocket, caregiving shortages persist and families struggle to fill in the gaps.
As the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Poo is particularly concerned about how the bill will impact domestic workers, who are almost entirely women and largely women of color. Many are immigrants.
“A lot of direct care-workers that we represent at the National Domestic Workers Alliance are going to lose their livelihoods, and their clients are going to lose their care. … For low-wage workers like domestic workers, who are overwhelmingly women and majority women of color, the only way they get access to healthcare and health insurance is through Medicaid,” she added. “A lot of our members are going to lose healthcare.”
“People are going to die. … There’s a lot to grieve,” said Sarah Viti, Caring Across Generations’ associate director of culture change.
“We felt it was really important to create a space like this tonight, among all the action-oriented things we have been doing,” she continued, “to just hold space for some catharsis, for people to be in community … it feels really healing to have this space.”
The Music
Singer-songwriters Lizzie No and Kapali Long performed during the vigil, using music to share their stories and connect with the audience.
“I think we both just wanted to bring songs that humanized this experience. Hearing about losing Medicaid, it’s a big problem that feels overwhelming. It’s hard to know where you can fit into the big story, so we have to start with the little stories,” said No.
“It’s always this push and pull between the people’s right to be free and healthy and safe and well, and the small minority who want to oppress the rest of us,” said No. “That’s why I wanted to play ‘The Killing Season,’ because it’s almost seasonal.”
As they sang, No and Long thought of significant people in their own life. “I remember when Roe v Wade went down, my grandma was still alive, and I remember her heart was shattered,” Long added. “She was there for the first time around. I wish she was here now to see the fight that we’re all doing … I play music for my grandma.”
“I always think of my nephew when I’m singing,” No continued. “If he can live in a world where like he has clean air, clean water, is free from violence, then we’ve taken a step forward as a human family.”
Hear from Attendees: ‘It’s All Right to Be Mad Sometimes’
Among the vigil’s attendees were Meredith Vaughn and her daughter, Vivian, who is insured through Medicaid to treat her cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus.
“I’m just really mad,” Vaughn said. “It’s all right to be mad sometimes. Sometimes when you’re mad, it actually helps you raise your voice even more.”
Vaughn added that women, particularly mothers, “are already getting the short end of the stick,” as they currently bare the brunt of caregiving labor while facing attacks on reproductive healthcare.
The vigil was also attended by Sarah Bloom Anderson and her daughter, Audrey, who is a Medicaid recipient with a rare genetic disease.
“I think that, if you just talk about a number, the story gets lost, the actual people” said Anderson. “It’s only been a couple decades, that a child like Audrey would grow up and wouldn’t be in an institution.”
Charlotte Cravins also attended with her son, Landry, who has down syndrome. Medicaid covers his early-intervention services and high co-pays.
Cravins is from Louisiana, where the hospital system functions because of Medicaid. “There are 33 rural hospitals in Louisiana that would be at risk” of closure due to the healthcare spending cuts, said Cravins. “It would devastate our entire healthcare system.”
‘We Are Going to Keep Fighting’
People are hurting. Whether due to Medicaid cuts, abortion bans, poverty, attacks from ICE, climate change, war or genocide, people around the world are facing a particularly challenging time. It is valuable to tell the stories of those people and to grieve with them.
Caring Across Generations, by holding a vigil alongside a day of action, showed a path forward for the feminist movement in this moment.
We can feel, we can grieve and we can fight.
“We are going to keep fighting,” Ai-jen Poo told Ms. “We are not fazed. It is heartbreaking and enraging that this bill passed, but we are going to continue to fight to stop the cuts and to expand our healthcare access and our direct care access in this country.”
Great Job Ava Blando & the Team @ Ms. Magazine Source link for sharing this story.
