One year. The tweets and tirades, the fire and fury, the senseless attacks on America’s most vulnerable communities-- these atrocities all became our daily struggle one year ago when Donald Trump was sworn in. But when I reflect on the years’ events, a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes to mind: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
In 2017, the Trump administration gave us a million reasons to feel hopeless. There were countless times when partisanship trumped morality, reminding us that our nation’s struggle with the bystander effect is alive and well. But 2017 also showed us there are folks who are willing to stand up and resist-- many for the first time. For that, I am hopeful.
Together with our SEIU allies, St. John’s Well Child and Family Center employees and patients created a community of Affordable Care Activists who are ready and willing to respond at a moment’s notice. When Trump tried to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we made hundreds of calls to our representatives. When the GOP passed their egregious tax bill and repealed the individual mandate, we helped folks enroll in health care plans. When the Trump administration tried to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, we organized more than 5,000 people and 70 organizations and marched through the streets of LA, united in our commitment to protect health care as a human right. We took that commitment further when St. John’s became a convenor of a statewide group of health care leaders to draft state legislation that will provide universal health care coverage to every California resident.
While the Trump administration made countless attempts to attack LGBTQ folks, we celebrated the resilience and progress of our community with a week long TransNation Film Festival and our annual Eleganza ball to honor activists that have paved the way for progress and those who continue the struggle today. Our Transgender Health Program (THP) staff and Right to Health organizers have penned op eds opposing the ban to keep transgender folks from joining the military, hosted powerful community dialogues, and continued to provide low to no cost quality health care to the residents of South LA regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, citizenship status, or ability to pay.
As we head into year two of the Trump administration’s relentless persecution, we are well aware that there’s plenty of work to do. Trump has made it his mission to end DACA, and since Congress failed to pass a clean DACA bill, he’s effectively removed a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of DREAMers. It doesn’t stop there-- the Trump administration also decided to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that allows nearly 200,000 Salvadorans to live in the United States free from the fear and instability of the country they left years ago. Meanwhile, as our teachers, patients, friends, family, and neighbors face an uncertain future, Congress has failed to pass a spending bill to continue funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Community Health Center funding. That means that on January 31, the 9 million children who depend on CHIP for their access to health care will lose their safety net, and the tens of millions of low-income Americans who depend on community health centers for their primary care will lose health care services as these centers close.
But despite the constant attacks on the rights of our neighbors, the St. John’s community is not retreating-- we’re recruiting. This year, we’re registering thousands of folks in South LA to vote. We’re building more than momentum-- we’re building voting power.
When he wasn’t golfing, Donald Trump was doing his best to roll back progress and make the rich even richer. There’s no reason to doubt that he’ll spend 2018 doing the same. But when Trump solemnly swore to uphold his duty as president, the St. John’s community also made a promise-- to preserve, protect, and defend our communities by continuing in our fight, because we've seen firsthand that health care is a catalyst for racial, social and economic justice.