From The Press Conference to the Deni'ina Center: The Topic is Health Care Reform in Alaska

From the Press Conference, hosted by Organizers for America in front of the Peterson Towers on L Street, to the Chamber of Commerce meeting featuring guest speaker, Senator Mark Begich, in the banquet hall of the new Dena'ina conference center, the topic of the day was Health Care Reform in Alaska. The sky shown blue and bright, and the streets bustled with activity as people moved about in support or protest of the various political events around Anchorage.
My morning began in front of the Peterson Towers where I joined a small group of other people in support of Organizing for America, a community group dedicated to organizing citizens to support the President Obama's health care reform efforts.
Jonathan Teeters and Sarah Mourocade, key members of Organizing for America, opened their press conference with a brief summary of key points in the President's plan for health care reform. Not more than half a minute into Jonathan's remarks, the tea baggers, who had assembled in a tight circle around us, began to spout their talking points. I asked the big fellow beside me, the apparent ringleader of the tea bagging posse, very politely and discretely "Please do not interrupt the speaker, I want to hear what he has to say." No go. With a wicked gleam in his eyes, he explained very loudly that he was an American and had a right to speak.
After Mr. Teeters's opening remarks, Ms. Mouracade made a powerfully intelligent and impassioned plea to Alaskans to support heath care reform. She outlined key problems with the current state of affairs in the private health insurance system, and how it has failed to adequately protect all Alaskans from financial hardships related to medical expenses. She then introduced several guest speakers who tried to share their experiences with the health care system in Alaska. Sadly, I could not hear their remarks over the shouting of the tea baggers who now hemmed our group in from all sides. One woman, wearing an oxygen bottle on her shoulder, was heckled mercilessly, and treated with more disrespect by the tea baggers than I can describe. As each guest speaker tried to tell their personal stories to the camera, the big ringleader beside me just kept yelling out (sarcasm on) enlightening phrases (sarcasm off) such as, "protect the unborn and the elderly", and "get a job, and some insurance."
By the end of Jonathan's closing remarks, he could barely be heard above the din of heckling and harassment. Then, just as the cameras were about to shut down, Mr. Eddie Burke, emerged from the throng of disruptive voices to add his own. Jonathan, acting with professional maturity, managed to finish his remarks even as Mr. Burke yelled out, "How come you couldn't get more than twelve goons to come down here and support you?" The "goons" stood quietly until Jonathan was done.
After the press conference ended, I turned to the ringleader of the tea baggers, and expressed to him my opinion of his bad manners. I told him that his actions and those of the other protesters merely strengthened my resolve to get out the truth behind private, for profit, health insurance. The verbal pummeling directed at me from this gentleman for roughly a minute took me back in time to the awful first day in Basic Military Training with my training instructor towering over me yelling and screaming her personal displeasure at my mere presence in her Air Force.
I have attached the link to the long version of the video. I would like to take a moment to suggest that people call KTUU, channel 2, and ask if they would be willing to post the full press conference containing the original testimonials of the guest speakers. Despite the accusations of the leader of the tea baggers, those people were not paid "goons" and deserve to be heard. I think it is a shame that their stories were set aside in favor of this video.
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/sto...
I am a rather reclusive person by nature, and I am amazed that I managed to maintain my composure throughout his tongue lashing. I credit my military training, but more so, during that confrontation, I remembered Cal Williams, who once described to me a few of the many harrowing, often life threatening situations faced by those who marched in the south for equal rights for black Americans during the sixties. Later, when I watched my experience repeated on video, I nearly cried to think that so many people, not so long ago, had found the resolve to face firehouses, dogs and fists to obtain their freedom and dignity in the face of seemingly impossibly entrenched opposition. I think of all those who have suffered to improve the lives of other human beings, and I am deeply, deeply humbled. Thank you Mr. Williams.
On a positive note, my effort to make contact with other tea baggers and protesters was not entirely unsuccessful. The last gentleman with whom I talked to in the video actually calmed down enough to have a conversation. I don't expect that I moved any mountains, but I was pleased to note that as the boulder of a ringleader lumbered back up the street to the Egan center to cause further disruption, the more rational members of the group stayed behind to discuss our differences. I simply repeated over and over how much I wanted to find a way to discuss solutions to health care. We actually engaged in an exciting session of point and counter point, and my spirits were renewed. I cannot change the mind of a paid lackey (oddly enough I and the other supporters were repeatedly accused of being paid by the AFLCIO), but I might be able to reach one or two of those folk who have had their fears manipulated by paid members of the very health insurance industry they believe act in their best interests. If I am to make headway in the fight for health care reform, I must be willing to step out of my comfort zone. I really didn't know if I could until yesterday.
Eventually the cameras, the supporters of health care reform and the tea baggers drifted away from Peterson towers. The trail of tea baggers headed north to the the Egan center, while I and others headed to the Dena'ina center to hear Senator Begich speak on Health Care Reform in Washington.
The event was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, whose membership is comprised of many of the most successful businesses in Alaska. They had booked the largest room in the center, and the tables were nearly full. Many members of Organizing for America were in attendance. I sat up front with members of the Anchorage Democratic party.
Just before the event began, Celtic Diva called me from the Egan center to report that a large group of tea baggers were making their way to the Dena'ina. I excused myself from the table and headed back out to the lobby in time to see a small group making their way into the main lobby of the building. Further down the street, I could indeed see a large group milling around the PAC, but for some reason they chose to come no farther. I believe the tea baggers had no stomach to face a group of business leaders who came specifically to listen to Senator Begich. It is one thing to surround and harass a small group of polite citizens, but an entirely different matter to try and bully the top generators of income in Alaska. I gratefully returned to the Chamber meeting in time to see the first speaker introduced.
Because of the length of this entry, I will cover the actual meeting tomorrow in a follow up piece. What Senator Begich had to say to those present merits a separate piece.
At the end of the meeting, I walked back out into the lobby and drank in the beauty of the Chugach mountains. The humid air covered them with a misty haze. All the nearby tall buildings gleamed in the sunlight. As always in the summer, though perhaps less this season than others, tourists milled along the streets openly admiring what some residents take for granted as they go about their daily rounds. I love the sunshine, and I love the way it illuminates everything it touches bringing edges into sharp focus, and chasing away the gloom of shadows.
The word transparency dapples the pages of countless blogs, letters to editors, documents stating public and private policy. It has come to be both prophetic and pointless. Our country and our representatives in government struggle with its imagery and its meaning, but still we seek it. Transparency cannot exists without a strong back light to illuminate what lies behind the object being viewed. As I enjoyed the sunshine warming my face, the metaphorical connection between sunlight that is essential to revealing the transparency of an object, and the light of truth that is the essence of transparency in both the private and public domain, I left the Dena'ina feeling very hopeful of a better future.