Initially, the objective of this email was simply to release a podcast that I recorded earlier this fall with leaders and organizers from Gamaliel’s Missouri affiliates, MORE2 (Kansas City) and MCU (St. Louis). In the podcast I talk with them about their August primary win—the expansion of Medicaid in Missouri.
It strikes me, though, that this podcast is about more than showcasing their terrific organizing skills, their persistence (it took several years to achieve this win), and their passion. It is about re-membering this victory—which was achieved through solid organizing and through the ballot box, like many other victories across our Network—in a way that encourages us to stay the course, even during difficult times. With Election 2020 less than a month away, now more than ever we need the courage to “hang in there” and continue our fight to end systemic racism and economic inequity and all of the other oppressions that prevent us from building the “Beloved Community.”
I urge you to listen to the podcast, celebrate the victory with our folks in Missouri, and then get back to work to transform our communities and our nation . . . and don’t forget to vote and turn others out to vote! That is how our values win!
In solidarity,
Ana Garcia-Ashley, Executive Director
Listen to the Gamaliel Network podcast, “Organizing that Transforms with Executive Director Ana Garcia-Ashley.” This episode is a conversation between podcast host Ana Garcia-Ashley, Executive Director of Gamaliel, and organizers and leaders from Gamaliel affiliates in Missouri, the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity or MORE2, located in Kansas City, and Metropolitan Congregations United or MCU, located in St. Louis. Ana and her guests discuss the historic passage of Medicaid Expansion in Missouri after years of thwarted attempts to secure a huge healthcare coverage gap in the state.