Why we stood up to Michael Steele
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele brought his laughably misnamed "Freedom Tour" to Howard University on September 1. His appearance made headlines, but not for any reason he might have hoped for.
Steele was confronted by several people in the audience, who demanded to know why the Republicans were blocking all efforts to reform the U.S. health care system. When stood up, she talked about how her mother, who died earlier this year, couldn't get her insurance company to pay for all the medications she needed to battle cancer.
Steele's contemptuous reaction--captured on video and recounted on national television news shows and the print media in the days that followed--exposes how little he and his party care about the real issues in the health care debate.
Here, Duzak explains why she stood up to Steele--and why she'll continue to speak out for a single-payer health care system.
MY MOTHER, Martha Beth Duzak, passed away earlier this year of lung cancer at the age of 49.
Heartbreakingly, one of her main concerns throughout her struggle to get well was how she was going to afford her life-sustaining medication. She often needed seven or eight medications at one time, but her health insurance only said it would pay for three or four.
Because of this, she was forced to choose between getting her medications, buying groceries, or paying household bills. And on top of paying for everyday survival necessities, she was also desperately trying to save up money to travel to attend my college graduation ceremony.
Like anyone in that situation, my mother experienced great physical and emotional pain during the time she had cancer. For her to have to worry about money at such a time in her life not only distressed me--it made me extremely angry at the do-nothing politicians and health insurance industry and pharmaceutical companies that were profiting from my mother's illness.
Experiencing my mother's health care horror story directly--and learning of the 47 million Americans who live without health insurance at all in the richest country in the world--led me to take a stand.
On September 1, I and a few of my friends decided to attend a town hall meeting featuring Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, as a part of his "Freedom Tour." The meeting was held at Howard University, a historically Black university. My goal was to find out why Michael Steele and the Republican Party continue to fight tooth and nail to kill health care reform.
The evening started off in an outrageously thoughtless way when around 20 white Republican students walked in, and sat front and center in seats that were obviously reserved for their group.
As the evening progressed, I wasn't surprised to find that the meeting was rigidly controlled from the top. Town hall "participants" were asked to submit their questions on slips of paper, but not one was answered in the close to two-hour meeting. Steele skirted around issues by asking students irrelevant questions and answering each with a long-winded monologue.
A few of his ill-defined pieces of advice included, "Instead of becoming rappers, young people should set higher goals for themselves, such as owning their own record companies." Or "All young people have the opportunity to become high-profile leaders if they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps." One of the more embarrassing moments of the night was when Steele used the slang term, "mo' money," when referring to a student studying business--to insinuate that he could relate to Howard University students.
About an hour into the meeting, a Howard University student decided to ask a substantive question about health care, but Steele barely addressed it. At this point, my friends, Michele Bollinger and Damian Smith, and I became very frustrated. We decided it was time for Steele to actually answer a serious question about health care.
Michele spoke up first, and, in response to Steele's answer, called him a liar. Damian then described how his aunt was losing her home due to astronomical health care costs.
Thinking about my mother's experience and the do-nothing, but well-insured, politicians made me angry and emotional. I jumped up and told Steele that my mother had died from cancer six months ago. I told him that she had to worry about money, and which medications she could afford in her last few weeks of life. I also told him that everyone in this country should have access to good health care.
Steele's initial response was to turn his back on me. He then told me that yelling would accomplish nothing, and that I should listen instead. In fact, I had done little else because he monopolized the microphone all night, but said nothing of substance.
The worst part came next when he pointed directly at me and said, "It makes for great TV. You'll probably make it tonight, enjoy it." The way Steele handled the situation shows his lack of compassion--and that his real concerns are for the profits of the health insurance industry.
The greedy, for-profit health care insurance industry is the problem. A single-payer health care system, where the government provides coverage for everyone and private insurers are cut out, is our only answer. We must continue to put pressure on all the politicians--and not ask, but demand, that they pass universal, single-payer health care.
Everybody in, nobody out!
