Hundreds gather in front of SLO County courthouse for NAACP rally on healthcare, poverty
Close to 200 people gathered in front of the San Luis Obispo County Courthouse to take part in an NAACP Action Rally calling for health care for all, environmental justice and an end to poverty.
“We’re here today to stand in solidarity for justice and freedom,” NAACP San Luis Obispo Secretary Cheryl Vines said at the start of the rally.
The event is one of several protests to take place in San Luis Obispo County in recent months meant to educate the public and point out important resources. In June an NAACP-led rally in the same location drew a crowd of approximately 3,000 people to demand racial justice and equity.
Speakers on Thursday focused on health care, environmental justice and poverty and offered resources to those assembled for those issues. A voter registration booth was also set up.
The rally was held on the 55-year anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act — a fact that was noted often throughout the evening’s speeches. This year is also the 100-year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women the right to vote.
“The right to vote is one of the most valuable constitutional rights of the people here,” Vines said, remarking on the renaming of the act after the late legislator and civil rights leader John Lewis.
“In the words of John Lewis, ‘Freedom is not a state, it is an act,’ “ she told the crowd. “’It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau, where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is a continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create and even more fair, even more just society.”
“’Let’s get into good trouble,’” she concluded to applause.
Vines also announced plans to hold a paddle-out memorial for Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian — another civil rights icon who passed away in July — in Avila Beach on Saturday at 8 a.m.
Dr. Joye Carter, forensic pathologist for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, took the stage to talk about the inequities in the United States’ healthcare system.
“I’m just saying it again, there can be no equity in a system that promotes profit on human suffering and the denial of fundamental right of healthcare,” Carter said.
On environmental justice, speakers pointed out how minority communities are the most impacted by pollution from transportation, oil drilling, pesticides for farming and dust from beach dunes that allow cars to drive on them. Youth activist Carmen Bouquin also noted that environmental justice comes hand-in-hand with racial justice.
“We know that if we just defund from the police, we can actually invest in our communities and invest in climate change action,” she said.
And on poverty, speaker Brenda Mack, a homeless activist, and Vivien Devaney of Restorative Partners a non-profit organization that serves people impacted by crime, spoke about the lack of support for the homeless community and the inequities of the United States’ justice system.
“When I hear the slogan ‘make America great again,’ I say, ‘for whom?” asked Mack. “I think a better slogan is ‘make America better than it’s always even been.’”
The NAACP SLO’s President Rev. Stephen Vines finished up the event with a passionate speech calling upon young people to vote, and to continue to speak up and advocate for better living conditions and equal rights.
Vines told crowds that “we need to create a society where love is the standard, not hate and violence.” He encouraged folks to come out to the NAACP’s Sept. 3 Youth Empowerment Rally, where they will be teaching people to protest in a nonviolent manner that will invoke change.
Crowds quickly dispersed after the event ended at 7 p.m. and the city reopened Monterey Street, which had been blocked off from Santa Rosa to Morro streets.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 6:52 PM.
