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| FIRE IN THE LAKE by Ko Imani [email protected] "Apathy is Lethal" My husband, Mike, and I watched the most amazing issue movie last night: JOHN Q. This one disappeared off the national radar way too quickly. It's a gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, throw-popcorn-at-the-screen kind of film about a down-on-his-luck father, John Q. (Denzel Washington), whose son desperately needs a heart transplant. It's not ruining the movie to tell you that John Q decides that his son will get the care he needs by any means necessary. Now here is an Oscar-worthy performance. The real kicker is JOHN Q's utter indictment of our national health care system--really, the lack thereof. The movie doesn't pull any punches when discussing the ridiculous state of the USA and its 50 Million citizens without health insurance (of which I should admit I am one). I really feel like there's just no excuse anymore; there's not a reason in the world that the USA shouldn't have universal health care. There's no excuse for letting millions of people suffer because they don't make enough money, at least 10 Million of whom are children. Think about that for a minute. PlanetOut Partners estimates that there are only around 16.5 Million LGBT customers in the US. Estimates place the number as high as 25 Million, but still: *16-25 Million queers *50 Million US children, women and men without health insurance. Puts things in a little perspective, doesn't it? At least twice as many people are directly at risk of sickness and death because of lack of health insurance than there are LGBT people in America. Here�s some more, if you can take it, some 40 Million people are infected with HIV and AIDS today, and 25 Million more infections are expected by the end of the decade. 20 Million have already died. 14 Million children have lost at least one parent to AIDS. In 2010, 20 Million African children will be orphaned by AIDS. 15,000 people die every day from using contaminated water (of all the easily preventable things to die from!). Amount that US citizens spend on weight loss programs each year: $35 Billion. Amount that would be needed to eliminate starvation and malnutrition in the world: only $19.25 Billion. I could go on and on. We need to get it together, people. It's easy for us to get so wrapped up in our own issues as oppressed people that we lose perspective. The answer isn't to forget our issues and only focus on eliminating preventable physical suffering from the world. But the answer isn't to pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist, either, and only worry about getting hate crimes and nondiscrimination laws and policies passed. Like it always is, the answer is "Both/And," not "Either/Or." It's time we take a stand as queer people and start doing the proactive and healing work the world so desperately needs. We cannot be exclusive if inclusivity is what we want; our movement must address the problems of racism, classism, sexism, and jingoism as well as homonegativity and binary gender systems. At the same time, we should take the positive approach by getting behind what works. Don't be fooled by those who tell you that the world's problems are unanswerable--we already have the solutions to most of our problems! We just have to educate ourselves to ignite the passion to demand them. "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." ~Theodore Roosevelt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YES! Magazine [www.yesmagazine.org] is a great resource for people who want to change the world by affirming what's possible. The stats about water deaths and weight loss are from their "Page That Counts." Universal Health Care Action Network [www.uhcan.org] serves as a national resource and strategic center to help build the capacity of the movement for health care justice and facilitate the development of strategies to create a U.S. health care system that is universal, comprehensive, high quality, affordable and publicly accountable. Statistics about health care in the USA are from JOHN Q itself, so I guess now you'll have to rent it... National Public Radio had great coverage of the recent World AIDS Conference and AIDS statistics are from their reports: [http://www.npr.org/news/specials/aids2002/index.html]. Preview the �Apathy is Lethal� campaign financed by the UN Foundation and the Ad Council and designed by Leo Burnett-USA: http://www.leoburnett.com/breaking/un/index.html. Author and activist Ko Imani lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with his husband, Mike Gibson-Faith. FIRE IN THE LAKE BY KO IMANI is a free service to queer and Ally communities around the world. For more about joining a multi-issue LGBT movement, join Ko's FIRE IN THE LAKE friends list. Email [email protected], visit www.geocities.com/newlgbtactivism or write to: Ko Imani / P.O. Box 970688 / Ypsilanti, MI 48197. [Return to LGBT Columns] |
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