Montgomery, AL – The Save OurSelves Movement for Justice and Democracy held an Alabama State Capitol press conference, at noon on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, to conduct a symbolic citizens’ arrest of Gov. Kay Ivey for her continual refusal to expand Medicaid, which has caused the needless deaths of thousands of Alabamians as a direct result of her refusing to take action, which she can do with the stroke of a pen, to expand Medicaid.

The press conference was followed by a Caravan for Life to Montgomery’s Robert E. Lee High School and Jefferson Davis High School to draw attention to the murder of Blacks due to White supremacy and policy brutality and to focus attention on the ongoing need to remove Confederate monuments from public property.

SOS said its activities are also in support of the memory of George Floyd and the need for immediate reforms in criminal justice reform throughout the State of Alabama, to prevent police brutality and murder of unarmed Black people.

SOS Direct Action Committee Chair Faya Rose Toure said: “We, as citizens of Alabama, charge Governor Ivey with the intentional refusal to expand Medicaid and conspiracy with others to block Medicaid expansion, knowingly leading to the murder of thousands of Alabamians and the destruction of Alabama’s rural health care system.

World Conference of Mayors Founder Johnny Ford said: “The Governor’s criminal failure to expand Medicaid is just one of many egregious actions taking place in Alabama that are leading to the senseless murder of Black human beings in our state.