[The 90s Election Specials raw: Mobile clinic, Left Business Observer]

Raw footage for The 90's election specials. Vdeomaker Laura Flanders visits a mobile health clinic for low income people in New York and speaks with a few representatives from the Left Business Observer, a newsletter on economics and politics.

00:00Copy video clip URL This tape begins with a black screen.

00:23Copy video clip URL Interview with Dr. Anna Doumwa, CEO of the Community Family Planning Council. The council is the largest network of reproductive health services for women of color and low income women in the city of New York. She explains that they are in a mobile unit fully equipped to handle prenatal care for low income women.

01:14Copy video clip URL Doumwa discusses preconceived notions among many citizens that homeless people choose to be homeless. The Community Family Planning Council caters specifically to pregnant women who are homeless. “Usually people like to think that women who are homeless — it’s because they like to be homeless, because they are irresponsible. The reality is that maybe there are some irresponsible amongst the homeless, like amongst all of us, but our experience is that the majority of women who come to this unit to the mobile unit from this shelter are extremely responsible women, very caring women.” As Doumwa talks about the extreme circumstances of the many women who come into the mobile clinic, a pregnant woman nods in agreement.

03:00Copy video clip URL Doumwa states that close to fifteen percent of the women who come into the clinic are infected with HIV. “The women who we serve in our mobile unit who are pregnant and who are HIV positive don’t have a choice between continuing their pregnancy or terminating their pregnancy because they’re already too advanced in their pregnancy. So they must have a child who may be HIV positive. Why? Because they did not have access to prenatal care earlier.” Doumwa’s answer gets cut off.

04:05Copy video clip URL Doumwa speaks with a pregnant woman about the differences between the mobile facilities and larger hospitals. She states that she doesn’t get respect from many of the hospital employees and that the mobile unit is a more comfortable place to go for health care. The interview gets cut off slightly. Doumwa then talks about the HIV virus in the homeless population. The woman talks about her voting habits and her ideal political candidate. Doumwa also speaks with another woman about contraception and the importance of family planning programs. The interview remains very jagged because of the camera coming in and out.

12:48Copy video clip URL Another woman who works at the mobile clinic speaks about the government’s disinclination to pay for preventative care. “Our theory in America is to throw money at a problem, never to use the money to solve the problem.” She also talks about the importance of mobile clinics for low income citizens. Another woman comments on George H.W. Bush’s poor presidency.

15:22Copy video clip URL Cut to an interview (in an office) with a representative of the Left Business Observer, a New York newsletter about politics and economics, about the 1992 presidential campaign. He talks about the declining standard of living. “I think that’s a symptom of great disease. I think what we need to do is improve the quality of what we produce and worry less about the quantity of it and to be able to enjoy more leisure time… to take the fruits of economic process in the form of more leisure rather than more work and more income.” When asked about what he would say to each of the presidential candidates if he had the chance, the man responds that he would ask them what they would do to get “people off of the treadmill of working harder and harder to maintain a flat or a declining standard of living and what they would do to turn it around.” He goes on to talk about the media’s relationship with government. He states that most of the media is spoon-fed stories to report on.

19:19Copy video clip URL The tape cuts, and another representative from the Left Business Observer has joined the interview. He talks about the presidential election and refers to it as a “game show.” He states that the election has nothing to do with democratic politics because of the game show aspect. The other representative continues to talk about the media’s coverage of personality politics. Both men remain very critical of American politics.

22:12Copy video clip URL Tape ends.