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Jane Hiers [H], Jean Chalmers [C], Cora Roberson [R], and Vivian Filer [F] speak in April 2009 with interviewer Steve Davis [D] about their time working with Gainesville Women for Equal Rights (GWER), one of the first integrated organizations in Gainesville. This is the 63rd in a series of transcript excerpts from the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program collection. 

We regret to report that Ms. Roberson passed away at her home on September 24; David Chalmers, quoted in earlier GWER excerpts, passed away last month (see pg 16).

Transcript edited by Pierce Butler.

D: What was your proudest moment as a member of GWER? 

F: How many do we get? [Laughter]

H: How many moments do we get to count? [Laughter]

F: Yeah, that’s right! We each get a different one.

I started UF in January of 1971 after graduating from Miami Dade with an AA degree in Pre-Law.

That month Jane Fonda came and spoke at UF. She was looking for patriotic veterans who served in Vietnam. She said that we needed to tell the American people the truth about the conduct of U.S. troops in Vietnam, and what was being done in their names with their money.

Jane’s talk got me involved in the Winter Soldier Investigation, which got me involved with Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

October saw the passing of two men who made a great impact on both the UF community and the world. Both David Chalmers and Hal Stahmer led long, accomplished lives, each with strong ties to and inspiration from the struggle for the mid-twentieth-century civil rights movement. They wove that into their academic lives as nationally honored professors of history and religion, respectively, as well as in their lives outside the university in their longtime presence in Gainesville. They led full and rich lives that impacted countless people. Condolences to their life partners Jean Chalmers and Paula Stahmer, and their families and friends. The links to their obituaries/tributes from their families are at: https://tinyurl.com/Iguana1138 (David Chalmers) and https://tinyurl.com/Iguana1139 (Hal Stahmer).

Covering Florida Navigators deliver free outreach and enrollment services to any Floridian that needs to enroll in health care coverage in the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace. They assist consumers with telephone, in-person, and online enrollment services and provide public education and outreach activities at locations throughout the state. Navigators are trained and certified to provide free and unbiased help to consumers as they shop for health coverage options through the Marketplace, including completing eligibility and enrollment forms.

by Diane Dimperio

Insurance companies are not established to help people. Most are for-profit businesses with stockholders expecting a return on investment which creates pressure to spend less than they earn. Insurance is a risky business and successful companies have learned how to manage their operation to meet statutory requirements while generating a profit. 

The majority of people with health insurance are enrolled through an employer, which offers several advantages. Employers have  competent professionals negotiating comprehensive plans, the employer pays a large portion of the premium and negotiates out-of-pocket costs for employees. The larger the number of employees the more favorable terms the employer is able to negotiate. 

by Ashley Nguyen

On Oct. 30, the University of Florida announced that in-person classes for Spring 2021 will return to pre-pandemic levels of registration. This announcement has brought forth trepidation, especially from members of the UF faculty, student body, and Gainesville community.

Not only do in-person classes endanger members of the community who belong to high-risk categories (as delineated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), this reckless policy will inevitably lead to dire consequences to workers, staff, and community members who make the everyday processes of the University function smoothly. 

by Joe Courter

Jimmy Cliff’s “Sitting here in limbo” comes to my mind. We had the election we’d been waiting for. Four years of the not normal, the not even imaginable, taking place every day. 

Looking back, it is like the progress we’d made as a society was being taken away; the hard-fought-for rights, the long-struggled-for environmental regulations, even the trust we had in governmental functioning in the public interest seemed to – was – being taken away by an occupying force. Was there anger, even hate, for the perpetrators of these actions? 

by JoJo Sacks

As we swing into November and December, we want to express gratitude for the amazing organizers in town that have been keeping up the good fight! We are in increasingly unprecedented times, and they have been holding it down.

At the CMC, we have been busy with online programming and fundraising. In October, we celebrated our 27th anniversary with a great panel discussion about mutual aid, its origins, and the ways in which local folks have been redistributing resources to those in need. The CMC Virtual Book Club read Dr. Paul Ortiz’s book, An African American and Latinx History of the United States. Recently, we hosted a “Know Your Rights” training for activists with the National Lawyers Guild. In addition, we continue to be the staging area for the twice a week free food distribution by the Free Grocery Store, which takes food right to the doorsteps of people in need.

We are looking forward to more online events soon, helping us raise money to keep the CMC alive. We will host a CMC volunteer meeting on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 5:30pm on Zoom – come plug in if you are interested in helping support the CMC as we remain closed during the pandemic. Stay tuned on our Facebook page for updates. 

You can donate to the 501(c)3 non profit CMC on Paypal at paypal.me/cmc4ever, or mail a check to 433 S. Main Street. Email coordinators@civicmediacenter.org with any questions!

by James Thompson

With heavy focus on Trump’s defeat and control of the Senate in the balance as of this writing, let’s not forget that all politics are local. And local politics can be just as joyous and gut-wrenching as anything the nation has to offer. 

Hope for a better Alachua County and Gainesville metro area springs higher from the successful passing of all eleven progressive local ballot items by public referendum. And we have excellent new County Commissioners in Anna Prizzia and Mary Alford. The bad news is Dr. Kayser Enneking bravely, but unsuccessfully ran against the incumbent Republican Chuck Clemons for Florida House District 21.

The November/December issue of the Iguana is now available, and you can access it here! If you want to get your hands on a hard copy, check out our distro locations here.

Dr. Harold Martin Stahmer, Jr., UF Professor Emeritus, passed away Friday, October 23, 2020, at home, surrounded by his family. Harold was known as Hal to his friends, Dad to his three daughters and Grandfather to his six grandsons. He was born in Brooklyn, NY on August 7, 1929, the son of Harold Martin Stahmer, Sr., and Anne Truntz Stahmer.  He grew up sneaking into Ebbets Field to watch the Brooklyn Dodgers, drawing and painting even as a gifted young child and later taking courses at the Pratt Institute for the Arts, and developing a love of chocolate ice cream while working at his Uncle Henry’s soda and candy shop in Flatbush.