Read this powerful blog post written by Marcelle Martin, a Delaware County quaker, who attended the preliminary court hearing on Thursday, October 16th for “The Crozer 8.” The Crozer 8 are the eight Put People First! PA and Nonviolent Medicaid Army leaders who were arrested and charged with 3rd degree misdemeanors for peacefully protesting the closure of Crozer-Chester. Below is an exceprt from her blog. To read the full piece, click here.
When the Healers are Sent Away, the Prophets Must Rise
Posted on October 17, 2025 by friendmarcelle
Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those wo are kind to the needy honor him. –Proverbs 14:31 (NRSV)
When a city loses its hospital, doctors, crisis center, and medical offices because of unchecked corporate greed, the need to heal our society becomes more clear. This morning I attended a preliminary court hearing for a group known as “The Crozer 8.” They had been arrested at a peaceful sit-in protesting the closing of Crozer-Chester Hospital and its medical offices, facilities that had been providing essential services to over half a million people. About 2,700 employees abruptly lost their jobs when the healthcare system closed in May 2025, including my primary care doctor, gynecologist, and another physician who had been treating me for an ongoing medical condition.
Who are the Crozer 8? On Monday, September 8, 2025, fifty people, including former workers and patients, held a rally in front of the closed Crozer-Chester Medical Center campus in Upland, PA. Eight of the protesters entered a medical office building within the complex that had not yet been completely shut down. They peacefully sat on one side of the lobby, taking care not to block foot traffic.
They declared:
“We are a group of people whose families have been hurt and harmed by this criminal healthcare system that puts profit over our lives. We’re sick and tired of getting sick while Wall Street gets rich, and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
In making the difficult decision to engage in nonviolent direct action and to risk arrest, they drew on the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who attended the nearby Crozer Seminary from 1948 to 1951. King had explained that breaking minor laws may sometimes be necessary to redress greater harm:
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through that red light, and normal traffic had better get out of its way. Or, when a man is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed. There is a fire raging now… Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.” (The Trumpet of Conscience)
When ordered to leave by the police, the eight people who were participating in the peaceful sit-in refused to get up. They were arrested for “defiant trespassing.”
To read the full article click here.
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