South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center is a nonprofit organization that helps represent low-income residents on issues like health care, immigration, affordable housing, and education.
The state center’s founder, Sue Berkowitz, recently joined her friend and executive director Bridget Brown at StoryCorps to share what launched her career path, and what continues to inspire her passionate work at the agency.
TRANSCRIPT:
Berkowitz: When I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, I knew it was always going to be public interest or social justice work, and that was because of family. My dad was one of the most principled people I'd ever met. And my mom was also very kind and generous and volunteered, and always was involved with her volunteer opportunities. Some of it is spiritual. I was raised in the Jewish tradition. A lot of it I've totally ignored and don't follow. But the one thing that always made a difference to me was “tikkun olam,” which means when you go to bed at night, you should always make sure the world is a better place than when you woke up, and to make it better for others. And so, I could think of no better way to do that than to use my law training to do that.
Brown: One of the things that I am just blown away by when it comes to you is your ability to get things done, and your willingness to just stick with it and see it through.
Berkowitz: As you know, Bridget, the people we're doing work for every day, their days are so hard. You know, we go home and we have a place to lay our head. We have food on the table. Our kids are gonna be okay. We're all right. The folks that I get my inspiration from are the folks that don't have that guarantee every day. And just 'cause something's hard doesn't mean we give up.
Brown: Right. When it's hard, is there a moment that on the really hard days, because this can be really hard work, that has that you kind of go to in your mind and it's what keeps you going?
Berkowitz: I remember when the Affordable Care Act was being debated, and it was really, really important to me that the Affordable Care Act pass. Max, my son, was born with a congenital heart defect. And when he was less than three years old, we were told he was uninsurable. And that was pretty scary. I mean, we were able to figure out a way to get insurance, finally, but it was really scary. And I remember we went all over the state and had town hall meetings and really fought to get the Affordable Care Act passed. And I remember the night of the...when it was passed. It was a tight vote, but it passed. And I remember sitting there with Max and I was crying, and he's looking at me going, “Oh, God, there she goes again.” He was 16 at that point, so that's how long we had been fighting to make sure. And he looked at me and he said, “Now why are you crying?” And I said, “Honey, ’cause for you, I will know you will always, always be able to get health insurance, because your pre-existing condition will never be able to be denied. But you, and the millions of other people who are denied coverage and can't get coverage because of unjust insurance policies…y' all are going to be protected!” And that's why we do it. We do it for Max. We do it for all the folks who weren't going to have insurance. Those are the folks, and those are the reasons why we do all of this.
