Led by some of the many homeless people of the region, hundreds of members and supporters of CHANGER—Chattanoogans and North Georgians for Economic Rights—held their 2nd annual march through downtown Chattanooga on Friday, October 2nd.


They were joined by a vanload of allies from WIT—Women In Transition—of Louisville, KY. Khalilah Collins, their Executive Director and the recently elected chair of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) Coordinating Council, brilliantly and passionately keynoted the rally at the end of the march. She concluded with an invitation to all to stay with her: “I will go anywhere, march anywhere, until we end this war on the poor and have our rights!”


Others among the marchers were scores of social workers, high school students and teachers, members of the clergy, artists, and a city councilman who, formerly homeless himself, reminded us at the rally that the sooner we identify with the poor, the sooner we will ensure everybody’s human rights. A special message of solidarity was sent to those who dared not attend the march—the hundreds of undocumented workers recruited by local mills in the past and now living in fear, often in the area’s hills and woods, perversely called “illegal”. The age and ethnic diversity of the marchers bore witness to the depth of the economic crisis and the breadth of the commitment to carry out solutions that preserve human dignity and rights.

This year the march and rally were designated as CHANGER’s Zero Evictions Day initiative. Marchers halted in front of the banks that have been aggressively foreclosing the mortgages of thousands of unemployed and underemployed homeowners in the region, changing “no more foreclosures!” Zero Evictions Day—a global effort to end evictions and claim the right to housing for all—will be observed on World Habitat Day, October 5, in Washington, DC, where PPEHRC will hold a press conference and demonstration to bear witness to the failed housing policies in the US and the bailout of the banks that continue to foreclose and evict millions of people across the nation.

For further information about the march and the organization, visit our web site, www.ChattanoogaChanger.org or contact our chair, Brother Ron Fender, at Circle_unbroken@hotmail.com

Labels: Brother Ron Fender, CHANGER, March on Chattanooga, WIT, Zero Eviction Day

POOR PEOPLE'S ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

For immediate release

Contact: Cheri Honkala, 267 439-8419

Marching to Fulfill the Dream: Campaign Will Mobilize Thousands to Claim Economic Rights

"Martin Luther King dreamed not only of racial justice, but of organizing across racial lines to secure economic justice for all. In 1998 the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) picked up the mantle of MLK and vowed to work until the dream was fulfilled. If you think we're there, you can ignore this. But if you're hurting, or your mother or your brother or your neighbor or friend is hurting, put on your walking shoes," said Cheri Honkala, National Organizer of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC).

At its national conference in July, nearly 400 representatives of PPEHRC member organizations voted to organize the next phase of the campaign—a march from the Katrina-torn Gulf through the Mississippi Delta and on through the Rust Belt.

The march will culminate in Detroit at the 2010 US Social Forum, which expects upwards of 20,000 participants from around the country and the globe.

As was the case in the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, other marchers will follow Freedom Roads from other parts of the country to join the main branch, which will visibly unite south and north in their common cause.

In 2003, PPEHRC recreated the 1968 Poor People's March, caravanning from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, DC. Commemorating the 35^th anniversary of the campaign planned by King before his assassination, organizers of that march pointed to the shameful lack of achievement of the original economic justice goals of jobs, housing, and health care. Since then things have gotten worse—much worse.

"In 1968 the white middle class liberals who had supported civil rights largely abandoned the struggle for economic rights," said a PPEHRC organizer, "but today whites and people of all colors increasingly understand out of their own experience that poverty is not the result of moral failure and laziness. They have worked hard, educated themselves and their children, served their communities and their country, and yet they are losing their homes and their health care. Robots are doing their jobs, and if they can find a job they work harder and longer for less."

Another PPEHRC leader elaborated on today's growing understanding of poverty. "People who have followed all the rules of 'middle class America' are having to choose among their basic human rights: Shelter or medicine? Food or clothing? Education or basic necessities? Water or pre-natal care? That's the nature of poverty. It's structural. Millions who thought of themselves as middle class are awakening to that fact—that securing economic human rights for all is not a safety net for the fallen, but a foundation on which the people of this country can rebuild this country. We are calling them to this march and to the US Social Forum to create a people's solution to the economic crisis."

Marian Kramer, Co-Chair of the National Welfare Rights Union, announces PPEHRC plan to continue pursuing MLK’s dream in 2010 national march for economic justice.”

The plan to undertake the march was announced by Marian Kramer, Co-Chair of the National Welfare Rights Union, at the July PPEHRC event, "Building the Unsettling Force:A National Conference to End Poverty," held in Louisville, KYIt was endorsed enthusiastically by the participants, most of whom represented over 60 of the 131 member organizations of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). The theme of the conference was based on Martin Luther King's call to organize the "dispossessed of the nation" into an unsettling force to demand economic human rights. The conference was co-sponsored by the Social Welfare Action Alliance, and hosted by Women in Transition, both PPEHRC member organizations.

Labels: Detroit, Economic Justice, Marching to Fulfull the Dream, Martin Luther King, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, PPEHRC, SWAA, USSF 2010, WIT

Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, Cheri Honkala, Gathering of Hearts, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT

By Emily Udell
eudell@courier-journal.com
July 17, 2009

Several hundred people blocked traffic on Broadway and Fourth Street Friday afternoon as they marched through downtown to draw attention to economic and social justice issues.

The march was part of a conference on poverty that has attracted some 300 social workers, academics, working people and labor activists to Spalding University this weekend.

"The goal of this demonstration today is to lift the voices of poor people across the country," said Khalilah Collins, executive director of Women in Transition, a Louisville group that helped organize the event. "All we have is our voices; we don't have lobbyists."

Collins said participants were trying to showcase issues faced by low-income people, including a need for affordable housing, living wages and access to education. She said these are problems that members of her organization have faced since long before the onset of the global economic crisis.

"This crisis is not new to us," she said. "We've always been homeless; we've always faced having our gas and lights turned off."

The march began at about 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Park at Fourth and Kentucky streets and wove through the downtown. Participants blocked rush-hour traffic as they paraded down Broadway and marched up Fourth Street, carrying signs with anti-poverty messages.

"The people took back the streets," said Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman, who came to show his support. "It was a moment of empowerment."

The demonstration concluded in Jefferson Square, at Sixth and Jefferson streets, where participants listened to speakers and joined in chants for "Unity!" until about 5 p.m.

Many of the demonstration's participants were attending a weekend conference at Spalding titled "Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to End Poverty," which was sponsored by the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Social Welfare Alliance. The conference included research presentations, workshops and tours showcasing local activists' efforts to combat economic problems in Louisville.

Whit Forrester, 25, said he was energized by the grassroots nature of the march and conference, and likened the work of participating groups to that of Ella Baker, a civil rights activist who began a long career of activism in the 1930s.

"The work that happens like this—a movement for the people, by the people and of the people—has a greater capacity to succeed," Forrester said.

Readers can reach reporter Emily Udell at (502) 582-4199.

Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT

Posted: Jul 17, 2009 6:04 PM EDT Updated: Jul 17, 2009 6:26 PM EDT

By Paige Quiggins
Original Article: http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=10746803

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign hosted its 11th annual march to end poverty on July 17.

Hundreds of people took part in the march that started in Memorial Park at 3:30 Friday afternoon. Their goal: to put an end to human suffering. The march began with participants shouting "What do we want? Healthcare! When do we want it? Now!" as they proceeded from Memorial Park down 4th Street toward downtown Louisville.

The crowd shouted in excitement, fists clenched in the air, as children chanted "Save my mommy's home!" and "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Poverty has got to go!"

According to PPEHRC member Arun Prabhakaran, the march was put together by hundreds of organizations around the country through local chapters, such as Louisville's Women In Transition.

PPEHRC national organizer Cheri Honkala said the event expected over 500 individuals to step up and voice their concerns. Honkala, a mother of two who was once homeless, said she believed the economic crisis affecting poverty was worse in the South than the North, but the hit has affected everyone.

"Everybody in this country are all a paycheck or healthcare crisis away from homelessness," said Honkala. "Any day could be your turn."

According to Honkala, the organization is also trying to help those going through foreclosures, people without healthcare and others suffering from the recession.

Executive director of Women in Transition, Khalilah Collins, said her local organization was happy to participate in the march because they are attempting to help the women and children affected by the economy.

"In Louisville, we've found women are losing their children, due to poverty reasons," Collins said. "That's being called neglect. Living in your car is neglect. Having no LG&E is neglect. It's an economic human rights violation."

For more information, visit www.economichumanrights.org

Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT

Labels: Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, Harvey Finkle, KWRU, KY, Louisville, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Spaulding University, SWAA, WIT

Women In Transition (WIT)
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC)
and the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA) Announce:

Building the Unsettling Force:
A National Conference to Abolish Poverty

Join residents of homeless encampments, social workers, families fighting foreclosure, Katrina victims, low-wage workers, immigrants, people without health care, members of the religious community, the unemployed, artists, representatives of the labor movement, and friends from the International Community as we come together to confront the economic crisis and to build a massive movement for Economic Human Rights for all.

Thursday, July 17, 2009 -- Sunday, July 19, 2009
Spalding University -- Louisville, Kentucky

Labels: Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, poverty, PPEHRC, Social Welfare Action Alliance, SWAA, WIT

Labels: Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, Harvey Finkle, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT