PHOTO/HARVEY FINKLE
PHLADELPHIA—I am a formerly homeless man, husband, and father. I grew up in a rural area in Virginia called Ordinary. Poverty was something people just didn’t talk about. I was taught to be thankful for what you had and if you worked hard enough, you could have all you wanted.
The majority of people in the county were white, so growing up I heard all the stereotypes about non-whites. I read books about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and listened to music by Bob Marley. I was trying to figure out a way to beat back the stereotypes about Blacks taught in the schools. By the time I was in seventh grade I was labeled a trouble-maker for not believing in the history and the stereotypes taught.
After graduating from high school, I went into the military as a medical specialist (91A) to get the GI Bill to afford higher education. I had many ill feelings toward the US government for how it treated people, especially Blacks and people of color around the world. The ruling class has used racism to keep the working class from uniting around issues that they have in common.
There were a lot of open-minded people in Philadelphia willing to look past color, gender, religion, etc., to work on life threatening issues. So when I talk about being poor, there are people of all races able to share some of the same experiences. Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia where I live, is 1/3 Black, 1/3 white, and 1/3 Hispanic. I can state my views and people are willing to build on them, not just shut me down.
A family member told me about the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), a multi-racial organization led by the poor, organizing to put an end to poverty and homelessness. That was the day I started thinking about something bigger than my own issues.
I have struggled with the question of how do we as a people come together to create a society that is for and by the people. We at the KWRU don’t have a blueprint, but with collective struggle and critical thinking, we pulled back the curtain of the wizard. We are empowering the poor of Philadelphia to be in a movement for real change. Philadelphia is called the city of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, but the name doesn’t apply. It should be called the city of What Have You Done for Me Lately.
So, we move people from a point of where you are, not from where we would like you to be. This allows us to identify people for this movement for the long term. Helping people, and highlighting issues that directly affect them, has put us all on equal plane.
Every food or clothing distribution, protest, press conference, and educational moves people from complaisance to outrage about the conditions of millions in this country who are hungry, out in the cold, unhealthy, uneducated, and jobless. This is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We could have a society based on human needs, not on the greed of a few individuals.
Check out the work that has been done and that is coming up at economichumanrights.org.
