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By Diane Johnson, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign Leader
PHILADELPHIA — If not now, then when is the question everyone should be asking today. We can no longer sit on the sideline and say this is somebody else’s fight. No, this is my fight but it is your fight too! My children no longer go to public school so you may wonder, why should I care if they close public schools down? I care because my grandchildren now go to public schools and I worry what kind of education they are getting in such horrible conditions. I worry about a government that decides a $10 an hour minimum wage is too much for a poor person to have. We are talking about $400 a week, $1,700 a month and $20,800 a year before taxes. That is what congress probably makes in one month for working about seven hard days in that month.
The fight is mine, but it’s yours too. I am thinking about health care for everyone, but what would that do if the health centers and mental health facilities are shut down in our neighborhoods? There is a time when people are going to look around for the things that they need to survive on and nothing is going to be here to support them. Is that what we are waiting for in order to join in the fight for our lives? Yes, our very life!
Please do not keep listening to the same old lies. They say, vote for me I will save you! No, vote for me, I will free you! No, vote for me I will bring jobs. Vote for me and I will make housing affordable. They are all liars, liars, liars. You have to wake up, stand up, and actually be counted for something or else you will just keep standing on the sidelines and we will all die together quietly.
I will not be on the sidelines. I know how great this country is and what it can do with all the technology that we have. I am going to fight for education, health care, affordable housing, livable wages, and good food. I am going to fight against building more jails, closing schools, laying off workers, and not extending the Unemployment Act. I am going to fight because I have no choice but to fight. My grandchildren are at stake and my great grand children are at stake. What about you and what about yours? Get up and fight!
