Dear Welfare Queens

Latest

Cheri Honkala

Editor’s note: Below are excerpts from a letter by Cheri Honkala of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign
I’m a Queen myself so it’s easy for me to identify with other Queens.
I live in a little apartment on the second floor of a house with my son who is 15 and has two disabilities. I make deliveries during the day for Postmates when I can and work the night shift at UPS. I can barely pay my bills and have been on and off welfare for most of my life. No, I don’t enjoy this life, nor do I wish it on anyone.
We Queens have always been hated, distrusted, and told that we will never amount to anything because we have a poor work ethic.
Our children’s fathers have been called deadbeat dads. To get the little welfare or food stamps we have, we’ve had to cut fathers out of our children’s lives and applaud when they are sent to jail for not paying child support. It’s called the prison industrial complex.
Welfare Queens, listen up: Things are about to get even harder for you now! … Now you have to deal with the social control from the non-profit industrial complex.
My sisters, you must educate yourselves. We need you to follow the money of every organization and person you meet. “Progressive Foundations” are funding the disunity of our class. These foundations are linking government and corporations in order to create the social control necessary to prevent us from building a movement led by the poor, independent of the two corporate-controlled political parties.
They are trying to cut off your voice and mine. We must stand strong in the tradition of Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Smart, Dottie Stevens, Rev. Annie Chambers, Rosa Clemente, and many other sisters who dared to speak truth to power. Women who were and are brave enough to speak out against the Democratic and Republican parties and understand the poor need more than pity. They need political power!
My dear Welfare Queens, you can choose which road to take. Our road might be hard, but it leads to political independence, freedom, dignity, and self-respect.
We need you on this road and hope you will join your fellow Welfare Queens and America’s hated poor on the March for Our Lives on June 2 in Philadelphia when we will march to Washington to reconstruct Resurrection City. You can begin to join other Queens and build a cooperative economy and society. You can help us build the movement to end poverty, hunger, and homelessness, in this country and around the world.
Sign up now to walk this road together and support our efforts by donating just $10 today! (http://economichumanrights.org/)

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

1 COMMENT

  1. I agree with this article 100%!!! I am the grand daughter of the late and great! Mrs. Annie Smart. Tell me what I need to do to get involved. We have difficult times ahead! But we will get through this pandemic!!!!!!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Pushing People into a Really Bad System Will End Really Badly

President Trump's executive order fuses drug use and homelessness, ignoring that homelessness can cause or exacerbate substance use because people use drugs to cope with pain. Forced institutional settings rather than housing will not help the ill or unhoused.

Chicago Resistance Speaks: ‘Until All Are Free, None Are Free’

An uprising is growing as the government tries to impose a dictatorship. Chicago resistance leaders recently offered their thoughts in public remarks made at demonstrations and press conferences.

Los Angeles Continues to Rebuild and Resist

Angelinos, suffering from the profit over people economy, continue to rebuild after the fires and to protest immigration raids, while also experiencing joy in such difficult times.

Chicago Teachers Union Says: Trump, Stay Out of Our City

Chicago Teachers Union rejects any unlawful federal occupation of their city, while welcoming federal leadership that fully funds public education, restores SNAP, and expands Medicaid to healthcare for all.

Journalist Says Why ‘I Can No Longer Work With Reuters’

A photojournalist says why it is impossible for her to maintain a relationship with Reuters "given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza."

More from the People's Tribune