Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) / POOR PEOPLE’S ARMY Press Release, For immediate release August 12, 2024. Press Contacts: Leela de Paula, 413-270-2087 Cheri Honkala, 215-869-4753. PPEHRCorg@gmail.com
City Pressures Permitted Marchers to Stay Away from DNC Site
CHICAGO – The Poor People’s Army, a national group of self-organized poor and homeless people with a 30-year history of staging nonviolent protests, are facing pressure from Chicago city officials to stay away from the Democratic National Convention. Despite this, the organization will be continuing with their plan to march on the convention, being the only organization with a permit to march, due to a city mistake. The march will begin at Humboldt Park on August 19th at 4 p.m. CST with numerous high profile speakers such as Jill Stein, Cornel West, and Pam Africa, and end at the gates of the United Center.
The group began a two-week, 90 mile march on August 3rd from Milwaukee to Chicago, to raise awareness on extreme poverty and human rights violations in the U.S., centering nonviolence and the right to protest in their efforts. According to the group, national issues such as lack of housing, health care, and access to food are connected to the struggles that poor people face internationally, such as the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The recent Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court decision, which criminalizes homelessness and puts thousands of poor people at risk of incarceration, is a large focus of the group’s march.
“We believe there is a higher law that everyone must follow, and that is the law of humanity,” says Galen Tyler, co-founder of the Poor People’s Army. “When thousands of people face threats of arrest every night for sleeping outside and bombs continue to drop in Gaza, the only option we have is to march.”
The two-week march is made up of families with young children, students from around the country, and people with various physical and mental disabilities. The group has asserted the importance of having political actions led by those directly affected by poverty and homelessness, being the only major march on the DNC doing so.
About Poor People’s Army:
For three decades, The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign / Poor People’s Army has been organizing poor and homeless people by “reclaiming the basic necessities of life” with free food distribution and housing takeovers of abandoned government-owned properties. Last month, they released the book, Takeover! A Human Rights Approach to Housing. https://www.poorpeoplesarmy.org/
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