In this special episode, we offer a montage of interviews, songs, and speeches recorded during the Poor People’s Campaign’s June 23 rally on the National Mall and march on the US Capitol. To learn more about the 21st Century Poor People’s Campaign, visit www.poorpeoplescampaign.org.
Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure
In this special episode, we offer a montage of interviews, songs, and speeches recorded during the Poor People’s Campaign’s June 23 rally on the National Mall and march on the US Capitol. To learn more about the 21st Century Poor People’s Campaign, visit www.poorpeoplescampaign.org.
Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure
Today we stand as truth tellers witnessing to the pain and suffering caused by the injustices within our community and across this country. We gather to declare that we need a moral revival, a radical revolution of values and poor people's campaign to save the heart and soul of our democracy and of our nation.
Speaker 2:This is on just immoral and unnecessary to have millions of poor people in this land. It is unjust, immoral, and unnecessary that we had children warehoused across this country because of their immigration status, because of their homelessness, because their families had no access to water. We need our poor people's campaign. So we are building one.
Speaker 3:So today it is about the people. This is a different kind of rally. We've not invited people here today to speak for the people. We've invited the people to speak for themselves or revolution.
Speaker 4:On Saturday, June 23rd, 2018 thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington d C to launch the next phase of the poor people's campaigns, national call for moral revival. Many had been in DC demonstrating, marching, being rained on and getting arrested. And since the previous Monday, most had already participated in rallies and collective acts of nonviolent civil disobedience in their home towns and cities throughout the spring and early summer as part of the campaigns, 40 days of moral action, but they had all come to DC that day in order to a store update and amplified the big demand issued by the participants of the original poor people's campaign of 1968 namely the demand that their government finally acknowledged and reckoned with the plight of the core and dispossessed in the United States and across the world. After a hot summer's Day with a prayer, speeches, songs, and protest chants the participants in the poor people's campaign of 2018 including labor union members, faith leaders and political activists marched their message directly to the capitol. We're moving leaders, reverends, Liz, Theo Harris and William Barbara hand deliberate, a list of more specific demands. These included one and end the systemic racism and to the institutions and policies that supported to the elimination of poverty and inequality in the United States through the adoption of federal and state living wage laws, guaranteed incomes, full employment. And the right for all workers to form and join unions. Three, stopping and reversing ecological devastation through development of 100% clean and renewable energy and public jobs program to help transition to a green economy and for abandoning this country's dependency on the war economy and militarism primarily by cutting military spending, ending privatization of the military budget and by demilitarizing US cities and borders. Each of these actions would be necessary. The campaign made clear not only to save the souls of poor folks
Speaker 5:but also ultimately to save the soul of the nation. I'm Billy sauce in this special episode of money on the left. We are very glad to share with you some of the sounds I've recorded while at the poor pupils campaigns rally on the mall and during the march on the Capitol we'll hear some speeches and songs from the rally but in line with the bottom up nature of the campaign. We'll listen mostly to interviews and conversations I recorded with people I met during and after the march. Each of the people in the four interviews to come is affiliated with a different political or labor organization. They also come from different and diverse communities taken together. I think they demonstrate that the poor people's campaign of 2018 is successfully building upon the foundations of the original campaign of 68
Speaker 6:which drew strength and vitality from its multiethnic, multitenancy and morally unified coalition of workers, activists, and poor people. One to one. Here we go.[inaudible]
Speaker 7:[inaudible][inaudible][inaudible][inaudible] smarter with mom.[inaudible][inaudible]. So,
Speaker 8:uh, my name is[inaudible]. I'm part of, um, the justice center in
Speaker 9:Barrio, um, which is the center where we do a bunch of different kinds of political education. So we do, um, liberate Liberation Mc, which is like a open mic. Uh, we buy artists from the community to come out and we like, we have themes. So we, uh, we have themes like a women's oppression, a black liberation, um, queer liberation on workers, workers rights, and where we, uh, ask artists, local artists to bring out work that represents that theme. Um, also we have, um, uh, forums with the community where we talk about national and international issues affecting us in the world today. Um, or things that are relative to the world today. So sometimes we talk about historical things that happened, um, on the anniversary of them, but also historical things that happened, um, when it's relative to like whatever the, uh, the political climate is. Um, then we also have, um, film showings, but we show documentaries and we usually have a panel and we have speakers and we talk about different issues from rezonings to deportation, um, to sterilization of women, uh, of indigenous women, uh, of immigrant women. And like, really, you know, talk about Hawaii is relevant to the world today and talk about, talk to the people that are, have been affected. And we also do just regular political education where we go out to different areas, um, where like our communities live at and talk about these issues as well. Um, we also provide classes, uh, like, uh, these, all these things in Spanish. So that center, we have a couple of different organizations, but the one that I'm part of is the party for socialism, liberation. Um, it was the Socialist Party. Um, so I got involved with the poor people's campaign about, uh, about two months ago. Um, really when it launched, um, before the 40 days, they had a, a meeting in New York City, which where I'm from, born and raised. Um, and when they were talking about the poor people's campaign and it was talking about like an intersectional struggle. But like that's, that's what in the root of it, that's what it is, a struggle that unites all poor and, and dispossessed and oppress people. And that's, that's what I believe. And that's why I fight for socialism because I feel like that's the only system that can truly, um, encompass the struggle of each person. Um, you know, cause capitalism is very about the, it's very much about the individual and not about the struggles of behind it. So we might have, um, so-called wins where we'll have someone that's part of my identity who will make it into an elite class. But at the end of the day, the majority of black people are still living in poverty. The majority of Queer people are still being oppressed. And the majority of trans people are still being oppressed. So it's not only about having a few elite to represent us, right? It's not about having someone in the, in the White House, but having the people that are on the lower spectrum, making sure that they have housing, making sure that they have food, making sure they have closing the day, they can go to the hospital and not worry about dying because they don't have something like an insurance or, uh, whatever healthcare coverage. And that's what the poor people's campaign is about. I, at least when I hear the, when I hear anything, you know, I've been, I've been, um, doing a lot of the organizing locally in New York City. Um, I've been putting together cultural events, making sure people come out to the buses, talking to youth in my area, talking to people in my area because that's what, that's why I see need, needs this campaign the most. You know, there's a lot of organizations involved or, and it's awesome, right? We have you come out today and you see we at least there has to be at least 3000 people today. A lot of unions, a lot of working class people, but the message that the message doesn't come out to people that are struggling on a day to day basis. Not saying that people that are unions or not just saying that like I know people in my neighborhood never heard about the poor people's campaign until I had an event in my neighborhood because there's no media coverage about behind it and the media coverage that there is negative. It's about how we're blocking traffic and how we don't really care about the poor. But the thing is that the same, the same media coverage won't talk about the lobbyists that are passing that are having a backdoor meeting with elected officials. Right? They won't cover that, but they'll cover us blocking traffic. So I think as a socialist, I feel like I need to be part of every movement, right? Some people might say that this movement is too liberal. I think that that those people might not have not come to one move. One of these, uh, events because the people that are coming out, at least when I was going up to Albany, we're coming out with two buses. One of those buses were full of homeless people and they were out there speaking. So when someone comes and demonized us and said that we don't care about poor people, you're talking to poor people, you know, me and myself, I'm somebody that was born and raised in Harlem and my, my mother had two or three jobs at a time. That's where I learned about politics, realizing that my grandmother, hardworking woman still was still, um, was failed by her healthcare system. My mother, hardworking woman, still was filled by health coach system, still was failed by our system of inequality. And me as a person that was just looking to work, it was constantly stopped by the police because I looked like someone, it wasn't because I was committing a crime, they would stop me just cause I looked like somewhere. So like that's racism that's in the quality that's built into our system. So we can't ever like fix this system because this system is working exactly how it's supposed to work. And that's something that people really don't understand. People think that it's not, it's not our system. It's just like minor tweaks that had to happen that our system is broken, is a narrative that I hear a lot. But I don't think our system is broken. I assist them is his working just how it's supposed to work. But every once in a while people get fed up, people get upset, people will come out together and in big numbers and demand change and those little changes happen then and people think like, oh, that's, that's a, that's a show of like our system being fixed and it's not, that's uh, US getting minor minor victories, so we will no longer be in the streets. Right? And the minor victories tends to be individual victories, right? It's never a victory for everyone. Right. How can you call yourself a feminist if you're pro war, you know, how can you call, how can you call yourself anti-war if you're, if you are a person that thinks that this should be more police in our neighborhoods. Those are things that don't make any sense to me. And this campaign is one of the few campaigns that are out here really encompassing everything, right? That uh, a big, a phrase that I heard a lot, it was like people are put into silos of their issues, right? Especially like you talk about nonprofits, they're like they do with one or two issues, but then they can't really deal with, uh, they really can't deal with more than that because then they won't get the funding that they want and we don't, we don't want funding. That's not what we want. We want to change. We are not about creating a business, a business to create service. We want our system creates the services that we need because we are the, we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world. So there's no reason that we should have Susan like almost half of our population living in poverty. It makes no sense. And that's why I'm part of the poor people's campaign. That's what I'm part of. I was part of the launch and that's how I'm going to keep on with the poor people's campaign because the voices that need to be uplifted and our society are the voices of the workers or the voices of the, of the, of the people that are the most oppressed of the poor people. The people that are always silent that we put out, always call nasal. But these are the people that working 50 hour, 50 hour weeks, 60 hour weeks. These are the people that are living in the streets are asking for money so they can have something to eat. But we're giving false narratives, narratives that these are people that have given up or are lazy. But that's not true because I know many poor people that were put into poverty because of things like abuse, right? Domestic abuse in their household or, um, an accident happens, like the building, the building burns down and they don't have another$3,000 to put in for getting a new apartment. Because me as someone that's lived in my neighborhood, I barely have the opportunity to live in my neighborhood. If something was happening to my apartment, I would probably have to move. I would have probably had to move out of my neighborhood. I probably had to move out of my community. And that's not fair. It's not fair that people that are the community, right? The communities are not buildings. The communities are not structures. The communities are the people. So once you move people away from their communities, there's no longer community. So that's what I'm about. I'm about creating community, creating community with organizers right through this campaign, creating community to people in struggle and also making sure that communities that are there stay there.
Speaker 10:Did you know that 53% of discretionary spending in the u s goes to the military?
Speaker 7:[inaudible]
Speaker 10:only 15% goes to anti poverty programs.
Speaker 7:[inaudible]
Speaker 10:we get imperialism abroad and militarism at home. Did you know that the department of the fence cannot account for$21 trillion?
Speaker 7:[inaudible]
Speaker 10:that's 235 years worth of food stamps.
Speaker 7:[inaudible]
Speaker 10:but they'll tell us that we're the greedy ones. Did you know that more than two thirds of the civilian casualties from aerial attacks in 2017 alone were women and children enemy combatant,
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 10:that's what we're up against.
Speaker 7:Did you know that families are being exposed to high levels of lead in the water and other sources? Lack of access. The complete plumbing that's in 1998 5,712 suites, climate change has sifted weather patterns and boy intense storms and hurricanes.
Speaker 2:Therefore, we demand, we demand an intra military aggression and warmongering. We demand a stop to the privatization of the military project and any increase in military spending. We demand a strong veterans administration system that remains public. Come on, pay, vote on a site, and a ban on the easy access a firearm, the militarization of our communities on the border and interior. We demand that the call to build a wall at the u s Mexico border immediately[inaudible]
Speaker 3:think the man 100% clean, renewable energy and public jobs programs to transition to a green economy with living wages. We demand fully funded public water and sanitation system that keeps these utilities services under public control and that prioritize or rule native and communities of color that have been most severely harmed. We demand a ban on fracking mountaintop removal, coal ash ponds off shore drilling. We demand a ban on all pipelines, three binary's and coal, oil and gas export terminals. We demand the protection of public lands. We demand that corporations stop exploiting and polluting our communities and homes. We demand that mother earth be recognized as a sacred living dean and be as such
Speaker 4:that all are equal systems. Rivers and oceans be protected. Who are the future generations?
Speaker 6:[inaudible]
Speaker 4:so I got the liberation paper and then y'all had a beautiful banner. Can you talk a little bit about what you understand to be the connection between what's happening today and one of Luther King Jr's efforts and economic justice in 1968 cores assassinated?
Speaker 9:Yeah, because, so I'm Martin Luther King Jr has been ha like his, his legacy has been whitewashed. Um, we, they, they tell us as me, as somebody who went to public school, it was only about, oh, he fought for civil rights and then he was assassinated, but now we have civil rights. And there was, it was bigger than that towards his death. He was talking about things that people were uncomfortable. He was talking against the Vietnam War. He was talking for Labor, for labor unions. He was talking, he was talking about creating a poor people's campaign, bringing people together, different oppressed people together because he understood that it was bigger than just a one sector. It was just, it was a bigger than just black civil rights. We needed human rights. We needed a campaign for the poor and dispossessed. It was bigger than just us. Um, it was bigger than just, uh, racism in the south. It was also about racism in our country and how it was part of the north economies too. But they were the same people that were, um, fighting, fighting racism in the south for the same ones, passing laws that were, that were oppressing black and brown people in the north with things like red lining, um, uh, things like law and order bills that were passed. So, so I see, I see Martin Luther King's legacy as, as torn and stepped on by our system. Right. I went into the Capitol building inside a or over here in Washington d C and in the same room, they have a bust of Martin Luther King. They have a statue of Ronald Reagan, you know that, you know, the above us, they have a of a slave owner, which is so called the father of this country, right? George Washington. So it's really shows what they, what they choose to be part of history. We don't write our history, they write our history, you know, they'll assassinate, they'll assassinate our freedom fighters and then call them terrorists. So I, I, I realized that being part of this campaign that there was more that I had to learn and there's more that my community has to learn and that they will tell us half truths, but not until we really research and really do the work that we need to do and educate our community, right? And not on some a leaders shit. Like we were coming from above. And I think like our community don't know or doesn't know certain things. Our community knows what it is to live in poverty because they're living in poverty. They know that something is missing because they are living the reality of living in a capitalist system. Right? So coming in and talking to them and hearing, hearing their stories and hearing the narratives that they were there, they were misinformed by and seeing how we can, how we can work together to destroy them. Right. There's a, there's a big, um, there's a big, big thing that I've seen in like a lot of lefties where they come from this place of being always, right. Right. They'll, they'll gather together and talk about how they're always right or demonized people because they're wrong in certain places. But that's not, we need to be relatable. We need to be able to talk to people in the streets because the poor and dispossess people of our country are the people that I show some of the most con, some of the most contradict, contradicting beliefs, sexism, racism, homophobia, right. While living in the streets and not having enough to eat.
Speaker 7:I know one more question familiar with or have anything, any thoughts about may 14 what's happening with the Congress? Congressional election in the Bronx?
Speaker 9:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With a Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Yeah. I've been actually watching a lot of her stuff recently. I think it's, it's ridiculous that we haven't had a midterm election and I think it was 14 years. Yeah. Um, people don't have a choice to get representation. Our representation is so important in this system that we're in, that we're in, and hopefully any system that we will create after, after this system crumbles by itself. Um, because you can't have a[inaudible]
Speaker 7:community.
Speaker 9:You can't have a community that's 60% people of color be represented by the same person who doesn't even live in the community for 14 years. Ryan, this is somebody who comes from wealth and who decides who are the people that are put on the ballot? That's not fair. This is somebody that gets money from the same people that funded Donald Trump. And that's the truth about a lot of Democrats. A lot of Democrats get the same funding that the Republicans get and they vote on the same oppressive bills, but then they come out and saying that they're part of a resistance, right? So if people are not coming out and saying the linkedin things, if they're not seeing up, they're not being truthful and they're not being straightforward with what is necessary, then we don't need them, right? She is someone that's doing that. She is someone that's industries that is talking about abolishing ice, right? Like, um, Crowley will say that, oh, that he does it. He thinks that ice is bad, but he doesn't agree about abolishing ice. So what do you, what do you, I don't like if you think, if you think your house is burning down, but you're not going to call the firefighter, then what are you doing? Like what are you doing to change? But it's where the funding comes from me. He's funded by developers. He's funding by right by right wing politicians. So how can we ever expect change? And these are the same people that are making, making the laws that are oppressing us, talking about resistance.
Speaker 7:[inaudible] in the mining and what was there with the money. Me, I didn't know if we need to run to play with the button.[inaudible] say fight the power. The power fight. The power. Ain't no party like a[inaudible] people's moving kind of people come and stay. No. More like a[inaudible] like a Barbie with moments in the bar.[inaudible] why do we want this? When do we want to say, why do we, why do we want it? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why wait on fire?
Speaker 6:[inaudible]
Speaker 5:you're about to hear audio of a conversation between myself and David Wilensky, which we recorded during the march. On the capitol. I was lucky to also be holding the state banner for Louisiana throughout the march, so please excuse the rough audio. David is a veteran of a number of social movements and he talked with me about how the poor people's campaign compared to others, he's been a part of as well as the connection he sees between the Obama and Trump presidencies.
Speaker 11:[inaudible] some of those people. What's the[inaudible] President[inaudible] in the newspaper and in the debate, even when I was[inaudible] small enough tenants. This is about some of which happens on the social worker Clinton. Obama grab his, he was Haiti even more than king cause he was bad. He didn't, he wouldn't say even on something like that, you don't talk about every day stuff. It's gone. It doesn't exist. It's like tolerating your, it's like you can believe that Susan's coming tomorrow. Okay. That's for sure. There was that. He refused to leave. Even for the stuff that he knew that and then you can tell that his hands were tied at this point in the conversation. Somebody who liked her mother always says that to me. Just seeing how this course works. No one's hands weren't tied and his mouth wasn't tied. What he was fighting the hard fight, but just in his half his article Bible listening, hopefully us have to, okay this fall I have to do these become the most exciting, be the first black president and the most successful example example of the corrupt American dream. Then then my hands. Yeah. Then my hands are tied because somebody is going to get mad and somebody who's to you know, do what happened to, I was living with her like at all. But you know who was there? Who did put it out there for health care. So what bet becoming a dick lesson and you can't do it. You can't even talk about, you can't even me. You can't talk about it. It doesn't even exist. Which is why people like Bernie started the conversation about, hey, yeah, sure guarantee and you know no, that the reason that he is not[inaudible] has to do is not left over democracy. Democracy probably wouldn't. I think you wouldn't want at least at least people who want a choice didn't y same all of them. The system, I think of you actually, I think this is also written to make a point. I think that Clinton and Trump with are people who could only be at each other, which is also probably what the vote was. I mean, I care about it from a technical stuff, but I don't care about it. People will say, wow, we were, Hillary won the popular vote. She should have been president. They're consoling themselves about something, which wouldn't have been very good. This shit. So you say you live 50 miles away, but have you been, are you here for this champaign events specifically or have you been involved in any other kinds of, for people's campaigns with that? Not In the poor people's gut have actually listening. Excuse me, what brought you to this thing? I got stop playing some type of innovation. I was happy to say that be 15 people like that were behind us. And that's, it's funny because there's a lot of like I hung out for awhile with my friends from Jewish voice for peace, which is another, so no, it's funny really. I could, I'm not going to do it, but I could tell you what happened the first five times or 10 down here. The same thing. Cause it's hard, but maybe I have to, you know, you were seven years old. You think that that, what is the last chapters of your life going to be? And maybe it's complicated because there's others, all the family stuff and the family stuff is a DADSS is not because they voted, the rest of them didn't vote for traveling. Right. But um, it's against this because[inaudible] as far as and when you have five grandchildren, some of the parents of those grandchildren, which isn't socioeconomic status anyway, so all that stuff. So I would have to fight that war to be more than just a carton, you know? And that's, that's nothing I'm thinking about people like Barbara really make me feel better about even having to think about it.
Speaker 3:And she has a holiness in this right here. Now this is the, this is why it's go on to stand what we're doing here, but this is why you have to let the impacted people have the stage, not folk telling their story for them. Everybody, every problem we have with poverty, it could be solved if we just chose to have a war on poverty and not killing for profit. Don't even need any more money and we have to connect these issues. We can't fight in our silos anymore. I'm just concerned about black folk, but I'm not concerned about militarism. Hahaha. You've been saying about black, where you gotta be concerned about militarism and vice versa. Slit the rock while you're holding hands. Let's see, a spoken word.
Speaker 11:Drama's system.
Speaker 2:Hi Guys, my name is Danny Miller. I'm a 17 year old youth poet and a member of the 2018 DCU Slam team, a program of Split this rock split. This rock is an organization at the intersection of poetry and social justice and I'm excited to be here today. This poem is called tired. I'm tired of writing poems about oppression. I'm probably just as tired or writing them as you are of hearing them. I'm tired of bleeding for this paper. I'm tired of bleeding for those who have no more blood left. I'm tired of writing poems about oppression. I'm tired of finding the most eloquent way to comprehend is cruelty, to glorify all these deaths. There is nothing about this struggle that is poetic. My poetry is hardly beautiful. It's hardly poetic. I am tired of being poetic. There is no metaphor I could write that can make a museum of their bodies of art bodies. No simile could slide America out of our choices. No score is high enough to bring back our boys. I'm tired, I'm tired. I'm taking my rage and transforming it into beautiful. It's a three minutes into this fascinating plate of a struggling artist and I'm tired of writing about oppression. I'm tired of spilling myself into these words only for nothing to change, only for us to be in the same place next week, next month, next year, and I'm tired of unity no matter what. I'm tired of politicians who say that unity is our best option. Who say he's our president, so we should give him a chance as if he hasn't had his chance forever. As of over the course of American history, people like him have ever given us one. I'm tired of respectability politics and people who tell us to hug our oppressors as in peace is the same thing as justice as if a patriarchy doesn't object. The passive girls too, as if Martin and Malcolm didn't die this same way. I'm tired of feminism that isn't intersectional and movements that aren't intersectional and white women who voted for Trump, 53% of y'all pray sisterhood within turn our math on clear woman, Muslim woman and woman of color. When they need us, we put the weight of our struggle on their shoulders, but when they need our support, we disappeared, would preferred to white out our womanhood and I tired of that and I'm tired of writing poems about oppression. I'm probably just as tired of writing them as you are of hearing them, but we both aren't as tired as people forced to live in poverty day in and day out as residents of Flint who are still being poisoned as children's have seen their parents get by from under a school desks as kids being detained and separated from their families at the border as people forced to protest as a means at protecting their own humanity. I'm tired of writing poems about oppression and that is why I keep writing them.
Speaker 6:[inaudible] sick and tired of being tired.
Speaker 12:We call them all the Labor in the house. It's going to be sneaking. So you shout the loudest. If you remember his Labor Organization, come on, lay up on the stage. Aft
Speaker 6:[inaudible],
Speaker 12:F, G, American Federation of government employees. You in the house is as me. The house is CWA in the house.
Speaker 6:Ah,
Speaker 12:S. E. I. U. N
Speaker 6:[inaudible].
Speaker 12:If you F C W
Speaker 6:[inaudible]. His work was one was the, which one was it? All right. Yeah. I came here for my kids,
Speaker 13:Hey, and their kids from Kansas City. I'm originally from South Dakota. Okay. Cheyenne River, Sioux tribe o and m is very, very poor. Raise a little reservation, but it's good that some of the kids that I seen and noticed that that was told to me that the education is really is good if they wanted to learn and be there. Um, and a lot of them very athletic. That's the only thing I see that everybody kind of sees that's coming from there is they're athletic and there's very, very good to see that. And I want that. I'm here for them so they will have the opportunities that we didn't have. What is it about the poor people's campaign that gives you some hope on that, that think that that house over there will listen to what we said today and forties past 50 years and these paths this past 40 days.
Speaker 6:Tired. Yeah.
Speaker 13:We've been doing this for all week. We've been here all week and doing other action. You've been doing actions that Kansas City to yes. I'll ever, ever everywhere from 40 days. Mom, they couldn't help it here.[inaudible] came here all together. Okay. All right. I thank you. What was your name? Lois. Lois swimmer. Swimmer. Yes.
Speaker 6:Cru. Wow. Those are LSU brothers. That's the first thing. FCIU local ones. I love the flavor. Okay, great. I'll put this right here. Okay. Uh, he heard Bob. Bill is for Maria[inaudible].
Speaker 14:No, I'm just bad, but my name is George Brown. More, um, uh, from St Louis, Missouri. I'm represents St Louis. And let's see, I you local one. Whew. Oh, but I came because I, my, you asked me that I want to participate in Nepal peoples campaign and I told her, yeah, I told them Yakka and I've learned a lot of inserts, made a lot of interesting people and I learned a lot. I've met, uh, one of the original, uh, ladies that, um, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King right by side every day, day in and day out from 1968 up until, you know, I guess she retired or whatever. And in 1968, I was 10 years old. So add, uh, but like I was telling this one, the lady, we all are going through the thing and I'm hearing really for my grand babies as well, because, uh, when my grand babies grow up to get out into the working world, I want it to be, it's not going to be easy as I think it is, but I want it to be a little bit better than what it is. And if I could make a change, help make a change in bed for my grandkids that I mop, or not only for my grandkids, but all of the other young, uh, of female and males that's growing up until the world that want to get out there and get a job and make something of themselves and you gotta have a union, hopefully the juniors will still be around. And, um, I just like helping people. I bet active in, uh, FCIU local one for 20 plus years. And I'm a keep on until the day I die. Or The Lord, I say, it's time for you to stop, sit down and go rest yourself. But I'm here. I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna be here, I'm being everywhere and I really enjoy myself and I hope to come back to another one of these campaigns, hopefully real soon. I met a lot, a lot of interesting people and I'm so glad that I can see retained 68 when the original poor people's campaign was going on. Was it on your radar at all? Yeah, we watch TV with Dr. Martin Luther King came on on, on our TV and our house. You better be quiet. You better sit up. You better pay attention. You better learn some. You better listen. Cause this is my mom and dad used to always tell us this will affect you one day in some shape, form or fashion. So you better pay attention, you better listen. And the more you listen to pay attention, the more you learn and which is true and you learn and you learn something new every day. And I learned something the five days that I was here even though it rained every day. But I'm glad that's okay. It didn't stop us cause we came, we, we showed up and we show out and that's what we came here for to show up and show out. And we did. And I come in and everybody that came out young and old and older came out, showed up and we showed out that we had a nice time doing it. It was smooth sailing, no arguing, no fussing, no fighting amongst each other. Everybody was happy with each other, laughing and joking, decent conversations. And I made that. That's just it. And that's how I supposed to be of all walks of life. All Dash analogies, you know. Thank you sir. All nationalities. All walks of life. We have fun. I know I did. And I know a lot of other people that was here. They had fun. Even though this was a serious matter, we made it worthwhile. We enjoyed ourself, we had fun and I enjoy myself and like I say, hope to come back and do it again. Did you ever favorite speech or favorite action? What was the most fun? Well, the most part that, well all of it was a good, but I liked the part where they, uh, a boat, uh, rally down to the Capitol and uh, I, I didn't like the fact that they put handcuffs on the people and gave them citations and stuff, but they say they do that all the time. But they didn't lock nobody up. They just gave him a citation and uh, let them go and stuff. But they were mad. I even videotaped it. I video tape the police and stuff. They was, they looked like they wanted to lock somebody up, but we didn't get enough. We didn't give him a read. The locked us up. Like I say, they were doing, they job like we were doing our job. We let them do their job. We did our job peacefully, but no fuss and no arguing. Talk them back to the police. They told us step back. We stepped back, we did what we were supposed to do. And then river robbers, he spoke, he sang last night. He spoke last night. He also spoke today and there was a lot of interesting people that spoke today that really got that point across to a lot of people. And then they march today, uh, to the Capitol and back. So it was fun. And now everybody's getting ready to go their separate ways and go home. Maybe get some sleep. Yes. Hopefully get some sleep. Cause I know that's when I'm going to do.
Speaker 13:So you said that people needed to in your house, it was like Martins talking everybody, but I sit down and learn something. Do you feel the same way about reverends Barbara and Theo Harris?
Speaker 14:I sure do because they make good points and they offer the people and uh, they're not only for the black folks, they put everybody all Boston life, no matter what race you are, what nationality you are, they are for everybody. And there is good because you have some people that just for they on people, they people not for everybody. They, for everybody to all around the world, not just one certain race. They fought all the races. Like I say, all the nationalities. And that's a good thing. And I liked that and I didn't meet him personally, but I did get to see him. Reverend Jackson was here, Danny Glover was here and stuff. I took a selfie with Reverend Jackson. I didn't take to, to take mark with Danny Glover cause he was in and out, but he did speak and stuff and that was a good thing. So we had fun. We enjoyed it. So I enjoy myself in the same token, the participating in the campaign. And it was very, it was something different from me because at home we rally, well, we rallied here, we camp it's tear and we do the same thing at home. We found bank too, we found back at home and, but it's hopefully one day we again, uh, the poor people's People's campaign going in St Louis because I was asked do we have one or why we don't have one? So I said, I'm going to talk to my vice president of my Judy FCIU local one and see what she say, uh, if, if it's okay with her and stuff and then we'll get one going. So I just pour people all around the world and just in one particular spot or one particular place, they all over them and everybody needs some help. Whether you do it for a good cause, you just going up giving somebody some something to eat. Everybody needs a meal. So
Speaker 13:now and somewhere around here, there's a close to here, there's a supreme court case pending called Janice, people in your local talking about it, where they're trying to get rid of the requirement for people to pay in the union
Speaker 14:state-level, right? Uh, right to work. Yeah. That's what it's called. Right. And they're trying to get the union off the job, but that's what we mainly doing in St Louis, uh, canvas. And for that, trying to sign people up if they're not already register the vote, register them to vote and uh, trying to make them aware of proposition a, that's what they put it up on the proposition a, and uh, they're supposed to be on the ballot in November, but they've tried to throw a lot of people off and put it on the ballot in August. So I hope and pray those that are registered to vote, go out and vote no on proposition a and those that are not registered to vote go and votes before August the seventh so you'll be able to vote August the seventh on property vote no on prop a as they call it both. No. And if you don't know what the word proposition be, look it up in the dictionary causes. They're in big, bold black letters. Okay. And you can look up the word proposition and put a with it. And then there you go. There. Your answer right there and o after, right n o in big bold black letters or I'll put it in big bold red letters. Either way in. Oh, thank you so much. You're welcome.
Speaker 7:No talkie. I was ruefully. She likes me even less now.
Speaker 6:[inaudible]
Speaker 5:thank you for listening and special thanks to Juan Peralta, David Willinsky, Lois swimmer and Georgia Brown more for talking with me. On August 7th proposition a was defeated in Missouri. Alexandria ocasio Cortez will be the Democratic nominee for n y 14 and November. Reverend William Barber was arrested in Chicago on October 4th protesting for McDonald's to raise the minimum wage. This meant that he was unavailable to receive the call that he had just been awarded a MacArthur genius grant to help fund is important work. Meanwhile, the 21st century poor people's campaign is currently working on documenting and reporting human rights violations resulting from poverty in the United States. You can find out more about that initiative and the broader campaign at www dot poor people's campaign.org
Speaker 6:[inaudible][inaudible]
Speaker 14:this is Ms Georgia. Hi, it's me again. I just want everyone to know that this is my very first time doing this, participating in the poor people's campaign and I would really love to do it again and I'm going to do it again because I know my union is going to ask me again. Do I want to do it again? And I brought you to say yes and then I was also asked to be on the committee here in Washington DC, but I live in St Louis so I can't really do it, but if I could, I would and who knows? The law might make a way for me to do it. If I really want to do it, he'll make a way for me. I know he will. He'll say, girl, come on. Let's go get on up the Washington DC and help them people out, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to help them out, so thank you. You're welcome.