Education Day: Friday, February 08th
Action Day: Thursday, February 09th
Anne Olson of Up and Out of Poverty NOW Coalition was Mistress of Ceremonies for today’s event which culminated the two-day Poor People’s Day at the Capitol 2006. With the goal of making the issues of the poor visible to Georgia legislators, People’s Day coordinators cry for working people of the nation to put an end to the poverty that continues to destroy our country’s potential for real freedom and democracy. The two-day event includes a day of political education on a range of topics chosen by the membership and a second day of action that has included marches on the governor, the state legislature, and direct actions.
The event, co-hosted by the Trinity United Methodist Church, the Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger, and Up and Out of Poverty, began on Wednesday, February 8th with Education Day. Participants took part in workshops on affordable housing, making sense of the criminal justice system, women’s healthcare and legislative issues, the health crisis in Georgia, an SOS for MARTA and the Grady Healthcare System, and updates on the Voter ID law.
The Education Day kickoff on Wednesday ended in a celebration to gear participants up for Thursday’s Action Day festivities.
As Action Day began, the crowd quickly swelled from about 50 animated participants in an impromptu devotion service to nearly 250 overflowing from the rafters of the historic church located on the corner of Washington Street and Trinity Avenue in downtown Atlanta. Many social classes, ethnic groups and economic conditions were represented in the audience. But for a short time, differences were cast aside for the common goal of attacking the crisis of poverty from the Gulf coast to Georgia.
More than half of the audience present for Action Day had attended the previous day’s workshops. Workshop attendees were invited to stand and share what knowledge they had gained. The voter id workshop elicited excited responses from its participants. Seniors and activist who attended were eager to have the opportunity to have their issues discussed and were happy to have the opportunity to take action by participating in the march later in the day.
Olson, head of the Planning Committee for the event explained why the fight for Human Rights is a cause important to her. She urged that the community do the work necessary to achieve the vision set forth in Article 25 of the Human Rights Declaration.
The crowd was presented with three very different ways to gain inspiration to start Action Day. Bert Skellie offered a prayer in the Quaker tradition. Skellie was followed former Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Boazman famous for his recent opposition to the ban on panhandling in downtown Atlanta. Boazman, who in paraphrasing from the Bible reminded the crowd that man can display no greater love than to lay down his life for a friend. (Boazman pointed out that “life”, as the passage referred to were our title, social status, and job). Cautioning that prosperity has made us more concerned with material possessions than for our fellow man, Bozeman closed with a prayer entreating God to meet every manifest need and strengthen our leadership. Finally, in the African tradition, M-Zee Leonard Tate poured libations. The tradition honors past ancestors, civic leaders and loved ones, whose names were called out during the prayer. Tate asked the day’s efforts to be blessed with peace, power, unity and success.
The crowd was excited for the musical entertainment that followed. The duo MUGABEE (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction), from Mississippi, dedicated a piece to welfare and voter registration activist Fannie Lou Hamer. The jazz trumpeter and spoken word artist performed two pieces: “It’s Time to Rise” and “I Know”, a sing-along that produced excited participation from the crowd. Salongo Productions and Kelly Love Jones, both representing the survivors of Hurricane Katrina used dance, drum and song to call for community activism efforts to address the ills of the world and to strengthen the crowd for the march.
Later, a Story Circle Panel gave the audience the chance to hear speakers’ personal experiences highlighting each of the issues of the day. The first panel member, Martha Hutchinson of DeKalb County, told of a harrowing experience that brought home for her – and the audience – the very real healthcare crisis in Georgia. Hutchinson had an extremely elevated blood pressure while in the emergency room for an injury to her hand. Her blood pressure was in the range where a stroke was possible and doctors did everything they could to bring the numbers down and prepare Martha for discharge with instructions to contact her physician soon. Overhearing a physician conferring with a patient in an adjacent room, imagine Martha’s surprise when she learned that this patient, though younger and visibly more healthy than she, was being admitted to the hospital for a blood pressure reading much lower than Martha’s own! But Martha was uninsured, while the other patient was lucky enough to be covered.
Next, Lynn Griever who had previously graced the audience with her music, recounted the touching experience that led her to become an activist for housing issues and homelessness. Griever stressed that the prevailing opinion of homeless people as ones who are lazy or are drug abusers is a misconception. She spoke of seeing families facing the same problems that had confronted her own family. Often families like the ones Lyn works with must choose to pay household expenses versus paying the expenses to maintain the vehicle providing transportation to and from a job that barely supports the family. Lynn’s commitment to the plight of poor families facing the loss of the security of shelter led her to dedicate their lives to fighting for change. That decision, made over five years ago, gave weight to Lynn’s chastisement of society for its wastefulness and neglect. She challenged the audience to do all it could to challenge the bureaucratic obstacles that prevent homeless families from receiving the help they so desperately need.
Lynn Griever’s story was followed by one from Jane Ridley speaking for public transportation reform. In her goal to unite MARTA employees with the patrons they serve, Ridley told the crowd how the MARTA policies that chafe the concerned and conscious members of the community are just as oppressive for the underpaid driver, train operator and attendant working on the front lines. Many policies target employees for abuse by patrons who see the workers as a representatives or supporters of these discriminatory and controversial policies. Ridley herself was moved to tears as she told of the abuses and indignities suffered by employees of Atlanta’s rapid transit system, and the authority’s callous disregard for their personal safety. To add insult to injury, Ridley says employees who were refused a raise face a 200 to 300 percent increase in healthcare premiums.
Finally, Deepali Gokhale of the Racial Justice Campaign Against Operation Meth Merchant told of immigrants traveling to America for relief from the oppressive poverty or limited opportunity in their homelands. Though they believed the fading promise of the “American Dream”, they soon found this dream becoming a nightmare as they faced the racial profiling and targeting by police officials. Authorities in North Georgia, under the guise of stopping the scourge of methamphetamine in the area, are selectively arresting immigrants with limited knowledge of English based on the whisperings of confidential informants whose character and credibility are highly suspect. These immigrants face serious fines, imprisonment and deportation for selling the legal products used to manufacture methamphetamine. Gokhale asked for communities of color to question all forms of racial injustice and to campaign to stop it.
After acknowledging staff and volunteers who helped to make the 2006 Poor People’s Day festivities a success, Anne Olson recognized Sandra Robertson (Executive Director of Georgia Citizen’s Coalition on Hunger, Up and Out of Poverty Now Coalition) as a model for effective leadership as she strives to end the pain and oppression of poverty. Olson then turned the crowd over to the energetic oration of Dan Horowitz de Garcia of Communities United who gave instructions for the march and made a conscience-pricking appeal for donations.
De Garcia challenged the crowd’s commitment by asking the question: “Do we own the movement?” Since the crowd vehemently agreed that it did own the movement, the audience also had to agree that corporate grant money – if depended upon – would lead to corporate ownership of the movement. Such a state of affairs would not be ideal to furthering the cause of all the disenfranchised groups represented by Poor People’s Day. Therefore each audience member was encouraged to work for and own the movement. Ownership carries a price, but what price can be placed upon freedom? Going on to assert each individual’s basic human right to be involved in the political process, de Garcia urged the crowd to be certain that decisions about their lives are made with their voices.
Excitement was at an all-time high as marchers assembled in front of the Trinity church to march two-by two down Central Avenue to Mitchell Street and on to the Capitol.
Immediately after the march on the steps of the Capitol, John Slaughter of the Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger facilitated the press event. Up and Out of Poverty Now Executive Director Sandra Robertson spoke about jobs, wages and corporate accountability before turning the podium over to the scheduled speakers. Taking turns at the podium were faces familiar from the earlier Action Day celebration at the church as Hurricane Katrina survivors (and Salongo Productions performers) from the McAlpine family appealed to the crowd for activism to highlight the plight of victims in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf coast, while Martha Hutchinson and Jane Ridley reminded supporters of the inadequacies in public healthcare and transportation that would continue to negatively impact Georgia if left unchecked. All ages were encouraged to activism as eleven year-old Coan Middle School Student Kwa Djo whose activism efforts in his school have been an inspiration to all. He exhorted the crowd saying, “It takes teamwork to make the dream work”. Later, after listening to the words of Shareef Cousin on behalf of Fairness for Prisoners’ Families, supporters were encouraged to demand truth and to question the meaning of patriotism and urged to remember that history is not what people read but what they shape by their actions.
Other speakers included State Representatives Emmanuel Jones, Alicia Thomas-Morgan and Roberta Abdul Salaam who called for community response to legislation that hurts the working poor, homeless, communities of color or people of conscience. Each representative encouraged citizens to take action on issues such as education, healthcare, restricted voter access and injustices in the criminal justice system. Thomas-Morgan stressed that the Capitol belongs to the people and that it is the people who must help legislators to understand and respond to the needs of the community. Salaam made a final appeal to the crowd of supporters to be in support of a bill that will be introduced in the House on Monday, February 13th to recognize the birthday of Coretta Scott King as a national holiday and to place her portrait in the Capitol next to that of her husband, the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The duo MUGABEE elicited a lively audience response as they closed out the press rally with their original songs. The rally was covered by photographers and camera crews representing Georgia Public Broadcasting and WSB-TV, Channel 2 in Atlanta.
