The Poor People’s Economic Human Right Campaign, a leading advocacy organization for the poor and disenfranchised, sponsored a march through downtown St. Paul Tuesday and held two Truth Commissions to hear testimony from Minnesotans and other Americans about the lack of housing, health care, education and jobs.

Participants in the Poor People\'s March put the focus on the tough economic times facing millions of Americans. Photo by Deborah Rosenstein

Those testifying included homeless youth, truck drivers who have gone bankrupt because of the high cost of gas, military veterans not receiving the benefits to which they are entitled and people who can\'t afford health care.

"It\'s time for policy makers at all levels of government to recognize America\'s dirty little secret…poverty," said Ajamu Baraka, executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network, who participated as member of the National Truth Commission.

"Both of the candidates for the Presidency harp on the deprivations of the American middle class but who is there to speak up for the poor, unemployed, uninsured and homeless? That is what we intend to do at the RNC and will continue to do until the voices of the dispossessed and disenfranchised are heard as loudly as those of the rich and privileged."

On Saturday, a number of Minnesotans testified before the Minnesota Truth Commission, made up of Peter Brown, National Lawyer\'s Guild; Mike Crenshaw, Hip Hop Congress; the Rev. Nancy Anderson; Mary Brandl, steward for AFSCME Local 3800; and Imam Sheikh Saad Musse Roble.

Among the testimony heard by the Minnesota Truth Commission, meeting at Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis:

• Shada Boyoube, a member of the Minnesota Tenants Union, said more than 4,000 families in the state are on waiting lists for affordable housing

• Health care worker Ann Patterson of Minneapolis said she has refinanced her home so many times to pay her own health care bills that she now owes more than the house is worth. Patterson said she and her husband both work, but feel they are just steps away from being homeless.

• Sandra Lindstrom of the White Earth reservation heats her home with propane at a cost of more than $4,000 a winter. She supports a family of six (including her elderly father) and earns less than $20,000. When money runs out to pay for the propane, they rely on heat from their stove.

On Tuesday, hundreds joined the Poor People\'s Economic Human Rights Campaign for a march through downtown St. Paul to the site of the Republican National Convention.

Ebony, a young speaker from Chicago, addressed a rally in Mears Park before the march.

"Everywhere you go people are suffering, but we\'re still standing up and we\'re not going to take in anymore," she said. "People who are being exploited look just like us... We\'re here for everyone who can\'t be here – for our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers."

Len Zola, a Vietnam veteran from Spring Lake Park, Minn., said, "You can only take so much without sharing down the line. At some point we have to stop and share again... things aren\'t so different today then they were during the period of the robber barons."

As a tax attorney, Zola said he\'s seen hundreds of foreclosure statements.

"We\'ve had three foreclosures on our own block," he said. "You can\'t just say that all of these people made poor choices... these companies, like Ameriquest, they\'re making their money on the backs of all of these folks."

Led by a number of low-income people, the march wound its way down several blocks and pass hundreds of police in full riot gear. Participants chanted "Stop the War on the Poor!"

More than 100 of the participants have been living at "Bushville," a tent city set up near Interstate 94 just north of downtown St. Paul.

Later, Baraka and other members of the national Truth Commission released their findings.

The commission "determined that the testimonies heard described a crisis in America that constituted a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." That document, which the United States signed 40 years ago, codifies everyone\'s "right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment… or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

Baraka added that under the U.N. Declaration, the U.S. is obligated to remedy these human rights violations and urged a national campaign to elevate the visibility of international human rights laws.

This story was reported by Deborah Rosenstein, staff member for the Labor Education Service, with additional writing and editing by Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota editor.

For more information
Learn more about poverty and the Poor People\'s Economic Human Rights Campaign at www.economichumanrights.org/index.shtml

See Minnesota Public Radio\'s coverage: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/02/slideshow_protests/

Photos by Deborah Rosenstein

Members of a Truth Commission that heard testimony on poverty in Minnesota included (from left) Peter Brown, National Lawyer\'s Guild; Mike Crenshaw, Hip Hop Congress; the Rev. Nancy Anderson; and Mary Brandl, steward for AFSCME Local 3800.

Ebony, a young woman from Chicago, said she was marching to represent many others who could not be there.

Vietnam veteran Len Zola said it\'s time to take the country back from the corporate robber barons.

Union members who participated in the march included Lisa Cline of UNITE HERE Local 17 in the Twin Cities.