Panel of formerly homeless mothers speaks to the press
On Saturday, August 17 at 1 p.m., the Poor People’s Army will end its 90-mile march from Milwaukee to Chicago in Humboldt Park. The national group – which has a permit to march from the park to the United Center on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) – will set up an encampment they are calling “GrantsPassville,” after the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the criminalization of homelessness. Press and the public are invited to join them near the Puerto Rico flag. west at the southeast corner of Humboldt Park to watch the setup of their camp with tents, signs, and banners. The audience will hear from a group of formerly homeless mothers who previously lived in tent cities and Poor People’s Army “takeover houses.” The event will also be streamed live at https://www.instagram.com/ppehrc.
The Poor People’s Army, also known as the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, has been organizing demonstrations on the opening day of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions for decades. It is a group led by homeless and formerly homeless people whose mission is to unite the poor across racial lines and serve as a leadership base for a broad movement to end poverty everywhere, forever.
“It’s appropriate to be part of this historically Puerto Rican community and march from here to the gates of the DNC,” says Tara Colon, a formerly homeless mother in the Poor People’s Army. “Many of us are Puerto Ricans and we led a historic march to the HUD offices in Washington DC when they failed to protect our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters after Hurricane Maria in 2017. And now we must stand together again and demand that the government respond quickly to the damage caused by Hurricane Ernesto.”
