Following is a letter which the KWRU has sent in support of the Save the Soul of America March and Freedom Bus Ride which began today in California.
To our brothers and sisters in the Women?s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP), Community Homeless Alliance Ministry (CHAM) and other
participants in the Save the Soul of America March and Freedom Bus Ride:
We at the Kensington Welfare Rights Union stand with you today as you embark on the 7-day long Save the Soul of America March and Freedom Bus Ride. We feel privileged to be a part of the Poor People?s Economic Human Rights Campaign alongside such dedicated longtime fighters as the members of WEAP, who have taken significant responsibility for the development of this growing movement for economic human rights, in California and across the country. We are sorry we cannot be there physically, as we are in the middle of a heated struggle with the City of Philadelphia to win housing for numerous families who are new members of the KWRU. But know that we are with you every day as you march and ride through the state of California.
We greet you as poor, homeless and nemployed families who like you are committed to organizing and building a massive movement led by the poor to redirect the priorities of this country to fulfill the basic human
rights of all of our people. This is a critical time in our country?s history, and in fact, in world history. Our lives depend on our ability to unite our struggles as poor families and organizations of the poor
across the country into one united movement for economic human rights. The leadership and strategic thinking of WEAP and CHAM exemplified by the current Save the Soul of America March and Freedom Bus Ride, and
your ongoing efforts to organize the state of California, are very significant and essential to the success of this movement. Your commitment to this movement, on a local, state and national level, is an
inspiration and valuable lesson to us and to the more than fifty organizations that this campaign represents around the United States.
We at the KWRU have a deep respect for the tireless efforts of WEAP and CHAM to organize and educate people, and especially the poor, to fight for all of our economic human rights. Like you, we know that it is only in organizing our class ? workers, the unemployed and underemployed, the homeless and the poor ? to lead a broad based movement, that we will be able to build the kind of power we need to take back our country in our own interests. Activities such as the Save the Soul of America March and Freedom Bus Ride are incredibly significant steps toward building the sorganization, unity and leadership that this movement for economic human rights demands.
As fellow members of the Poor People?s Economic Rights Campaign, we have had the honor of standing shoulder to shoulder with you in countless struggles, and we are present with you today and throughout the Save the Soul of America March and Freedom Bus Ride as you travel the state to build this movement in the great state of California.
In struggle,
Cheri Honkala
National Spokesperson, Poor People?s Economic Human Rights Campaign
Director, Kensington Welfare Rights Union