 November
19 - Los Angeles, CA |
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The
New Freedom Bus traveled all day Tuesday from Merced to
LA. During the bus ride Sarah Fernandez assisted many of
the students on the tour with their school work.
Mire
este sitio en espanol.
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This
evening we welcomed our first internantional guest Rosa Melida
Rivas (pictured far right) of CRIPDES a rural peasants movement
in El Salvador. Rosa or Chita will be riding the freedom bus
along with Jesse Kates-Chinoy (left) with the
U.S. - El Salvador Sister Cities Network until December
10th. |
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In
Los Angeles we were welcomed by the El Sereno Caltrans Tentant's
Association with a homecooked meal. |
As part of our ongoing focus to integrate
arts and culture into the movement to end poverty we were
treated to some music before the evening events began.
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Roberto of the
El Sereno Caltrans Tentant's Association
welcomes the Freedom Bus and shares some of the struggle
of those who live in the corridor.
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The
residents were experiencing extreme increases in their rent,
and have been fighting together for 35 years to keep California
Transit Authorities from destroying their neighborhood to
create public transit. |
Terriny
Morrison and Sandra Colon sing "We need our rights,
for we are children". This is an original song written
by the children that rode the '98
Freedom Bus Tour.
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Lee
Ballinger of Rock a Mole Productions, who was also joined
by Carvell Holliday and Lisa Scott. Lee thanks the Tenant's
Association, the East Side Cafe, Rock a Mole, and KWRU and
says, "Despite the distance, the housing struggle needs
to be connected, and this is an important step in that struggle."
Rock
a Mole Productions recently completed the film "The
Ultimate Song," which documents the role of musicians
in the movement to end poverty. The film includes interviews
with well-known musicians like Ice-T, Jackson Browne, Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle, as well as many local musicians.
Check out rockamole.com
for more.
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Daily
Prayer for the New Freedom Bus Tour
The Rev.
Noelle Damico, Catalyst, School of Theology, University
of the Poor
Tuesday, November 19
God, we pray that
people who are desperate will hear a word of hope through
our words and the words of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights today. It is all to easy to internalize the messages
our culture gives us as poor people. “You are poor because
you are lazy, immoral, addicted.” But hearing each other’s
stories of survival and of organizing, we understand anew
that poverty is a social problem that reflects on the conscience
of our nation and our world – not the conscience of
any one individual. Help us conquer the demons of self-doubt
and despair that corrode our energy for seeking change. Make
us one community through the Poor People’s Economic
Human Rights Campaign, that we might harness our experience,
creativity and power to achieve economic human rights for
our communities, our country, and our world. Amen.
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About
the Campaign 
