Day 16 - Through Philadelphia, PA

This morning we left the State Office Building in downtown Philadelphia, walking from the center city business area into North Philadelphia and Kensington. Kensington, the base of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, is the poorest district in the state of Pennsylvania. Once one of the most vibrant manufacturing areas of the country, Kensington has lost virtually all the industry which supported the thousands of families that lived there. Today, the two major sources of income are welfare and drugs.

Walking through North Philadelphia, we passed block after block of abandoned houses. Like many cities across the country, although there is a serious and growing homelessness crisis, there are more abandoned houses than homeless people.

We stopped for a rally at an abandoned lot in North Philadelphia, near New Jerusalem Laura. Recording artists Steve Earle, Jackson Browne, and Stephan Smith joined the march. Sister Margaret from New Jerusalem spoke of the human right to recovery: "The Declaration of Independence guarantees us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If you don't have recovery, you don't have any of that. We need to speak in this society that tends to make us sick and keep us sick by not providing what we need to get better."

As we wound our way through North Philadelphia and into Kensington, the response from people along the street was amazing. People clapped and sang with the choir or chants. Some came along and walked with us for a few blocks. Others drove alongside the march. There was an almost constant stream of cars driving by and honking to encourage us onward. We were also joined by world-renowned journalist and music critic Dave Marsh.

KWRU's Human Rights Choir, along with Jackson Browne, attended the annual convention of the New Jersey Industrial Union Council. Bill Kane and the NJIUC are longtime supporters of the KWRU and Poor People's Economic Rights Campaign. Member unions of the NJIUC pledged over $5,000 in donations to the March. They then bused their whole convention out to Kensington, North Philadelphia to join the march. Bob McDevitt, president of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 54, representing 17,000 hotel workers in Atlantic City, pledged to provide chefs and waiters and a gormet dinner for the marchers.

The evening ended with two concerts. One concert by Jackson Browne and Mati for the marchers. And a benefit concert by Steve Earle (with a special appearance by Jackson Browne) and the band Marah at the Theater of Living Arts.