The Poor People's March arrived in Nashville on August 5th. The scenery changed from soybeans to cement, but the poverty experienced by local people remained the same. Nashville residents spoke out alongside marchers on issues like housing, homelessness, healthcare and education in their city and the nation. Kensington Welfare Rights Union representatives Galen Tyler and Cheri Honkala spoke out on economic human rights. A transcript of Cheri's speech is available here.

We need to begin to do the Lord's work, and that means the hard work. That means confronting economic human rights violations in our country, and beginning to show whose side we're on. Are we going to stand with the folks that have the least, or are going to continue to stand on the sidelines and not do anything about it. That is the question of the hour. We need to build unity and organization of the poor. We no longer will benefit from pity and from tears alone. We need people to step forward. We are asking you to join and enlist in what Dr. Martin Luther King called the nonviolent poor people's army to end poverty. We need your time, and yes your money—because these vehicles do not run on love, they run on gasoline.

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Rev. Bill Barnes of Nashville also spoke at the event, addressing the role of the March in building a unity of the poor. He compared a united people to a forest of Sequoia trees, which stand up against strong winds by intertwining their roots beneath the surface.

Organizers from the Peace and Justice Center welcomed the March on its arrival. They arranged meals, housing and showers for weary marchers over the next two days, including a dinner at the Scarrit-Bennet Center of United Methodist Women.

Marchers walked some thirty miles through Nashville, including down Jefferson street, where sit-ins for integration took place during the Civil Rights era. The March made camp at War Memorial Plaza, where they were treated to musical entertainment and also held a poverty speak-out.

Kate, pictured at left, is a student from New College of Florida who joined the march in Nashville to represent the Student Farm Worker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a grassroots organization of farm workers in Immokalee, Florida. CIW is a part of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

Serena Tyler, daughter of Galen Tyler, turned three years old on August sixth. She is pictured here at the March encampment at War Memorial Plaza in downtown Nashville.