Marchers and Women in Transition Members climbing the stairs of the state capital in Frankfort to demand and end to economic human rights violations.
Inside the capital, poor and homeless families chanted "poverty must go," before demanding to be heard by the governor.
Andrew Roberts, who stopped by the encampment the night of the 7th to tell his story to marcher Will Baptist, doesn't have access to treatment for his severe migraines and insomnia because he already is in debt to the hospital due to a surgery.
Irene is a single mother of two with no access to housing or health coverage. She lives with her mother in a project near a chemical plant. She has two clots on her lungs and cannot afford medication.
Dequon, son of Irene, rides his bicycle past the high tension tower in his front yard. A chemical processing facility is visible in the background.
Dequon.
The chemical plant near Dequon and Irene's home.
Baby Derrick and his puppy, Lo, live in one of America's most polluted urban areas.
Marchers and members of the Justice Resource Center rally outside police headquarters to demand the police be held accountable for the killings of seven poor, black Louisville residents in the past three years.
Marchers set up camp in the parking lot of the Velvet Rose Supper Club, owned by local democratic representative Willie Bright.
The Poor People's march in Louisville was by welcomed a coalition of local groups led by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and including the Justice Resource Center (agaist police brutality), Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Women in Transition (a new Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Member), the Justice Resource Center, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 227, Interfaith Paths to Peace, Democracy Resource Center UrbanSpirit, Southerners on New Ground, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2629.
At the capital, KWRU director Cheri Honkala demanded to know the governor Patton plan to wipe out poverty in Kentucky. Another person who might like to know is Andrew Roberts, who ... can't receive treatment for his 3-5 day migraines and insomnia because he has no medical coverage.
On the morning of the 8th, marchers held a press conference to bring light to the suffering of the poor, so rarely exposed in the traditional media. KWRU director Cheri Honkala was quoted as saying that "poor people in this country can't survive another Bush administration." For more information on the effect that Bush's policies have had to worsen the plight of the poor, visit thetruthaboutgeorge.com.
At noon on the 8th, marchers traveled to the capital in Frankfort, KY to demand economic human rights. The governor was unavailable to meet with marchers, but an aide agreed to personally address the issues of one WIT member who is in a housing crisis. State police officer Sonny Cease then cut the conversation short, removing marchers from the capital building. Poor and homeless families were allowed to eat lunch on the capital steps only on the condition that they hide their signs and refrain from singing.
At the capital, KWRU director Cheri Honkala demanded to know governor Patton's plan to wipe out poverty in Kentucky. Another person who might like to know is Andrew Roberts, who stopped by the march encampment the night before. Andrew is employed as a dishwasher, but he can't receive treatment for his 3-5 day migraines and insomnia because he has no medical coverage. He already owes the hospital $280 for a surgery, so he simply has to go without treatment.
On the morning of the 9th, marchers split up into five groups and documented violations of local people's basic economic human rights. Irene, pictured at left, is a mother of two who has not been able to find a home of her own. She is 22, and lives in public housing with her mother and two sons. Although she has two blood clots on her lungs, she cannot afford to have them treated or pay for medicine to prevent more clots from forming. A high-tension power line runs through her front yard, and she lives less than half a mile from a chemical plant. She herself was exposed as a child to chemicals released in a spill at that same plant. Louisville is among the worst cities in the US in air quality, due to industrial waste. Irene's toddler, Dequon, has asthma.
Later on that day, marchers joined the Justice Resource Center in a march on Louisville police headquarters. More than 100 people marched to the door of police headquarters, chanting "no justice, no peace" and demanding that police be held accountable to civilian oversight, citing the murders of seven Louisville residents in the past year.
Kentucky Alliance organizer and civil rights pioneer Anne Braden personally welcomed the March, saying that the struggle for economic human rights is the "unfinished business of the civil rights movement."
"It's kind of depressing how little things have changed. In terms of economics, things are as bad, if not worse, than they were back then. As Dr. King said, 'what good is sitting at the lunch counter if you don't have enough money to buy a hamburger?'" Braden praised the Campaign, quoting King again: "somebody has got to save the soul of this country."
The Poor People's march in Louisville was by welcomed a coalition of local groups led by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and including the Fairness Campaign, Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Women in Transition (a new Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Member), the Justice Resource Center, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 227, Interfaith Paths to Peace, Democracy Resource Center UrbanSpirit, Southerners on New Ground, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2629.