Abel and I left Denver at 1AM on Saturday, April 3rd to Join the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign’s “March to Fulfill the Dream“. We drove straight through taking turns sleeping and arrived in New Orleans around 7AM on Sunday, April 4th, the day of the kickoff for the march.

The significance of starting our march on April 4 is that it is the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech in 1967 at Riverside Church denouncing the Vietnam war and boldly stating that we must declare an “eternal hostility to poverty”.

Over the next year King was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and a poor people’s march to go from Marks, MS to Washington, DC. One year to the day after King’s Riverside speech he was assassinated. A month later the poor people’s march went forward without King and today, over 30 years later poverty conditions have not improved and have arguably worsened. On April 4, 2010 we began the March to Fulfill the Dream in continuum of King’s last dream of a world without poverty and war.

Here’s a video I took of Cheri Honkala of PPEHRC speaking at our kick-off event.

While in New Orleans we stayed at the Lower 9th Ward Village, an inspirational community center being spearheaded by Ward “Mack” McClendon. I fell in love with this place and made a short video about it.

Five years after Katrina, New Orleans remains in great need of repair and in the lower 9th ward 75% of the people remain displaced. Those who have returned and do not have money are just barely hanging on. Even Mack who runs this amazing community center may lose his home, which he has yet to be able to move back into. I’ll have a video about this and more coming soon.

On our way out of town we stopped at the New Orleans Mission interviewed some of the homeless people there. One person who really broke my heart was Ronald, a homeless Vietnam vet. He is evidence of the destruction from war that continues long after the war “ends”.

Our next stop was Waveland, MS where we met with Katrina survivors who have been in battle to keep their homes. I’ll have a report on this in the coming week. Please check back…

Also, follow the march by visiting the PPEHRC website (this website is a bit confusing but see the “UPDATES” column for the latest posts.

We have many more cities and stories to collect on this march and caravan. We want your involvement. Check out our route and dates. If you have a lead on a story about poverty we should cover along the way, please let us know. We also invite you to collect your own stories and share them with us.

We also will be holding music and cultural events along the way. If you are a musician or artist and would like to participate just let us know.

I can be reached at 303-669-7286

Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign
3500 Lorain Avenue # 501A
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
info@economichumanrights.org
www.economichumanrights.org

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 5, 2010

Contact: Jeff Rousset, Communications Director, 845-642-8145, jeffppehrc@gmail.com
-OR-
Cheri Honkala, National Organizer, 267-439-8419, cherihonkalappehrc@gmail.com

March to Fulfill the Dream

Historic march and caravan led by poor people goes from New Orleans to the U.S Social Forum in Detroit

NEW ORLEANS, LA – On April 4th, 2010, Easter Sunday and the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, poor people and their allies will unite with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) to advance Dr. King’s dream of ending poverty. The March to Fulfill the Dream will visit dozens of cities between New Orleans and Detroit, the site of the US Social Forum 2010, to highlight the urgent need for affordable housing and healthcare in the United States. Housing, healthcare, and jobs are human rights according to the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, endorsed by the U.S. in 1948. Continuing the legacy of Dr. King’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, which was cut short by his assassination, the tour is part of a larger strategy to unite poor people’s groups and their allies from across the country to build a diverse nonviolent movement to end poverty.

The PPEHRC caravan will visit many cities, including historic cities from the Civil Rights movement, for which Dr. King became the famous spokesperson. Each stop will include marches, demonstrations, and speak-outs led by poor people from the local cities, dramatizing the plight of today’s swelling numbers of the poor. Among the stops is Marks, Mississippi, where Dr. King launched the original Poor People’s Campaign in 1968 with a march and caravan to the nation’s capital.

“Dr. King’s dream is as relevant today as it was during his lifetime. More people than ever before are living in poverty surrounded by an unprecedented concentration of wealth and abundance. We are organizing to finally realize the dream of racial equality and economic justice in the United States,” said Viola Washington of New Orleans, a Katrina survivor with the New Orleans Welfare Rights Organization, a PPEHRC member group.

People in the U.S. are experiencing the worst recession since the Great Depression, with record numbers struggling for jobs, housing, and healthcare. More than 6 million Americans have been unemployed for 6 months or more, “the largest number since the government began keeping track in 1948,” according to a recent New York Times article. A record three million homes were foreclosed in 2009, with millions more expected to follow this year. Over 45 million Americans have no health care. Billions are spent on wars abroad while citizens at home lack basic social services.

“We don’t expect the changes we need to come from Washington or Wall Street, so we are building a mass movement to fight for the healthcare, housing, and jobs we need,” stated Khalilah Collins of Women in Transition, a PPEHRC member group in Louisville, Kentucky. “We are developing leaders from the ranks of the poor to create solutions ourselves and build a sustainable system.”

The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is a national coalition of over 125 grassroots anti-poverty groups, most of which are led directly by poor and homeless people. It is the nation’s largest anti-poverty organization that is led directly by the poor.

The March to Fulfill the Dream and the U.S. Social Forum (USSF) will connect poor people and anti-poverty groups from across the country with a special focus on education and leadership development. Every March event will promote dialogue among poor and disenfranchised people about the economic crisis and community-based solutions. “Organizing and education together can help us turn this recession into an opportunity for creative transformation,” said Larry Bresler, PPEHRC’s National Director.

The caravan, and the USSF itself, where more than 20,000 people representing progressive groups from across the U.S. and the world will gather, will provide spaces for poor people and their allies to further develop the analysis and strategy to build the movement and challenge the structures that cause poverty.

“All major social movements in history have been led by those most affected by problems. The Civil Rights, American Revolution, and Women’s Suffrage movements were all led by those most oppressed by injustice. The crisis in our economic system gets fixed when poor people are organized to lead the fight,” said Cheri Honkala, National Organizer of PPEHRC.

PPEHRC member groups have helped move homeless families into abandoned buildings, and are coordinating food distribution drives to help feed growing numbers of hungry people in both urban and rural cities. The coalition is running a national Zero Evictions and Foreclosures campaign to address what it sees as a national housing epidemic. As part of its “Programs of Survival” people are trained to resist foreclosures by using nonviolent civil disobedience to stay in their homes when other options have failed.

“There’s no more time to sit back and hope for politicians to help us. They help the banks and abandon the poor,” said Marian Kramer of the National Welfare Rights Union and Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, both PPEHRC member groups. “The present economic catastrophe calls for a wave of nonviolent civil disobedience to sweep over this nation and win the basic human rights we need to survive.”

Cheri Honkala and Son
Mark Webber Speak
Friday, March 19
7:00 PM
Tattered Cover Bookstore
(Historic Lodo)
1628 16th St, Denver
$10-$20 suggested donation

For the first time ever America’s leading organizer for the poor and homeless Cheri Honkala will be sharing the stage with her son, writer/director/actor Mark Webber speaking of their personal experiences living in poverty while often homeless, living in cars and abandoned buildings.

Cheri Honkala has been called the most endangered activist in America and has been arrested over 200 times for demonstrating, committing civil disobedience, and organizing for the human rights of America’s poor and homeless. For over 30 years she has been setting up tent cities, planning housing takeovers of vacant government buildings, leading marches and caravans, educating poor people about their rights, and giving talks on poverty in America. As a single formerly homeless mother she speaks with authenticity from her direct experience. She offers a vital perspective on the issues of poverty that you don’t hear from politicians, administrators, or even academics.

Mark Webber is Cheri’s son. He grew up in poverty in Minneapolis and the slums of North Philly. He learned to act while in school and pretending to his classmates and teachers that he wasn’t poor and homeless. As a teenager Mark began acting in movies and in 2000 he was cast in the film Snow Day starring Chevy Chase and Chris Elliot. Since then Mark has appeared in dozens of films with such notable actors as Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Peter Fonda, Bill Murray, and Woody Allen.

If you want to understand the global economic system this film is a must see. It specifically deals with the work that women do and how it is measured (or not measured) in the present day economic system. In examining this issue Marilyn Waring also gives us a critical look into the distorted logic that drives the world today.

SPECIAL ARGUSFEST SCREENING - ONE NIGHT ONLY

House of Numbers
w/ Director Brent Leung
Wednesday, March 10
7:30 PM
Mayan Theater
110 Broadway, Denver
(between 1st & 2nd Ave)
Tickets: $10
PURCHASE TICKETS
(select March 10)

In House of Numbers, an AIDS film like no other, the HIV/AIDS story is being rewritten. This is the first film to present the uncensored POVs of virtually all the major players; in their own settings, in their own words. It rocks the foundation upon which all conventional wisdom regarding HIV/AIDS is based. House of Numbers could well be the opening volley in a battle to bring sanity and clarity to an epidemic gone awry.

Followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Brent Leung

http://www.houseofnumbers.com

“Leung manages to present a barrage of intriguing theories debunking our generally accepted beliefs… There’s no denying, however, the value of exploring such game-changing topics as how HIV-infection numbers are cooked for monetary and political gain; how the effects of global poverty may have led to so many AIDS-related deaths; how such widely used AIDS drugs as AZT have, themselves, often proved fatal; and whether HIV really exists.”

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

I met Chris Lindley the day I decided to do this challenge. I was telling someone about it at Hooked on Colfax (an awesome coffee shop in Denver) and he overheard me. He told me about the Qi Denver Athletic Club qidenver.com/ (which he is part owner) and said maybe we could work together. I told him I couldn’t afford it and he said we could work something out.

After seeing my first video blog from Monday he then offered to be my personal trainer but asked for 180 days instead of 90. I agreed.

Today was my first day at Qi Denver with Chris Lindley. I want to thank my friend Allan from Globeville Studios for coming out and being my camera man today.

He then checked my weight and measurements.

And then we talked about my history, where I’m at now, and what are my goals.

Then it got ugly. Chris tested me on my fitness level…

I am incredibly embarrassed that I’ve allowed myself to get to this point but if anything will motivate me to get healthy again it is working to also raise funds and build support for EMERGENCY USA. Please make a pledge today.

Chris wants me to start publishing a daily food log on my blog so….

2.4.10 FOOD LOG

10 AM
A cantaloupe sized fresh salad with baby spinach, Kale, red peppers, cucumber, tomato, onion, banana peppers, sunflower seeds, cashews, balsamic vinegar, and Makoto ginger dressing.

2:30 PM
15 oz can of vegetable soup

7:00 PM
Burrito with black beans, taco seasoned crumblers (a meat alternative), peppers, onions, and homemade green vegetarian chili (green chilies, chipotles, garlic, onion, and jalapeno and seasonings)

11:00 PM
8 oz of hashbrowns (cooked without oil) with some salsa.

11:30 PM
A dill pickle

I’ve now started my fitness program for EMERGENCY USA! I said I was going to start of February 1 but thought about putting it off because I still had things to do to prepare for collecting pledges and such. But those were just excuses. I can work out all the details in these first weeks.

So I’m off and running with no looking back.

As of February 1, 2010 I weigh 294 pounds.

Watch this video (the first in many) I made today.

UPDATE: I decided to change my position on no dairy and no alchohol. Instead I’m just going to limit it. I think this will make it more likely for me not to derail from the program. Also, after meeting with Chris I decided to make this program 180-days instead of 90. Here’s a video from day 4 where I talk about it.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A PLEDGE

On February 1, 2010 I started a 180-day fitness program to get in the best shape of my life. In the process I hope to raise some money for EMERGENCY USA: Life Support for Civilian Victims of War and Poverty http://www.emergencyusa.org.

In today’s conflicts 90% of the victims are civilian and 36% are children.

EMERGENCY is an Italian organization that provides free-of-charge, high quality medical and surgical treatment to the civilian victims of war, landmines and poverty. EMERGENCY USA is a sister organization that supports programs at EMERGENCY facilities worldwide.

Over 3 million patients have been treated completely free-of-charge by EMERGENCY.

Help me get fit for EMERGENCY USA

My goal is to lose 100 pounds over the next 180 days. I will weigh myself at the end of each month and then ask people who pledged to donate to Emergency USA based on my weight loss. For example, if someone pledged $5 and I lost 20 pounds it would be a $100 donation to EUSA for that month. This will go on for 6 months after which I will be in the healthiest fittest shape of my life and we will have raised some considerable money for the vital work of EMERGENCY USA in healing the wounds of war and poverty.

I’ll be posting regular blogs here at www.FitnessforEmergencyUSA.org so check back and follow my progress.

Please make your pledge today.

You can pledge by simply calling or emailing me with your name, contact info, and the dollar amount you would like to pledge for each pound I lose.

Thank You,
Jason Bosch
303-669-7286
bosch@argusfest.org

A Man Named Pearl
Monday, February 1
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation or 1 hour volunteer

alanced gracefully on a ladder, deftly carving with his electric hedge trimmer, Pearl Fryar has the elegance and strength of a dancer. He is, by contrast, a topiary sculptor, an artist whose medium is discarded or junk plant life and whose canvas is his magical and fantastical garden. A MAN NAMED PEARL chronicles the story of Pearl’s dazzling garden as well as his extraordinary life, both of which serve as inspirations to his family, his community, and the thousands of visitors who come to experience Pearl’s world each year. The film traces Pearl’s journey from a small town sharecropper’s son to an internationally-acclaimed artist, focusing in particular on his position as the celebrated cultural and spiritual icon of his impoverished town. Now 68, the soft-spoken Pearl has just one wish for all those who wander through his living art; they must leave feeling differently than when they arrived.

Stirring and profoundly uplifting, A MAN NAMED PEARL offers a captivating window into the life a man who turned obstacles into breathtakingly beautiful possibilities.

The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is a national grassroots consortium of anti-poverty groups, which ArgusFest is a member.

This show is to raise money for our upcoming  “March to Fulfill the Dream”.

Led by poor and homeless people and supported by musicians and artists from across America, this historic 2,300 mile march is scheduled to start in New Orleans on April 4th (the day MLK Jr. was assassinated) and arrive in Detroit on June 22nd, the first day of the 2010 U.S. Social Forum.

Poverty is everywhere and growing.  We will be marching to mobilize the poor.

Few people know that when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 he and the SCLC were organizing a poor people’s march from Mississippi to DC. The march went forward a month later without King.

In the last years of his life King was beginning to grow a multi-racial movement to end war and poverty. Sadly, so many years after his death we still see war and more and more poverty.  Adding great insult, King’s legacy is being shamelessly manipulated and exploited by the very creators and sustainers of war and poverty.

BUT WE ARE TAKING IT BACK!

We are re-energizing his movement, which never died. Martin Luther’s King’s last dream of a world without war and poverty is not one you will hear about on TV or read about in the papers but you will hear it loud when you talk with people (most people anyway). We are going to listen to one another, share our visions, and build and reconnect our communities.

We are going to MARCH TO FULFILL THE DREAM!!!

Join ArgusFest and friend for a night of music and dancing to support this effort.

Music performance by Radical Knitting Circle, TheTanukis, Laura Goldhamer, Tyler Ludwick, Pat Dethlefs, and friends from the Bluegrass Quartet.