Part 1: ‘Homelessness Ends With a Home’

Convergence planned for Wednesday, Jan. 20, 11 a.m., at Federal Building, Seventh and Mission, San Francisco, then plans dashed – see Part 2 below

Forty-one years ago, in 1968, thousands came from all over the country to Washington, D.C., for the Poor People’s Campaign. It was the last movement organized by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., just before his assassination. Rev. King had the vision to bring together poor people of all races to make visible the plight of poverty. It was not to be a sit-it, but a live-in. They built “Resurrection City” on the mall on Washington, stayed in their plywood lean-tos in what looked like a refugee camp through 40 days of rain and the assassination of their ally, Robert Kennedy, lobbied Congress every day, were watched by as many police as there were demonstrators and finally watched in despair as government bulldozers destroyed it all. The legacy of this city’s rise and fall lives today. Watch the videos below. - Photo: Jill Freedman

Jan. 20, 2010, marks the one-year anniversary of the Obama administration. He came to power through a powerful grassroots campaign movement. That movement – driven by hope and change – has foundered on business as usual in D.C.

We do know that change can come quick, just look at the $700 billion of taxpayer’s dollars that went to bail out Wall Street. What did those most in need get? $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing funds! The change barometer reads: little to no change.

Organize or die!

What are the consequences of these priorities? 39.8 million people living below the poverty line, including 17 million people in “deep poverty.” a 26-year high unemployment rate, 46.3 million uninsured people and 49 million people who face food insecurity. Homelessness is up 12 percent in cities across the country.

In response to this growing crisis, many local governments and business improvement districts have created programs that force growing numbers of poor people out of gentrifying or neglected neighborhoods and into jails.

From anti-homeless loitering, sitting and sleeping laws to immigration checks at health programs and public schools to arrest histories in public housing and employment, we must stop this pattern of oppression and demand our human rights. It’s quite simple: Organize or die!

Part 2: Homeless protest permit revoked from feds: NO RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE AT THE NEW FEDERAL BUILDING

In 1968, Martin Luther King and SCLC organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C., demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. King crisscrossed the country to assemble “a multiracial army of the poor” that would descend on Washington – engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol, if need be – until Congress enacted a poor people’s bill of rights. King’s economic bill of rights called for massive government jobs programs to rebuild America’s cities. He saw a crying need to confront a Congress that had demonstrated its “hostility to the poor” – appropriating “military funds with alacrity and generosity,” but providing “poverty funds with miserliness.” His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of racism, poverty, militarism and materialism, and that “reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced.”

People who are homeless, their supporters and service providers planned to rally on Jan. 20, 2010, for an event entitled “Homelessness Ends With a Home” at the plaza in the new federal building at Mission and Seventh. The rally is timed to correspond with the one-year anniversary of the inauguration of Barack Obama, in a plea to make affordable housing for poor people the top priority of his administration.

The General Services Administration (GSA) suddenly revoked a previously approved permit to Western Regional Advocacy Project for homeless organizations from throughout the Western United States to assemble in the public square on the corner of Mission and Seventh Street. According to the denial letter from the GSA, the largest assembly approved to date was for fewer than 200 people.

The rally is timed to correspond with the one-year anniversary of the inauguration of Barack Obama, in a plea to make affordable housing for poor people the top priority of his administration.

Adding insult to injury, the GSA told organizers they could not appeal because their notice of intent to appeal was received within six instead of five days following the unorthodox denial.

An expected crowd of 1,500 people now find themselves without a home for the Jan. 20 rally. Notwithstanding the GSA’s statement that it is untimely, advocates plan to continue to appeal this denial.

“We outlined exactly what we planned to do and how many people would be attending. Now the feds shut us down. The federal government’s message is that they don’t want to hear from homeless people if there are too many of them,” according to Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project.

According to free speech advocate boona cheema, “The message is dreadful. The federal government is refusing assemblies over 200 people. Traditionally, areas around public buildings are the most important for the exercise of free speech and the right to assemble. Restrictions placed on assemblies in this area are highly suspect, must be content neutral and should receive the highest level scrutiny. The denial of ‘Homelessness Ends With a Home’ threatens free speech for all, and we plan to fight this denial.”

Western Regional Advocacy Project exists to expose and eliminate the root causes of civil and human rights abuse of people experiencing poverty and homelessness in our communities. For more information, visit www/wraphome.org or contact Paul Boden, pboden@wraphome.org, or Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director, Coalition on Homelessness, 468 Turk St., San Francisco CA 94102, (415) 346-3740, ext. 306, director@cohsf.org, www.cohsf.org/streetsheet.

To learn more about the Poor People’s Campaign and Resurrection City, watch “The Legacy of Resurrection City” and “Documenting Resurrection City: Jill Freedman.”