The California Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

California’s great Central Valley is the Golden State’s Mississippi when it comes to poverty.  On June 28th, the third annual California Central Valley Journey for Justice took place in Chowchilla, CA and lifted the smothering blanket of silence from this crucial human rights issue.  The theme this year was "Addressing the Crime of Poverty" and focused on prisons, homelessness, health care, and the CA budget cuts.   For several hours, the audience heard people testify about a plethora of poverty crimes- from the horrifying conditions of health care in prisons to the complete lack of dignity the homeless have to live with 24/7. Connecting the discussions together was the same root cause: the profit of big business being put over the well being of the individual and community.  One speaker, Mario Galvan from the Zapatista Solidarity Coalition might have said it best, when he remarked, “If a corporation is in trouble, we come up with the money to save them, but if the poor need it, we do not have it” and thus to unite us, he declared it would take “the US as a society putting the value of human beings over money.”  Central Valley community leaders also spent time advocating for comprehensive and effective solutions to these problems, such as single payer universal health care.   Almost everyone mentioned the need to educate and unite together more strongly in order to truly address the crime of poverty. To learn more about this year’s event, read our summary here (link)!

The Journey for Justice originated when San Jose’s Community Homeless Alliance Ministry (CHAM) proposed it several years ago.  CHAM is a prominent member of the California arm of the national Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign  (PPEHRC).  CHAM was concerned about the extreme, but “hidden”, poverty in the Central Valley.  In fact, if the Central Valley were a state, it would rank second only to Mississippi in the poverty of its residents.  To learn more about the history behind the Journey for Justice, read Dr. Sal Sandoval's article on the sidebar to the right or just click here.  

 
WHAT IS THE CA PPEHRC?

The Journey for Justice is one example of what the CA PPEHRC is all about: uniting across color and class lines in order to build a broad movement to abolish poverty. Over the last decade, the Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP) has worked alongside CHAM, St. Mary's, organized labor, and others in building local Poor People's Economic Human Rights Committees throughout California. PPEHRC’s vision of a world without poverty, where people are valued for their contributions regardless of their income, has touched the imagination of political activists, students, working people, unions, and churches alike in this unique campaign led by poor people.

March for our Lives – Sacramento 2004- CHAM leaders, including Sister Adrienne Lawton and Pastor Scott Wages.

Examples of other CA PPEHRC events include organized Freedom Bus Tours, marches, economic human rights tribunals, and Just Health Care trainings.  The primary goal is always to create spaces that enable people to come together for dialogue and action. The statewide Freedom Bus Tour (2000), the March for Compassion and Spiritual Renewal (2001), the March for Our Lives (2004), and the Truth Commissions on the Healthcare Crisis (2006 & 2008) are just a few specific examples of how WEAP, and CA PPEHRC affiliates, have provided special opportunities to teach about our economic human rights and to establish human rights monitors throughout California. The CA PPEHRC has also collected the documentation of human rights violations of thousands throughout California.  You can document health care violations to your human rights right now by taking our new on-line health care survey here.

 
PPEHRC’S HUMAN RIGHTS HISTORY

PPEHRC was launched in 1998 after U.S. politicians began destroying social safety net services under the pretense of “welfare reform”. The Pennsylvania-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union brought together more than 50 organizations from around the country to form the national Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.  The Campaign picks up where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. left off when he shifted his focus from civil rights to economic rights the year before his Poor People's Campaign of 1968.  PPEHRC’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is also rooted in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly articles 19, 23, 25 and 26.  Article 25 is one of the most comprehensive, stating:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

These documents, endorsed by the United States, set international human rights guidelines for meeting basic needs.  PPEHRC is always striving to advance people’s economic human rights, including food, housing, health care, education, communication, and a living wage job.  In 1998, PPEHRC conducted the first New Freedom Bus Tour: Freedom from Unemployment, Hunger and Homelessness.  In October 1999, PPEHRC joined with poor and homeless people from across the Americas and marched from Washington, D.C. to the United Nations in New York City and submitted a petition to the United Nations charging that welfare reform is a violation of our human rights.  Since then, dozens of organizations have joined.  We encourage you to join by embracing the PPEHRC mission and endorsing or forming a committee in your home town.

United we can win the hearts and minds of the American people, so that no man, woman, or child ever goes without food, shelter, clothing, medical care, treatment for addiction, education, or a living wage.

Youth Leaders from WEAP: Michael Polson and Covenant House.

 
WHAT DOES A PPEHRC COMMITTEE DO?

• Collect documentation of Economic Human Rights Violations.  This documentation is essential to the growth of our awareness that these rights are violated daily. Through documentation, we not only collect evidence of violations but we also educate those around us on their rights as spelled out in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Frame your local battles in terms of economic human rights.  If you are engaged in local battles over housing, healthcare, a living wage, or any other economic human rights issue, link it to the broader movement to end poverty in the US. This wider vision keeps us clear on our long-term goals as we engage in our local battles. This way we can articulate what we are for not only what we are fighting against.
• Protest that poverty is an economic human rights violation.  We need to let people know that they are not alone.  Protesting is a fundamental way to convey that message. We must join together because we know that we will only get what we are organized to take.
• Get to know the Campaigns for Economic Justice.  Sponsor and organize a "Just Health Care" training or one on Free Higher Education, a Living Wage, or Housing as a Human Right. These campaigns not only assess the problem, but also offer workable solutions to poor and working people's problems.
• Educate about economic human rights. We need to refocus our goal from managing poverty to eliminating poverty. The more we know about our world the more effective Freedom Fighters we will become. Form your own education group for internal and external education.

 

"We, the poor, jobless, downsized, uninsured victims of welfare reform and others abused by the institutions of domination are no longer silent. We are moving forward with the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, and so many freedom fighters to improve the lives of Americans."

-Portia Anderson, WEAP

• Sal Sandoval's History - Journey for Justice
• Endorse PPEHRC!
• "Poverty in California" Fact Sheet
• "Food is an Economic Human Right" Fact Sheet
• "Foster Youth and Our Economic Human Rights" Fact Sheet
• "Letter from African American Activists in Solidarity with Mexican Guest Workers"