2008 Journey for Justice Summary

Summary of the 3rd annual action, “Addressing the Crime of Poverty”
A California Poor People's Economic Human Rights Co-sponsored Event
Summary by WEAP
August 1, 2008

On a sweltering June 28, 2008, a room full of community activists and leaders met at the Chowchilla Senior Center for a day of powerful panel discussions at the third annual California Central Valley Journey for Justice.  The carefully chosen theme this year was “Addressing the Crime of Poverty”, especially apt considering the Central Valley region has the second highest poverty rate in the United States.  Only the state of Mississippi rates higher.  The day’s tone was set when the first panel speaker, Nikki Lee Diamond, compellingly and deliberately declared, “It is our responsibility to fight on behalf of those trapped inside the confines of mental illness, homelessness, poverty within this so called ‘free world’.”  Nikki came as part of Life after “Life”, made up of women who were sentenced to life in prison but managed to get out and are now doing everything they can to help those confined on both the inside and outside of prison.  

Nikki was a part of the day’s first panel, “Incarceration/Prisons/Police on the Rise- A Need for Community Solutions.” The other Journey for Justice panels were “Housing Crisis/Homelessness on the Rise/Foreclosures”, “Health Care- A Human Right, Not a Political Issue”, “Economic Crisis- Budget Cuts”, and a concluding discussion panel.  Each panel integrated several community leaders from a wide array of organizations and always included at least one member from the afflicted constituency being discussed. From moment to moment, the day was filled with one testimony about poverty after another, leaving people feeling a spectrum of emotions from horror stricken to hopeful.  When looked at collectively, the day’s discussions offered several recurring and very telling themes.  The following is a short summary of these different themes, offering essential insight into both the problems and solutions surrounding the crime of poverty.


Poverty: A Business

One of the main thematic threads, heard in every panel throughout the day, was the idea that poverty is a business, one in which it pays to keep a large and growing segment of the population in poverty while a smaller segment continues to prosper grossly.   Again and again, speakers would use the words “system”, “industry” and “business” in reference to poverty.  Al Williams, a homeless Fresno resident, summed up his discussion with a difficult truth: “It is hard to get rid of homelessness because it is a business.”  Reverend Ashiya Odeye, from the Justice Reform Coalition, and Debbie Reyes, from the CA Prison Moratorium Project, had a similar point to make about prisons.  They explained how prisons are an industry that costs taxpayers billions of dollars- money that could be spent on rehabilitating people and raising the standard of living for everyone.  Instead, we continue to openly support a violent, monetarily motivated system that does not work, but rather perpetuates and increases poverty and violence. The end result is that we have created an injustice system in place of a justice system.   Mario Galvan, from the Zapatista Solidarity Coalition, put this matter into a broader perspective: “We live in a system that creates poverty….Our laws are being written by corporations.  This is a class problem, a global problem.  The inequality gap is big everywhere.”

The theme of poverty as a business was also discussed at great length in terms of real life consequences.   Many mentioned how a genuine lack of jobs, from the homeless to recent college graduates, has been one of the worst economic outcomes.  For Dr. Jean Kennedy, the growing inequality gap has meant that she, a professor who teaches at four different institutions, is forced to travel to Jamaica for her health care because she cannot afford health insurance here in the US.  Gang interventionist specialist, Sam Rangel, helped the audience realize that part of the reason young kids turn to gangs and away from school is because school tends to be future-oriented.  For a lot of kids growing up in poverty- and a staggering 21% of California’s children do so- the “future” means nothing to them when they need the “now” addressed.  They are too consumed with getting enough food, having a place to sleep, attaining a good job, and other factors that come to dominate your life when you live in poverty.  Mother Teresa Robinson, the mother of an incarcerated son, elaborated on how poverty comes to control every aspect of your life, when she simply, but effectively, explained, “The prison system: I eat it.  I wear it.  I sleep it.”


A Lack of Dignity

Another major theme of the day, and one intricately tied to the crime of poverty, was dignity.  Mike Rhodes, from Community Alliance, described how the homeless in Fresno experienced flagrant violations to their rights when their encampments were being bulldozed down.  He explained, “In these situations, people are losing their identification, their personal belongings.  There is absolutely no dignity.”  Homeless Fresno residents Cynthia Green and Al Williams further expressed the lack of dignity that the poor face when they are refused to be seen medically, when barred from using public restrooms, and when friends are “disappeared” for good.   Pat Caetano from Life after “Life” shared how prisoners are seen as “nothing” and blanketed as “liars”.  Pat experienced this first hand when a doctor punctured her lung in prison but no one would believe her.  Pat further explained that when you become an object of money, then you cease to be a human being, leading her to reveal, “I think I would have died [in prison] if I had not got out.”  She then clarified, though, “I would have rather died standing up in prison than not standing up out here.”  Polo Chavez, from Comite Pro Uno, and Ethel Long-Scott, from the Women’s Economic Agenda Project, analyzed this issue even deeper when they explained that in our current society, receiving dignity depends on who you are.  If you are not poor, you have dignity, but if you are poor, then you are relegated to second-class citizenship.  This lack of dignity was why Muliaga Togotogo, from the Community Homeless Alliance Ministry (CHAM), did not mince words when it came to the solution he was asking for. “Don’t feel sorry for me.  Don’t feel pity for me.  Just give me my rights as a citizen of this country.”


Education: The First Step

One of the most prevalent themes of the day was education.  Almost every panelist cried out for better education, beginning with Nikki when she concluded her comments with “There is so much education out there that needs to be done.”  Most were calling for education to correct the massive amounts of miseducation around poverty and inequality.  Sometimes, this means letting people know that these issues are structural in nature.  Nick Robinson, from the Stop WalMart Action Team, talked about how the problems of poverty are often hard to see clearly, such as “the disenfranchisement of certain people, the structural racism” and this is why “it is a process of learning.” Mario boldly laid out bare the often hidden and twisted truth, when he explained, “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.”  Polo Chavez commented on how even our language dictates the way we understand and handle situations.  He explained how when our society faces a “crisis” we always respond the same: with war.  “War against gangs, war against ignorance, war against terrorism, war against illegal immigrants, war against lack of food, war against water security, war into infinity…”  Polo then challenged everyone in the room to get serious about their activism because we cannot continue to blindly follow the status quo by solving our problems with war.   That is why Muliaga Togotogo commented, “We need to educate folks.  We do not say that word [educate] enough.”  It is also why he made empowerment through education first on his list of ways to build toward real solutions.


Unification: The Second Step

Second on Muliaga Togotogo’s list, and another major theme of the day, was to unify and collaborate together. Muliaga spent most of his presentation demonstrating how the unity his church community provided allowed him to achieve victory in his own economic human rights struggle.  He exclaimed, “On the day of my [housing] trial, we shut the courts down that day because I had a whole community there, present in the courtroom, backing me up.” Mike Rhodes also shared a success story that revealed the power of unity.  Recently, the Fresno homeless were awarded a $2.3 million dollar settlement and have stopped the city from seizing and immediately destroying homeless people’s property.  This particular class action lawsuit was able to change public policy, while also sending a message to other cities who violate homeless people’s rights.  In this case, victory was won because many homeless, community organizations, and lawyers all came together for several years and refused to back down despite the many difficult obstacles they faced (for more information, read Mike Rhodes in-depth article on this important victory).    Many others also called for unity, especially the need for greater unity among activists of all kinds and across different organizations.  Polo Chavez strongly advocated for more new faces in the movement instead of allowing current divisions to continue.   In a similar vein, Ethel Long-Scott passionately declared, “We represent the best in America and need unity toward a greater vision.”  She went on to explain how we need to kick the politicians who support poverty enabling structures out but that “we can’t do it alone; we need to work together.”  And as Dr. Jean so eloquently pointed out, “There is room for everyone in the social justice movement.”


A Revolution in Our Values
The most exciting theme of the event formed and grew throughout the day, as each panel added another layer to ‘addressing the crime of poverty’.  Polo Chavez probably used the word ‘revolution’ first when he claimed that in order to really solve the deep problems of poverty, we need to “talk about revolution and not war.  What we need to change is the basis of society, in what runs the society, and what keeps the present society.”  Ethel Long-Scott then built upon Polo’s thoughts, trumpeting, “We need actions, but not just any.  We need to educate for a new vision.  We need a revolution in our values.” What Polo and Ethel finally articulated for all to mull over was the idea that we cannot solve poverty’s children- prisons, homelessness, health care insecurity, etc.- unless we change our values as a society.  More specifically, they meant how we view and treat each other.  Ethel and Polo were asking for a system that is based upon values that make sure every single person receives the dignity that they deserve.  In plain terms, we can’t change the system unless we change the values that it is built upon.

Ethel deepened this analysis when she continued, “We need to fight for human dignity, fight against the reality of second class citizens, against being laid off, against two Americas” and thus “We the people must forge a new social contract for what we need.  We need a new vision, one that does not make us exploited and expendable….We need a different vision from the agenda of the rich and elite.”    Mario Galvan summed up this train of thought when he asked and then answered, “What is the vision that is going to unite us? Not an army.  It is going to instead take the US as a society putting the value of human beings over money.”  In other words, the people in the room and all those afflicted by poverty must put forth their own values, ones not beholden to racist, sexist, class biased, and corporate structures.  If we revolutionize our values so that they allow ‘freedom from poverty’ to prosper, then we will be empowered to revolutionize the current system keeping us all down.  More importantly, we will be creating a new system that will secure our economic human rights.  And that is exactly why we must build a mass social movement together: so that ALL can possess the economic means to experience dignity as a reality.


Conclusions: We Are the Seeds of Change

Early in the day, facilitator Sandy Perry from CHAM, who co- facilitated with Journey for Justice volunteer Gloria Sandoval, clarified, “The Journey for Justice is about resisting not just economic oppression but all forms of money, power, and corruption.”  After four panels, all of these different forms of oppressions had been talked about, analyzed, and picked to pieces.  While the themes of poverty as a business, lack of dignity, need for education, unity, and for a revolution in values had threaded and been built upon throughout the day, the final concluding panel helped put the day in perspective.  

Gloria Hernandez, from Comite No Nos Vamos, talked about the lessons she had learned all day long: how she admired Cynthia Green for fighting for her rights as a homeless resident, how she learned from Muliaga what can happen when you stand up together to fight for your rights, and how she learned commitment from the women in prison who have gone back to help those still locked in.  Gloria then emphasized, “We have to build a coalition, empower by education.  We need to go door to door…You just have to go, you have to care, you have to have a heart.  It hurts too much not to.” 
Similarly, Ethel Long-Scott reminded everyone why they were gathered in the room that day- because “it is total insanity that anyone in this country is dying from poverty.”  And, in the spirit of continuing the Journey for Justice beyond the walls of the Chowchilla Senior Center, Ethel also declared, “We in this room are not the change, but we are the seeds of change.”  People may have left that day feeling exhausted, overwhelmed with the problems caused by poverty, but they also left with a great hope and desire to nurture the seeds of change into a real, full-grown change.  They also left knowing that they had to continue the journey by building a mass social movement to end poverty.  Most importantly, they left knowing they must revolutionize our country’s values into a new social contract encompassing all.  Otherwise, in echo of Gloria’s words, it will hurt too much not to.  

To read the 2006 Journey for Justice Summary by CHAM's Sandy Perry, click here!