See:
http://www.kwru.org
and http://www.marchforourlives.org
for photographs and more updates and press coverage of the RNC and the March for Our Lives. More to come soon.

After stating for over a year that the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign would march with or without a permit on August 30th, refusing to give up the freedoms that people have died for, we stepped forward yesterday to continue the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr . to build a multiracial, intergenerational movement of the poor.

After a rally at the United Nations where the poor from across this country spoke along with members of the clergy, artists and representatives of the poor from around the world the unpermitted march began under the banner of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

We marched yesterday being led by people in wheelchairs and crutches, children and the elderly followed by veterans, immigrants, and poor and homeless people from around the nation together united and talking about the issues that face poor people.

Despite not having a permit, thousands of marchers stepped into the streets of downtown Manhattan in a peaceful, nonviolent march that stretched for blocks as it made its way to Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican National Convention. The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign's march yesterday was nothing short of a tremendous success as we were able to ensure that poor people in this country have a voice and bring their message of the economic human rights to housing, healthcare, living wage jobs and education all the way to Madison Square Garden.

Near Madison Sqaure Garden, we left a "Citizens' Arrest of George W. Bush for Crimes Against Humanity." At the march we were accompanied by International Human Rights Observers, including Nora Cortinas of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Linea Fundadora) of Argentina, and Alexis Ponce of the Inter-American Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development, from Ecuador.

The unfortunate conflict between a demonstrator and a police officer that also occurred in Manhattan last evening had no relationship to the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign's march and we refuse for our organizing efforts and successful peaceful march to be destroyed by attempts to connect this to our march and to silence the message of poor people in America on this important day. We are a peaceful, nonviolent movement that refuses to be made to disappear. Our continued gratitude goes out to the independent media, independent filmmakers and reporters that are committed to telling the truth in the fight to ensure the visibility of the poor in America.