 Arriving the night of the 17th, we stayed the night at the Minehaha United Church of Christ. The next day  the freedom riders took the bus into downtown Minneapolis, where hundreds of people met them at a rally in front of the federal building. At the rally were people on welfare, people who were homeless, immigrants struggling to feed their families, and many youth fighting for their rights. The Welfare Rights Committee, Welfare Rights Coalition, and the Loring Nicollette Alternative School were all present at the rally. Welfare activists from Duluth, Minnesota came to the rally, as did members of the Hmong and Somali immigrant communities. The rally, loud and energetic, was a testament to the efforts of people in poverty to organize themselves and fight the human rights abuses they are facing. Representatives of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, who work nationally on issues of human rights, were there to show their support of the freedom bus. Kids from the Student Association for the Advancement of Children as People (SAACP) were there to give their comments - that every child deserves food to eat, a roof over their head, and a loving home. SAACP members were all kids themselves, who saw that they needed to take the struggle for economic human rights in their own hands!  Also at the rally was Marv Davidov, one of the original freedom riders from 1961. He was one of many who fought to desegregate the bus facilities in Mississ!
ippi, and was jailed for his stand. He saw that effort, like today's bus, advancing the struggle of the time. "I look with great happiness on this bus," he said, "and though it's a long struggle ahead, I'm sure it will be won."
Cheri Honkala addressed her hometown crowd: "Until poor and homeless people decide to come together and stand up, poverty and homelessness will continue, people will continue to freeze to death on the sidewalks...We have to say that morally we will no longer tolerate people dying like this in a land of plenty." She continued, "...but I'm not worried because I know that we will not let our children die, and will continue to fight and to organize."
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