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 After a calm night in the SEIU local
285 parking lot, the Freedom Riders were "Up & Out"
early. After a great breakfast sponsored by the Mass Welfare Rights
Union, we marched down Massachusetts Avenue chanting "What
Do We Want?" "Living Wage Jobs!" "When Do We
Want Them?" "NOW!." We marched to Boston's historic
Copely Square where the Boston Economic Human Rights Tribunal was
held.
Welfare
recipients from Massachusetts testified to a panel of judges about
the horrific effects of welfare reform on poor women. One recipient
testified that the state is vigorously removing children from families
every day because they are poor.
Another welfare recipient
testified that new EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards (which
do away with paper food stamps and welfare checks) have caused great
hardships when people have been unable to access their benefits.
The judges at the tribunal
included Mel King (MIT professor & social justice leader), Jack
Buchman (former state senator), Sister Pat Lambert (Office for Peace
& Justice), John O'Connor, Kip Tiernan (Rosie's Place), Vicki
Woodward,and Terry Haywoode (Northeastern University).
After lunch, the Freedom
Bus picked us up and carried us to Springfield, MA.
In Springfield we were
greeted with a warm welcome from ARISE for Social Justice. The Freedom
Riders joined about 150 people from Western Massachusetts and marched
to a community meal at the Community Progressive Chapel.
Cheri Honkala, Co-Chair
of the National Welfare Rights Union and Freedom Bus Rider, addressed
the group that gathered for the evening. "This is not symbolic,"
she said when handed the stories of economic human rights violations
by Mary Sutherland, a leader of ARISE. "These are real people's
lives, and we will bring these stories to the United Nations to
hold this country accountable."
State Representative
Ben Swan addressed the group and testified that ARISE for Social
Justice is the only organization in Springfield doing anything substantial
on the issue of poverty. He encouraged the Freedom Riders to"keep
on keepin' on." Mary Sutherland, from ARISE for Social Justice,
Others told stories of their human rights violations. One fifty-year
old woman was trying to survive without any access to health care.
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