After marching with over 30,000 people from Bryant Park through lower Manhattan yesterday, a Daily News reporter suddenly asked me what I thought America could learn from this march.
Images of hundreds of signs I’d seen that day passed through my head. I quickly tried to think of which one to talk about. Almost all of these concerns are deeply connected. Was there a way I could sum them up in my own words?
All I could say was what popped into my head. That I don’t think people should be ashamed of being poor, unemployed, hungry or homeless. Or working two jobs and still not being able to pay the bills. Join the club, it’s a big one. 150 million of us are struggling with poverty in this country right now. I think the first step towards working to solve this problem is to acknowledge it and talk about it.
Coming out and talking to other people about their challenges has been tremendously empowering and humbling. Marching with this huge crowd and talking to people individually was one of the most moving things I’ve ever done. Knowing that hundreds of May Day marches were taking place all over the world involving hundreds of thousands of people gave me a deep sense of international community.
