About 20 representatives of the poor from across the country gathered in mid-May for an inspiring and productive two-day planning retreat at the Highlander Center outside Knoxville, Tennessee. The goal: Find ways to end poverty, and stop the push to punish the poor – once again – for the unrelenting power grab of the corporate elite. The strategy retreat was called by the Poverty Working Group of the U.S. Social Forum to ensure the active participation of large numbers of poor people at the USSF.

Among the participants were caravaners from the March to Fulfill the Dream, which started in New Orleans April 4^th and will end in Detroit June 20^th for the USSF. The March is spotlighting poverty in the U.S. as a human rights violation. We are gathering stories and testimony from poor people suffering in silence, and are urging the poor to not accept their plight in silence.

Meetings began early and went late into the night. With six weeks left until the U.S. Social Forum it was important for us to discuss all the work happening and how it fits into our long-term strategy. The March to Fulfill the Dream and the U.S. Social Forum are key to PPEHRC’s strategy of building the leadership of the poor to lead the movement to end poverty.

We noted the explosive times in which the USSF is being held; increased attacks on the poor, expanding jobless recovery, and stepped-up hateful anti-immigrant attacks. In response we are witnessing courageous leadership of the undocumented in resisting attempts to make them second-class citizens. Workers and the poor are increasingly taking leadership in their own defense.

Highlander’s history helped root us in a long and powerful tradition of social justice. Since 1932 Highlander has been instrumental in supporting movements for social and economic justice. The Center was founded as a leadership development, educational, and cultural space to build the labor movement. It later was instrumental to developing the leadership of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks was trained there before sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Georgia Rep. John Lewis and many more freedom fighters met and planned at Highlander.

Artists and musicians have been inspired at Highlander too. Ziphia Horton, the music director and wife of founder Miles Horton, wrote the song, “We Shall Overcome,” there.

We left Highlander reenergized and dedicated to working towards a broader unity in pursuit of the justice we need. Join us as we press forward to Detroit and the USSF to reclaim our country for the workers who built it!

From left: Monica Beemer, Two Bears, Ethel Long-Scott, Tara Colon

Rose Brewer, Marian Kramer, Jen Cox, Rev. Bruce Wright, Sheila Hill, Jason Bosch

View from outside the workshop space. Highlander has been at this location in New Market, Tennessee since 1971.

Martin Luther King, Pete Seeger, Charis Horton, Rosa Parks, & Ralph Abernathy in front of the Highlander Library, Monteagle, TN.