Policy Brief No.5: Economic Human Rights Bus Tour in California May 29-31, 2001

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Introduction

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself (herself) and his (her) family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services..."

-Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948

The gap between the richest and poorest Americans continues to widen, creating deep wounds in the body and soul of this nation. The economic and social policies of the United States’ government perpetuate these growing income disparities, often in clear violation of the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the human rights of tens of millions of struggling Americans.

Inspired by the principles embodied in the UDHR, Food First/ the Institute for Food and Development Policy, organized the 2001 Economic Human Rights Bus Tour in California to document the dire need for government policies that respect, promote, and fulfill the human right of every individual to food, housing, health care, education, and a living wage.

The 2001 Economic Human Rights Bus Tour in California was a part of Food First’s national campaign, Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come!, to spur legislative action that meets the needs of the nation’s poor. The tour called for:

• Truly adequate federal funding for education, health care, and child care;
• A minimum wage that is a living wage;
• Measures to address the relationship between race and poverty;
• A re-ordering of federal priorities toward meeting the needs of the nation’s poor;
• Ratification of the International Covenant for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

In the coming months Food First will continue working with policymakers, grassroots and community-based organizations to ensure the right to an adequate standard of living. Our goal is to build a national movement to demand economic and social human rights in the United States!

Background

"After the military, I married and worked often 3 to 4 different jobs at a time to earn enough money to support my family. I suffered a heart attack in 1989 and now I receive $691 in social security a month. I pay $464 for my room. I struggle to get by and don’t have enough money for basic needs like food and clothing. It is unconscionable that there are so many people with even less than me. This isn’t the America I was led to believe existed or could exist."

– Richard Only is a client at St. Mary’s Center in Oakland, California

The 2001 Economic Human Rights Bus Tour in California from May 29-31 drew public attention to growing poverty and hunger in this country, and to the powerful grassroots campaigns in urban and rural areas that are addressing these injustices. This follow-up to our successful 1999 Georgia Bus Tour was endorsed by the fifty-six member strong Congressional Progressive Caucus and more than two hundred partner organizations from across the country.

Congressional Representative John Conyers (D-MI) remarked in 1999 that "the most important thing I've done this year" was to participate in Food First's Georgia Bus Tour. In 2001 Rep. Conyers joined us again, along with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; and Rosalinda Guillen, Vice-President of the United Farm Workers, and several other leaders of the civil society. California state legislators, local officials, and the media heard testimonies and policy recommendations directly from grassroots communities and service providers, who called for bolder legislative initiatives and a greater community role in policy making.

The tour highlighted many of the dynamic campaigns for justice in California and expanded the call for economic human rights to a national level. Site visits and hearings included a downtown Oakland walking tour of low income housing slated for demolition led by Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), testimonials by non-standard workers and a site tour at San Francisco’s Day Labor Program, and the fields of the Central Coast where the delegation witnessed the United Farm Workers’ fight for fundamental economic human rights to safe housing and safe working conditions, and basic health care.

The many testimonials by community members during the tour revealed the unconscionable reality that violations of people’s basic human rights continue to accelerate in the wealthiest nation on Earth. (please see the Appendix for Testimonials) The bus tour also documented the powerful community-based responses to these injustices and provided a dynamic opportunity to strengthen the national and regional networks coalescing in support of economic human rights for every single person.

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