 ain't gonna study or no more, ain't gonna study, ain't gonna study or no more, ain't gonna study We're gonna march for peace and harmony down by the riverside, down by the riverside, down by the riverside We're gonna march for peace and harmony down by the riverside and study I ain't gonna study or no more, ain't gonna study, ain't gonna study, ain't gonna study We demand for more revival to politicians at the capitol here in Montpelier and in 40 states across the country And others are returning to Vermont's capitol to demand a reduction in military spending, a ban on assault weapons, and the demilitarization of local communities That's right Strengthen our Veterans Affairs Poverty programs Supposed to military spending In 1967, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, shameful corridors of time That's right It's shaped by so-called Christian nationalists who have forgotten scriptures, calls for us to care for the sick, women and children, immigrants, and the poor That's right The least among us We cannot afford to stay silent We can no longer allow ourselves to be dragged down Today, as the New Poor People's Campaign, we are taking action We are committed to bringing America out of the long and dark corridor to a better future Yes Willing to do what it takes to make our message heard That's right For protest That's right I will vote All right Even at the risk of arrest Two weeks ago for the launch of this campaign as a delegate from Vermont I was joined by people from all over the country, from all walks of life Who made the commitment to say that someone is hurting our brothers and our sisters And our women and our children and our families and our communities And we won't be silent anymore Weeks are just the beginning This is the start of a multi-year movement And we won't stop until we end America's war on the poor They're one of the oldest non-profits self-supporting theatrical companies in the country Red and Puppet is radicals like us, huh? Their home is Glover, Vermont And Red and Puppet is a network of volunteers using art that is homemade And which reflects on and addresses the concerns of the world and celebrates its beauty Thank you, Red and Puppet, for joining the Poor People's Campaign Nothing else you have Lonely through the light Eat, it lives on freshly furnished meat It eats the rabbit and the goose It eats the hedgehog and the moose It eats the elk buck and the... Everybody, I'm Rachel Siegel I'm with the Peace and Justice Center I'm really happy to be here as part of the Poor People's Campaign It is a glorious day, right? It's a glorious day for solidarity and for resistance We know that the war economy disproportionately affects poor people and people of color And that our country instead of investing in social and economic programs That would invest in our future and our well-being Our country prioritizes investing in weapons and in war I'm going to read a quote from Reverend Barber Sermon on May 6th He said, better than I can Overcommitment to militarism and war has completely distorted our economy So our country, the wealthiest country in history Is the only developed country that does not provide healthcare to all of its people That's right, that's messed up In our country, the wealthiest country in the world Women are more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes Than in any other developed country In Washington DC, the capital of the wealthiest country in history The death rate is the highest in the country And it varies by race with black women More than three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women Side note, there's an amazing article in the New York Times magazine about this Reverend Barber goes on, why? Not because we are a poor country, not because we can't afford healthcare Or first-class education, or good union jobs And a decent infrastructure for our country But because our economy is first a war economy Before it is an uplifting our people economy That's right, that's right So he said it well, I have a couple of other thoughts to add We know that militarism isn't simply a problem Because it's morally despicable and devastates people's lives It's also something that amplifies other problems When young people get recruited into the armed forces They don't necessarily know what they're getting recruited into They are deceived and lied to And sometimes when they return from combat zones They're likely to develop conditions that stay with them for life These people are often preyed on because they have a lack of options So they are exploited economically Workers that are turned into murderers Because they have no other source of income We also know that the people who live in countries that are most terrorized by our military Are people of color, and so racism plays a role in militarism That's right And when communities here in the United States are harmed by nuclear manufacturing It's largely indigenous and poor people We just had the pleasure of hosting a woman, Vieta Sosipena For the Vermont Peace Conference in Burlington I know a couple of you heard her She's from New Mexico, and the nuclear weapons manufacturing complex Near her home of Santa Clara Pueblo Pollutes the water and causes sickness, especially cancer in the women Not only that, but the chemicals have been found in their breast milk But here's where we need to look at the intersectionality We're going to really address this fully That very place that's profiting while making them sick Is one of their only options for employment So the people who live in this community also work at the factory If we simply close the factory, what will the workers do? It is not simple We need to look at the places where racism, worker exploitation Poverty and climate destruction overlap And that's how this campaign was started When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. initiated it Here in Vermont, Century Arms is making AKs and other guns In Fairfax, Franklin County And we know that Franklin County is not a wealthy place So again, we need to look for a just solution That doesn't just take away people's jobs That's an argument that's also been made in favor of the F-35 The job argument They say that if we don't get the F-35s at the Burlington International Airport For our air guard, we'll lose jobs and it'll hurt the economy But we know that this is not true from a statement that the Air Force themselves made That said we will not lose jobs if they don't come They will find a different mission And we know that the people who are most impacted by the F-16s currently And who will be even more impacted by the F-35s are the folks in Winooski, Vermont Which is the community that has the most former refugees in Vermont So these are people who've been devastated by war that we participated in And now they're getting put into place where their lives are going to be diminished Their children will be impacted, their health will be impacted Because of war I want to read one more thing from somebody else before I introduce our speaker This is Kathy Kelly Who went to Afghanistan She was in Kabul working with a Peace Volunteer Initiative Working with a group of students And she says she was talking to them about the school shootings in the United States This was right after the shooting in Parkland So March 1st that she wrote this I tell some of the Afghan Peace Volunteer students about the school shootings In the United States and the remarkable determination of teenagers from Florida And elsewhere we know To demand that lawmakers take action on gun control These Afghan students have also heard about Black Lives Matter activists Who've been tear gassed and beaten When they've demonstrated against police brutality The Afghan teens identify with the activists facing danger But still standing up to insist on change I, Kathy Kelly, asked if they thought that the US media and government Would heed Afghan young people raising their voices Asserting their anguish and fear regarding US aerial attacks and drone assassinations Which they live with daily Your dreaming, said Hamad, one of the students He flashed me a warm smile and shook his head saying, No one will ever listen to us Nasir, a third year university student Who majors in mapping technology tells me He thinks teens in the United States have a chance to be heard Like Habib, he doubts that the same is true for Afghan voices Seeking to end the 16-year-old war they live in But Zanab, a high schooler in the class Added that she thinks it would be great to record a vigil of teenagers in Kabul Sending their support for US teenagers who've survived school shootings And who've begun shaming the adult world into action On the issue of gun violence The outrage now directed toward the National Rifle Association Should also challenge all assaults made by the US military Could international teen solidarity challenge both the US military And the National Rifle Association to end assaults on human life Our goal must be to demand that every person around the world Agree to stop producing and using weapons, says Nasir Courageous clear-eyed Afghan and US youth are working in both countries To sow seeds that bear needed fruit Hoping they can change the adults as well So we tried to get high school students here, but they're in school They don't have as many options as adults in many ways And they are kicking butt all over Vermont right now So go look for some high school students to support So today, a day after Memorial Day, we remember all the people who died in unnecessary war Children and families in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere Because of decisions to promote war instead of peace The support of the Israeli army by our government Is currently part of the cruelty that's happening in Gaza And our next speaker is Kathy Shapiro She's an activist with Vermonters for Justice in Palestine And I will let her tell you more about that Thank you very much for the opportunity to include the struggle of Palestinians In this rally today for the Poor People's Campaign Thank you Just a note about BTJP Vermonters for Justice in Palestine We work to support the survival of the Palestinian people And to end the 50 year long illegal Israeli occupation We are committed to full civil and political rights and self determination For all Palestinians to promote equality and safety of both Palestinians and Israelis We also recognize that the struggle for Palestinian rights is inextricably linked To the struggles for poor, minority and indigenous people of the United States It's a struggle against militarism and policing that are used to protect the interests of the rich and powerful But what does Palestine have to do with militarism in America and our own engorged military budget? Here's how two of today's demands are connected to the US-Israel alliance against Palestinians One, the demand that asks for demilitarization of our communities on the border in our interiors And an end to federal programs that send military equipment to our state and local communities Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid receiving almost $4 billion a year That's more than $10 million every single day of our tax dollars The US and Israel have a lot in common Both countries are founded on settler colonialism while white Europeans coming to foreign lands And subduing or eliminating indigenous people Both countries treat protest movements as a military threat Look at the militarized forces that met nonviolent dappled demonstrators and the people of Ferguson Look at the IDF snipers that picked off one by one young men and women in Gaza As they demonstrated non-violently in cold blood, killing 107 of them and injuring more than 12,000 civilians Over 6,000 of them so seriously that they'll be handicapped for the rest of their lives Many with amputations Israel prides itself on the development of state-of-the-art weapons and surveillance equipment And it markets it to the rest of the world as already tested in the field Who is it tested on? Palestinians In testing these weapons and marketing them, they promote Islamophobia in the name of counter-terrorism Much the same as the US enforces law and promotes racial discrimination in the name of our community's safety Since the year 2000, Israeli and the US have been engaging in police exchange programs Bringing together police, ICE, border control agents, campus police and FBI from our country to Israel To meet with police, border agents in Israel, police, border agents and the army in Israel In these programs, worse practices are exchanged that exist in both countries including extrajudicial executions Shoot to kill orders, policies of police murder, racial profiling, massive spying, surveillance, deportation, detention And attacks on unarmed human rights defenders Even Vermont has participated in such exchanges in the past And we need to ensure that never happens again The second demand I want to address is to cease the call for building a wall at our border with Mexico Israeli contractors have been intimately involved in our own security at the borders To give only one example, Elbit Systems, one of Israel's most successful military tech companies Has played a key role on the US-Mexican border through construction of surveillance towers The same that are used at checkpoints within occupied Palestine and at the borders of Israel That control, contain and humiliate Palestinians on a daily basis They are the first people who would be engaged to build a wall that walls us off from the country of Mexico Should that actually come to pass Palestine is important because Israel's war on Palestinians has become a model and a laboratory For a global war against we the people, including our own US-backed militarism has a devastating humanitarian impact that threatens lives and civil liberties of ourselves and people all around the world As we struggle for the rights of Palestinians, we join you in the fight for the rights of our own communities Against the militarist, racist, imperialist powers that control both governments We will not be free until all are free That's right I'm sort of the historical person here today We're looking back 50 years to 1968 when non-violence really got going at the time of the first four people's campaign But I want to take us all the way back to 100 years ago That was when World War I was ending 1915, 1917 But the person I would like to bring before you today is my grandmother, Lola Maverick Lloyd Who tried to end World War I with a group of women She left the United States across the Atlantic before it had already started There were submarines everywhere She met with other women from the other side whose husbands and fathers were possibly fighting people from the other side England and France and Germany And from their conference they went to try to get the non-violent Try to get the neutral countries and the warring countries to talk to each other and propose mediation I mean they were just saying it's time for you to stop killing each other You have to talk to each other, you have to support mediation You have to support conciliation You have to make agreements that are supported by law And if there is, if it's only the vanquished and the victors that make agreements at the end You can be sure that the settlement will not be really lasting And of course that was the Parasite Treaty which really laid the groundwork for the Second World War So I'm just trying to say that people claim that brutality and force is the default position for mankind But I believe and I think all of you who are here today believe that there is a powerful counter force That declares that war and non-violence can build a powerful path away from violence And it must be practiced with commitment and diligence as we are doing today That's right Let's do it! The point is mediation does work It's active, it's inactive use thousands of times a day It's called getting along together or cooperation You talk rather than yell You listen, you seek compromise You treat all as equals And that's what needs to be happening now We need an affirmation of moral values Diplomacy, diplomacy not threats Compensation rather than bullying Both globally and locally Police forces around the nation need to back off from using violence on non-violent community members And on directing their force against people of color That's right It's outrageous that last summer the Justice Department renewed permission for armored vehicles, large caliber weapons, ammunition and other heavy equipment to be repurposed from foreign battlefields to America's streets No way! There has been a militarization of law enforcement over the last few decades Even in Vermont where the Burlington Police Department has used tasers and rubber bullets on community members This is just the tip of the iceberg that the way militarism has seeped its way into our society So we're building a movement here today for justice We're all as mad as hell We're going to change the things now To just conclude, my grandmother and her colleagues did not stop World War I But they formed an organization that still exists today And is one of the sponsors of the Poor People's Campaign The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Alright! We're 103 years old and still marching I'd very much like to introduce Reverend Dr. Leon Cumpley He's the minister of the North Chapel Universalist Church in Woodstock, Vermont This conference that I went to once in Texas in Fort Worth And there were people all around wearing the same buttons This siren is sort of like what it feels like inside my heart right now But all around Fort Worth, Texas, there were people wearing the same buttons And the buttons all set the same things They were worn on hats and lapels and on re-rends and on pocketbooks And they said the most radical thing we can do is introduce ourselves to one another Alright! So if you could just pause for a second Look at the beauty of this day Look at the row of flowers that's being planted behind you Alright! The beauty of the sky and the beauty of your own heart And let us remember who we are There's an old song called Long Cash that we sung once I went to see the grave site of a man named James Cheney Is that name familiar with you? So James Cheney, we went to his grave site in Mississippi And we sang a song that sounded like this I'll just sing one verse and then share the words with you I went down to Long Cash to see Bobby Sands He was not there but his spirit kept on walking I could see his smiling face on the man and on the women Then the children, they sang freedom songs And then there was another one I went down to Mississippi To see Fanny Lou Hamer She was not there but her spirit kept on walking I could see her smiling face on the man and on the women Then the children, they sang freedom songs And it goes through several other people It goes to Atlanta to see Martin King It goes to India to see Mahatma Gandhi It goes to Belfast to see Bernadette Devlin And all the time we're singing together And we're remembering who we are We're breathing together and remembering who we are The most radical thing we can do is introduce ourselves to one another Good afternoon Good afternoon Thanks for being here Good afternoon My name is Leon Dungley I serve the North Universalist Chapel Society In Woodstock, Vermont It's an honor to be here in Montpelier In the capital of this great state Among these hills and mountains Green again after months of winter It's an honor to be a part of this great day of peace And to speak with people who will push themselves to the limit To tell the truth of their own story It is an honor to protest here Protest meaning to testify in favor of something That's right It's a positive thing to dream the good world And to being and to testify To speak in favor of the way of grace and beauty To protest It's a positive thing to struggle against that Which magnifies human suffering And it's beautiful to work for that Which relieves the pain And so we protest It's a positive thing to know And to long for life's gifts and blessings To speak out loud on their behalf So we protest John Dewey once said That government is the shadow cast By big business over society Wow But he wasn't thinking of any of us That's right He was preserving the best in us So with that in mind How do you get past the outrage of what's going on in our world The militarism, the racism, the systemic and violences The systemic violences, the systemic injustices How do we put down the fear that it takes That wants to keep us separate from one another Martin Luther King said Now more than ever before He was thinking about the difficulty of poverty And racism and systemic injustice in the world He said now more than ever before We are forced to grapple with this particular question Because the world does not afford us The luxury of an anemic democracy That's right That's right And the cost that this nation must pay For the segregation of the Negro and other racial groups Is the price of its own destruction for the hour is late The clock of destiny is ticking out And we must act now before it is too late How do you reset that clock of destiny That's a real question Because I saw a troop of theater people Resetting that clock just a second ago That's right How do you reset the clock of destiny That's a real question Because I saw a woman up here Falling down and getting up again To speak the word of truth That's right And we get past this By recognizing the beauty that we see all around us And not letting anyone at any time diminish that beauty That beauty within us shall not be defiled So what I think Martin What I think William Barber is striving for That sort of national call for moral renewal Is that magnification of that which is already best within us How do you let it out? How do you let it shine? That's the beautiful question before us today So when they were singing in long cash About Bobby Sands and Mahatma Gandhi And Fannie Lou Hamer and Bernadette Devlin And Bobby Sand The song is asking us to remember That we're part of the same tradition We're part of the same family So when we struggle for justice for one We're truly struggling for justice for all That's right May we be the ones May we be the ones that seek truth and justice May we be the ones that show us how To remember the best that is within us And to show our government Lead with our government Demand from our government Demand from ourselves and from our leaders That spiritual energy that pushes us forward Thank you It's a blessing to be here for you Alright Let's take another song This is a song by Pat Humphries Who came of age during this 50 years ago when this original campaign was happening She came of age during the time of the shooting At Kent State When unarmed students were shot down By the National Guard for protesting war It's also on the little song sheet And this sensibility We're hearing about and thinking about That we're going to move forward with vision And change the world together We're going to keep on moving forward Keep on moving forward Keep on moving forward Never turning back Never and bold together Long and bold together Fight for peace and justice Peace and justice We're going to teach our children courage Teach our children courage We're going to change this world together Change this world together We lost the United States $5.6 trillion Over 23,000 active duty Military families were on food stamps In 2013 Over 50% of kids in schools on military bases Were eligible for free or reduced lunch Since 1998 The Department of Defense Cannot account for $21 trillion That's 235 years of the food stamp program Shame Military spending in 2017 was $688 billion Out of a federal discretionary spending And out of federal discretionary spending Only $190 billion was for anti-poverty programs That's a shame Nevertheless, somehow In 2015 The military spent an additional $6.5 trillion It cannot account for And for which it has not one single receipt $6.5 trillion That's way over That's ten times That's a hundred times That's a thousand times what it was allocating That means that while officially The government spent 66 cents Of every federal dollar on the military And only 12 cents on anti-poverty programs In fact, it spent 90 dollars And 66 cents on the military For every 12 cents it spent on anti-poverty That's a more It is not just as if But it is that The military is at war with the poor Most of the resources to war Do not benefit our troops They benefit Wall Street Raytheon General Electric Boeing And private military contractors Such as Blackboard Criminal In 2016 CEOs of the top five military contractors Earned an average of $19.2 million More than 90 times The $200,000 earned by a general And 640 times The $30,000 earned by army privates in combat Nearly half of female military personnel Sent to Iraq and Afghanistan Reported being sexually harassed And nearly a quarter said They had been sexually assaulted In 2012 Suicide claimed more military deaths And as of September 2017 An average of 20 veterans died by suicide every day As we gather this Tuesday Some of us are wearing carnations To remember the people who died While serving in our nation's military We remember the Memorial Day's roots In black people honoring the graves of soldiers Who fought in the Union Army To enslave and create the possibility Of reconstruction We honor each person who is willing to serve When we cry out against unjust war And war-making and unnecessary military spending That robs the poor here at home We remember those who have suffered Moral injury and died from suicide And from the loss of limb and mental stability The truth is that instead of waging war On poverty, we have been waging a war On the poor at home and abroad For the financial benefit of the 0.1% While it is morally indefensible To profit from perpetual war It is evil to perpetually war for profit We have the right to protect our communities From the ravages and weapons of war We demand an end to military aggression And war-mongering We demand a stop to the privatization Of military budget and any increase In military spending We demand a veteran's administration system That remains public We demand the demilitarization Of our communities on the border And in the interior We demand an end to the federal programs That send military equipment into local And state communities Our next speaker is Adrian Kinn From the Vermont chapter of Veterans for Peace Veterans for Peace is a global organization Of military veterans and allies Whose collective efforts are to build A culture of peace To understand the true causes of war And the enormous costs of war With an obligation to heal the wounds of war Adrian So many other things that I was going to speak about today Have really been covered in such fine, fine, fine ways But, you know, one thing I've been thinking about I've served 10 years in the military And now I'm going on my 11th year in peace work So I'm very happy to have the military And first started really questioning In 040506, what we were doing In Iraq, Afghanistan What we're doing to people all over the world And it seems like too often movements get wrapped up In who is or isn't president Or who isn't in charge or what What party is in power Because it seemed like there was such a momentum In the peace movement during the George W. Bush years Vaporated when Obama was elected And the last eight years You know, people being involved in peace work There were a lot of things still going on But the masses were gone Because people were putting their faith in a system That has absolutely no desire to change For the benefit of the people This did not change under Obama It got worse And I'm thinking and hoping that things will change And people will start getting involved again And it only has to happen because there's no other option But peace work really is environmental work Environmental work is human rights work Human rights work is for people's campaign work And when we start getting all of these pieces Fitting together that we will be able to effect change And what I hate to see is people still Even in the peace movement Even in the environmental change movement Even in the poor people's campaign movement Somehow thinking that we can be pro-military And support the troops while actually still Accomplishing what we need to do To change the world and make it a better place And we have got to question militarism We have got to question the role our military plays In the United States and around the world We have 800 bases around the world That are wreaking havoc on poor people Worldwide Worldwide So I guess this is just my thing I know Veterans for Peace is a national And now actually international movement Is in England, Ireland, Okinawa, Japan Vietnam England and growing And it will be when we all start Really connecting with one another The world around that we will achieve our goals So I just thank you very much And I'm looking forward to seeing The momentum of this movement taking us forward National call for moral revival Did you all know that? Do you feel that? Action The nation has just paused for memorial To focus this week on our challenge to militarism And the war economy As well as the proliferation of gun violence in the U.S. We believe the greatest patriotism For moral agents Is insisting that America become A more perfect union That's right We are here Are we here? We claim legislatures At the people's houses Across America Where people have sacrificed Veterans The hypocrisy of this nation Today we honor the veterans Who live and die in poverty While corporations make a killing On killing Here, killing of innocent black And red people at the hands of police So remember those who die From the proliferation of guns on our streets That's right And the militarization of poor Black and brown communities here at home This is why Today We are outraged Are you outraged? People who will die this year Because of low wealth While we invest over Seven hundred billion Dollars Seven hundred billion dollars In a bloated military budget That's right We declare that as long as 140 million people live in poverty In the richest nation In the history of this world None of us None of us Are truly honoring those Who gave their lives to this nation That's right As long as systemic racism Cripples our democracy Through voter suppression And as long as this administration Weaponizes deportation Even deporting veterans And their family members We are not honoring liberty And justice for all Papierski He is a resident of Winooski A veteran Has experienced homelessness And I have been honored to work On the Vermont Poor People's Campaign with him He's a member of the Vermont Worker Center He's been active in the fight For universal health care And a post to frat gas And a post to DC to join the Poor People's Campaign When it launched in May 14 And I'm proud to introduce to you David Papierski My name is David Papierski I am a member of the Vermont Worker Center And the Vermont Poor People's Campaign I have been asked to speak today About American militarism And its war economy As I am a homeless fact Who presently resides at the Canal Street Veterans Homeless Shelter In Vermont On January 8, 1977 I turned 18 years of age I was in my final year of high school And I had joined the Marine Corps I thought it was a good idea at the time As I wanted to learn some valuable job skills And gain work experience To arise from poverty At least this is what the Marine recruiter At my society's culture Had told me anyway In retrospect It became the worst mistake of my life That I compared To jumping out of a frying pan Then into the fire I should have joined the Peace Corps Instead of the Marine Corps What I found in my six years of service Were either vets that had just returned Home from Vietnam Or new recruits like myself From unhealthy home and school environments Who were misled to believe That they would escape from living in poverty By joining the military Now 59 years of age I find myself homeless for the fourth time Needless to say I have never been able to break free From living in poverty One out of every four homeless people Are vets About 400,000 vets experience Homelessness every year On any given night Over 40,000 vets On the street Every month 1,000 vets attempt suicide Every day 22 vets die from suicide That's almost one per hour No There's far more that is dying In our endless senseless, costly Unsuccessful, damaging, and traumatizing wars Countries never win at war Both sides always lose Always Always I simply suffer from post traumatic Stress disorder Alcohol and drug addiction Some of these drugs The VA itself administers Self blame for mission failure Depression, anger Survivor guilt And other mental illnesses Physical injury A high number of both men Both women and men Are victims of sexual violence By other military personnel Poverty High cost of housing And inadequate healthcare Rarely is it ever discussed As to what the individual loses In war Nor is it discussed What our country truly loses Let's discuss the financial cost Of war first In 2017 The military budget was about $773.5 billion It is expected To soon climb to over a trillion dollars Unless we do something to stop it Shame Shame This cost does not include foreign aid And externalities Such as rebuilding a country We have just destroyed Utilizing multiple government contractors These funds Include arming and training A new foreign army to buy our political will America spends more Military than the next nine countries combined Despite only having 5% Of the world's population We spend over 50,000 50% of the world's Total military expenditure Also understand That all of our tax money That is spent on war Is profited upon by the rich Burlington simply does not need 24 nuclear capable F-35s At well over 100 million dollars each That's right This money could be better spent on Healthcare, child care Teachers and nurses salaries Supporting the disabled Affordable housing Higher wages Increasing the SNAP program Ending racism Ending poverty Ending environmental destruction And provide affordable access To college and job training America could work to heal itself And become a respected leader worldwide Instead of perpetually being at war And both hated and attacked By most other countries I just so happen to serve Between 77 and 83 One of the few periods in our country's history When America's military Have been at peace Most vets have not been as lucky And are much worse off Than myself They live in the woods Or commit suicide Being a homeless vet is a direct reflection Of America's Unhealthy culture And war economy The twisted culture That encourages an 18 year old To join the military In what amounts to killing Other people like ourselves Other poor people like ourselves In the foreign countries Because there are no better alternatives Here in our country The most difficult hurdle For a homeless vet to overcome When seeking help from an inadequate system Is to trust the very same Unhealthy culture That made them homeless in the first place Then they are rewarded By being reintegrated into An unhealthy society And living in poverty While our country perpetuates this cycle By enlisting new recruits For a never ending war While vets never really return home from war Some never return from living in the woods While they hope and pray That someone will listen And finally put an end To our war economy We're in the home stretch now Alright, somebody's been hurting my people It's been going on far too long And we won't be silent anymore We won't be silent Come up here behind me And just in a minute We're going to make a procession over This is the Poor People's Campaign A national call for a moral revival We're in our 40 days We're in the home stretch now Alright, somebody's been hurting my people It's been going on far too long We're in our 40 days of action Every moral Monday Today's a truthful Tuesday And we will be out here On the steps of the Montpelier State House Meanwhile, our sisters and brothers Across the country Are gathered in 37 other states As we gather here today To say, says We're going to take a walk around this side Of the state house over to the accessible entrance We're going to go inside Our state house Whose house? We're going to continue this discussion That a war economy Is a war Till we begin to make the change In our call for a national call For a moral revival So I want you to all come up To join up, we're going to sit next week Walk together Those of you who have banners on sticks Please leave those over to my left To your right Don't take those inside You can take Any good cardboard sign with him Bring these along Avery's going to start us off With a song as we leave together We want to all be together Let nobody left behind We want to give our garden crew A good shout out for all their good work Putting in the flowers Thank you garden crew They did a great job Please You my sisters and brothers Have made this world a more beautiful place Being here now Let's go inside and make the capital Beautiful together as well Forward together Now one step back Forward together Now one step back Forward together