'Let's go to Washington' - Stand for children rally

by Fred Gaboury

This article was reprinted from the May 18, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

NEW HAVEN - With barely two weeks until the June 1 Stand for Children in Washington, D.C., the New Haven Children's Action Team is doing what organizing committees usually do: raising money, spreading the word and filling the buses.

"We have a floating membership," Bonita Grubbs, who presides over the group's weekly meeting, told the World. "We've been in business since early April and are tied in with a statewide effort."

Alma Ayala, human resources administrator for the city of New Haven, attends meetings of the group. "New Haven has a long history of participating in these activities. We are committing major resources to this effort - the mayor's office, the housing authority and the board of education are helping to raise money and organize participation," she told the World.

Dalzenia Henry who directs the youth diversion program at the Quinnipiac Housing Development began working on the June 1 event when two teenagers from the development returned from a meeting in North Carolina. "They were all excited about the event and started talking about how we could participate," she said during an interview.

Henry hopes that several children will be in Washington and is working to bring a large youth contingent from the development. "If they show up with large numbers it will serve to let people know that children are important," she said."Children shouldn't have to worry about whether or not there's enough food or if the rent can be paid."

A couple of blocks away, Migdalia Castro of Centro San Jose is also working to guarantee that children from the mostly Puerto Rican and Latino neighborhood can go to Washington. "Children are the victims and should be given a chance to voice their concerns. They should have a chance to say 'no,' and that raises new problems," she said.

"A round-trip to Washington takes about 18 hours, which means we have to raise additional money for food. But if people express interest we will just have to raise the money," said Castro who has been invited to speak at Stand for Children.

In Castro's view, Stand for Children is an opportunity to "fight for what's left. Yes, the system doesn't work but it's not our fault. It was made without any input from us."

Ayala and Grubbs have begun thinking about June 2 - about what to do after the "Stand" is over with and people have returned home.

"We will send 1,200 people to Washington," Ayala said as she did some quick calculation. "That's about 1 percent of New Haven's population, enough to provide a working core for building a movement."

When asked how Stand fits into the 1996 elections, Grubbs said, "We live in a real world and that world is filled with partisan politics. When people use their right to vote things can be changed."

Elsewhere around the country activity has begun to snowball. "People are coming from as far away as the west coast and Alaska," said Jenny Cook, a Stand spokesperson in Washington. "We expect people from more than two-thirds of the states, including a humongous bus caravan from Miami."

* Kyle Good, media coordinator for New York City Stand for Children, said 800 buses have already been confirmed and requests for buses are coming in at the rate of 20 per day.

* Three buses have already been confirmed from Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin.

* Lynne Mitchell, from Voices for Illinois Children, said that Chicagoans had already filled 24 buses and that "about 1,200 people from here will be in Washington on June 1."

* Mary Rhodes told the World she is "struggling" to raise the $3,000 needed to charter a 47-passenger bus from East St. Louis, Illinois. "Ours is a poor city," she said, "but we are going to be in Washington on June 1."

* Carol Tice, who teaches at-risk children in the Ann Arbor, Michigan public schools, heads up the Stand campaign in that city. She is working with a "fantastic coalition" that has already filled three buses and ten 15-passenger vans - "and there is still two more weeks to fill more," she told the World.

Stand for Children was initiated by the Children's Defense Fund and has been endorsed by nearly 3,000 national and local organizations. For more information call Stand for Children at (202) 234-0095 or (800) 233-1200.