Poor People's Army plans to march to 'front doors' of the DNC next week — but not ‘to cause a ruckus’

After marching for nearly 100 miles from Milwaukee to Chicago over the last two weeks, the Poor People’s Army is ready to bring its message to the next week.The Philadelphia-based group has led marches at every national convention for both parties since 2000. And each time, its rallying cry has been clear: The U.S. needs to do more for people who are poor and unhoused.“We didn’t come here to Chicago to cause a ruckus, to cause any problems. Actually, [we came] to do the exact opposite,” Cheri Honkala, the co-founder of the Poor People’s Army, told reporters Thursday afternoon.Cheri Honkala, founder of the Poor People’s Army, speaks at a news conference Thursday. “We intend to follow our original permit request and go up to the front doors of the convention,” Honkala said. Peyton Reich/Sun-TimesThe group came “to talk about our loved ones that died as a result of the drug war, to lift up our voices about families that have no place to live in our country that has plenty of houses to house them,” Honkala added. It will also draw attention to children who have been killed and injured in Gaza.The Poor People’s Army was during the DNC on a technicality. The city failed to respond to the group’s application within its own 10-day deadline.Its march kicks off at 4 p.m. Monday from the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts, 3015 W. Division St., in Humboldt Park. The 1.5-mile march will head east on Division Street and then south on Western Avenue.The march will end on Madison Street on the sidewalk outside the United Center, despite the likely complicating those plans.“We intend to follow our original permit request and go up to the front doors of the convention,” Honkala said. “We have been advertising for over a year on our website, our route. We intend to take that route.”Galen Tyler has been head of security for the Poor People’s Army since 2000. He reiterated that the group has a long history of leading peaceful and nonviolent protests.Galen Tyler, head of security for the Poor People’s Army, speaks Thursday at a news conference at Haymarket Publishing House, 800 W. Buena Ave.Peyton Reich/Sun-Times“I make sure that these marches … are peaceful, safe and secure,” Tyler said. The march is about “lifting up the voices that are unheard and the day-to-day life and struggle that people are going through.”About 15 to 20 members of the Poor People Army have been marching from Milwaukee since Aug. 3. They’ve marched 6 to 8 miles a day through city streets, suburban neighborhoods and desolate country roads. They’ve pitched tents on the side of the road and crammed into motel rooms.“We’ve gone through some small towns and local communities where we got people who celebrate the work that we are doing, and also people not understanding the work we do,” Tyler said.Its march concludes Saturday in Humboldt Park where it will set up camp alongside the people living in the park’s homeless encampment.