MARCH TO THE PENTAGON DEMANDS AN END TO WAR ON CHILDREN
Poor People’s Army - For immediate release
Press Contact:Cheri Honkala, 215-869-4753 PPEHRCorg@gmail.com
Washington, D.C. – On Saturday, August 23, 2025, at 11:00 AM, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) / Poor People’s Army will lead the March for Our Children’s Lives, a peaceful protest beginning at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and marching to the Pentagon. This demonstration will demand an end to the atrocities and war crimes being committed globally—and funded by U.S. tax dollars—while children in the U.S. go hungry, unhoused, and uninsured. March organizers say it is to expose the violent cost of war and demand real investments in life-affirming institutions like education, housing, and healthcare.
This peaceful protest comes in response to increasing public concern over the use of U.S. military in international conflicts, human rights violations taking place at home and abroad, and deepening poverty at home. Organizers say the U.S. government's priorities are dangerously misaligned, pouring billions into war and violence while abandoning families and youth. The Poor People’s Army has long connected militarism abroad to systemic violence at home, arguing that housing, healthcare, and basic dignity should be treated as human rights.
“Children are dying in Kensington Philadelphia, and the Sudan, and Gaza, and it’s genocide,” says Cheri Honkala, a leader and spokesperson in Poor People’s Army. “Children are terrified ICE is going to take away their parents. This is intolerable and inhumane.”
When asked about the threats against the march by the heightened police and military presence in DC unleashed by President Trump, Honkala responded: “We are poor families marching with our children, disabled people, and we have a track record of 30+ years of peaceful protest. We know we are a threat to the powers that be because of our class unity and our message, but we expect the police and soldiers to be peaceful as well.”
Honkala became an advocate for poor and homeless people decades ago when she faced homelessness as a young single mother in Minneapolis and Philadelphia. She founded Kensington Welfare Rights Union, PPEHRC, and later the Poor People’s Army. She has been the guest of foreign dignitaries, human rights organizations, and NGOs in dozens of countries across the globe, representing people experiencing poverty in the USA.
“The only thing we have is our voice and our unity,” Honkala continued. “We are exercising our 1st Amendment rights to speak out, petition our government, and peacefully protest.”
Poor People’s Army will be livestreaming the march on their social media accounts. Details of the march can be found on the organization’s website.
About Poor People’s Army:
For three decades, PPEHRC/Poor People’s Army has been organizing poor and homeless people by “reclaiming the basic necessities of life” with free food distribution, peaceful protest, and housing takeovers of abandoned government-owned properties. In 2024 they made headlines with their marches on the RNC and DNC, as well as their book release, Takeover! A Human Rights Approach to Housing. https://www.poorpeoplesarmy.org/
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