I just want to express my gratitude to the people who told these stories. The stories are often very upsetting to hear. They make you very angry, but I just hope that you feel what I feel. Which is the power when people come together to tell those stories. I think there's power in this room that you can feel and I would just ask you to imagine coming together not just on Long Island, but what kind of power would we have if we came together across New York State.

Thank you for the honesty, the truth, the courage, and the love that was shared with us today. I wanted to actually start with, just, sharing back what I heard, which was, that poverty is one of the worst forms of violence. And that it is a constant battle. It is a battle against an enemy that is a monster. This monster is attacking us in places where we think we’re protected. In the DSS, in the VA, in the justice system, in our hospitals, and in the places where people are making and growing our food and what nourishes us, it is taking advantage.

There's a growing recognition that we can’t solve these problems unless we start to come together, that no one can solve them alone. That we have so much in common in terms of the kind of pain that’s been inflicted on our communities and on ourselves and if we can come together, we can build something that can force the government to restructure its priorities.

On July 13, 2017, I was a Commissioner at the Labor Religion Coalition Truth Commission on Poverty held in Schenectady, NY. I was one of 150 people who witnessed heartbreaking testimony of homeless teens, homeless veterans, impoverished and hungry fast food, farm and retail workers, elderly citizens and disabled individuals enduring poverty wages, terrible living conditions, horrible interactions with government agencies and suffering hopeless desperation.

The moment in human history that it became clear that one could enhance their social and economic status by demanding that others labor for a share of their resources, there have been poor people. The relationship between those who have and those who do not have has basically not changed.

On Thursday, July 13, I served as a Commissioner to the Truth Commission on Poverty in Schenectady, New York. Organized by the New York Labor-Religion Coalition, this was the second in a series of truth commissions being held this summer. This series will culminate on October 16-18 in Binghamton, where the findings of these commissions will be consolidated and publicized as part of the activity building up in New York State around a national call for a Poor People’s Campaign. This call is being raised by Rev. Dr. William Barber II (Repairers of the Breach), the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, and a growing number of grassroots and community organizations and churches across the country.

One online dictionary defines the word “brave” as "ready to face and endure danger or pain.”  At the Neighborhood Check-In: Southern Tier, New York State’s first contribution to the Truth Commission project of the New Poor Peoples’ Campaign, truly brave and heroic people endured great personal pain to raise their voices and share their stories of endurance, courage, and resilience.  None of these amazing people are now living in comfort or luxury.  They are still poor, they still struggle, and they still endure.