The Party for Socialism and Liberation’s presidential campaign appealed to many workers and oppressed people in Mississippi as supporters began petitioning to get the PSL’s candidates, Gloria La Riva and Eugene Puryear, on the state’s ballot. The PSL’s candidates need 1,000 valid signatures to appear on the state’s ballot.
Campaigning began in Hattiesburg in southern Mississippi. Petitioners found a great deal of interest at the local post
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After a day of petitioning, volunteers were invited to stay at Camp Sister Spirit Folk School in Ovett, Miss. The camp serves as a location for progressive organizations to meet, particularly from the LBGT community. During hurricane Katrina, Camp Sister Spirit played an active role in providing food, even though the camp itself was without power for over a month.
“Our little organization passed out over three million pounds of donated goods,” said Andie Gibbs, the camp’s director.
“We received no assistance—for ourselves or our community—from the federal government after Katrina. Mississippians are still struggling to recover and some of us never will,” added Gibbs.
The next morning petitioners traveled to Jackson, Miss.
“Let me get my purse I want to make a donation,” responded Latasha Reddick, a hotel worker and student at Jackson State University, as she learned about PSL’s campaign.
Reddick was excited to hear that the PSL candidates were calling for all the charges to be dropped against the Jena 6 and for a $15 an hour minimum wage—she knew this campaign represented her interests.
“I think more jobs would help reduce crime. People aren’t getting paid enough money. What else can people do? If there can be money for more jails then why not money for more jobs,” said Reddick. “Money should go into underdeveloped neighborhoods to help them prosper rather than projects of the rich,” she continued.
Forty-six years ago African Americans were barred under the racist Jim Crow system from even being able to access a university education. But in 1962, James Meredith changed that when he became the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi. After he was initially barred from attending class in September, federal troops were sent in to quell white supremacist riots and give Meredith access to the university.
Hazel Hall, James’s youngest sister, gave a copy of the book that she is about to release to the PSL about her brother’s childhood and life entitled “My Brother J-Boy.”
“My family has played a big role in the struggle for civil rights,” Hall told pslweb.org. “I’d be glad to help in anyway I can,” Hall added.
A PSL contingent joined Hall and hundreds of others for the Jan. 19 march commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luthe
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“People immediately recognized that there was no difference between the parties of the rich—the Democrats and the Republicans. Jobs and healthcare were the issues that most people responded to,” said William Montes, a petitioner who participated in the MLK Day march.
Campaigners met many other interested people in Jackson.
“There’s so much inequality in this system. We’d all be so wealthy and well fed if we didn’t have large corporations sucking it out from us,” says Wanda Lacey, a mother of two who lost her children when it was revealed to the court that she is a lesbian. Wanda is interested in volunteering on the campaign.
“The rich are playing the middle class workers against the poorest. They don’t yet realize that the rich are manipulating everything. We need a living wage for all workers and healthcare as a birth right,” says Gregory Germany, an elector from Frowood, Miss.
“I’m glad to see the La Riva/Puryear ticket in Mississippi,” he added.
