Up to now the big banks and the real estate speculators seem to have had all the advantages on their side.  They write the foreclosure laws,  pay off the politicians, and use faulty paperwork to kick families out of their homes.  People protest,  but the politicians refuse to do anything that would really stem the tide of foreclosures.  Whole neighborhoods are scarred by abandoned properties.  Homeless people sleep in the alley behind empty houses.  It is a social calamity and a moral outrage.  But things are about to change because one woman in Philadelphia is giving people a chance to make a difference with their votes.

Cheri Honkala is running for Sheriff of Philadelphia.  And she is no ordinary candidate.  If she is elected, the rules of the game will change in Philadelphia.  For the first time, the Sheriff will be on the side of the people rather than the side of the big banks.  Her election will represent a revolt against the system.  And it will demonstrate that in America democracy is still a powerful tool for justice.

Below is an excerpt from a speech Cheri Honkala gave on August 8 at the Green Party annual meeting in Alfred, New York.  It got a standing ovation.  As you read her words, remember that this is a formerly homeless woman who has been arrested more than 200 times for standing between the police forces and families facing foreclosure.  She’s not playing around.  She intends to stop foreclosures in America.

Cheri Honkala,  Green Party candidate for Sheriff of Philadelphia

at the Green Party Annual Meeting, August 8, 2011

(The video of this talk can be viewed at  http://www.cherihonkala.com/?p=711  )

 “Right now in this country - every 13 seconds - a family is going into foreclosure.  And in this coming year we have over a million families who are going to lose their homes.  We have an opportunity in Philadelphia to make history.  We have an opportunity to grow the Green Party like never before.  We have a historic opportunity to speak to those million families that are going to lose their homes, and say that by voting for Cheri Honkala on the Green Party ticket, foreclosures stop.  They stop NOW.

 This is not some kind of abstract idea - something we hope will take place in the next few years - while they supposedly say they’re going to change things in the Halls of Congress and they continue to bail out the banks and not the people.  I intend to be the people’s Sheriff.  And that means I will be representing the people, not the banks, the developers, the speculators and corporate America, but real human beings.  And I will ensure that no man, woman, or child is thrown out of their home.

But I’m up against an incredibly corrupt machine in Philadelphia.  The last Sheriff was there for 30 years - a Democrat - and they stole $53m from the Sheriff’s department.  And there are going to be a lot of Federal indictments that go around.  So they sure in the hell don’t want somebody that is independent of the machine becoming Philadelphia Sheriff.  So I’m up against a lot.  And I need your support. 

I come from one of the largest multiracial movements in this country -  called the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.  I want to give those people an opportunity to vote for the first time in their life - to decide to join a political party - to understand that its time for us to become politically involved, and build the kind of organization and powerful team of people across this country.  So I need you to go out there . . .I want you to hold a  house party.  I want you to show educational videos.  I want you to write songs about it.  I want you to travel to Philadelphia in November and help me man the 1600 polls that have to be worked on election day.  And then we will together send a message across this entire country that it was the Green Party that stopped foreclosures in America.

[To donate to Cheri’s campaign, go to cherihonkala.com. ]