Poster of the Week

33% of The Homeless Are Veterans
San Francisco Print Collective
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
Silkscreen, 2006
San Francisco, California

November 11th is Veterans' Day, when too many politicians give lip service to Veterans, while the statistics reveal a reality of obscene neglect. In 2009, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimated that between 130,000 and 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.

America's homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military's anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. 47 per cent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67 per cent served our country for at least three years and 33 per cent were stationed in a war zone.

As this poster asks: Why do our taxes support war but not the people who fight it?  When will we ever learn?

For More Information:

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/veterans.html

Poster of the Week

How Can You Worship A Homeless Man On Sunday And Ignore One On Monday?
Coalition for the Homeless
Offset, 1990s,
New York, New York

During this season of celebration and reflection, this poster goes right to the heart of the hypocrisy demonstrated during the recent tax debate. Bush’s tax breaks will continue, unemployment benefits to millionaires, millionaires will pay LESS taxes, while families making under $20,000 a year will actually see their taxes INCREASE. Why aren’t we taking to the streets like the outraged citizens of Greece, Ireland, Britain and France?

Speaking of hypocrisy, let’s not forget the stalled 9/11 health care bill. Jon Stewart’s December 16th program on Comedy Central had some of the First Responders to the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center discuss Republican hypocrisy.

See it on: http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Also on: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jon-stewart-rants-republican-filibuster-911-responder-bill/story?id=12422872

A Musical Gift to Us All - Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine guitarist, selected his favorite protest songs for Rolling Stone, The Playlist Issue, December 9, 2010. Not only are they inspiring, but reminders that great people have been fighting the good fight for many generations, and that all the arts are central to this struggle. Go to http://rollingstoneextras.com/playlists/view/tom-morello

May the New Year bring us closer to Peace with Justice,

Carol A. Wells

Founder and Executive Director

Center for the Study of Political Graphics

Reclaiming the Power of Art to Educate, Agitate and Inspire People to Action

Poster of the Week

How Can You Worship a Homeless Man on Sunday and Ignore One on Monday?
by Peter Cohen

When I arrived in New York City, I couldn’t believe so many homeless people were sleeping on the sidewalks. I started volunteering in a soup kitchen and came to realize that New Yorkers were burned out on it. Homelessness had been around a long time and some had even made donations but saw no improvement, so they gave up.

I happened to be reading the New Testament out of curiosity at the time, and I came across the passage in which Jesus refers to Himself as homeless. The whole idea just came together.

I decided to print 2,000 of the posters with the Coalition for the Homeless’ contact information. Rather quickly the Coalition started receiving calls about the poster they didn’t know existed. The director tracked me down, and that became the start of a campaign that raised hundreds of thousand of dollars, increased volunteerism and helped the Coalition to continue its work on behalf of the homeless.

Artwork © 2010 Coalition for the Homeless.
www.coalitionforthehomeless.org
www.petercohen.com