Socialist Prez Hopeful Highlights Homeless

A presidential candidate campaigned in New Haven Tuesday afternoon with an improvised speaker list — inviting homeless people walking by to tell their story.

The candidate, Gloria La Riva of the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL), held the event on the New Haven Green. She has been running as a third-party presidential candidate in various elections since 1992. In 2016, she got 176,000 votes. ​“That’s the highest any [third-party] socialist candidate has gotten in 40 years,” she said.

This year, she’s hoping to get more. She’s on the ballot in 15 states, and is registered as an acceptable write-in candidate in Connecticut. 

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, a small crowd gathered on the Green at Church and Chapel. La Riva, along with local PSL members, made the case for an alternative to the two-party system. ​“I am probably the only presidential candidate you’ll ever meet,” La Riva said. ​“The Democrats and Republicans stay in their rich homes, raising billions of dollars, because that’s what it takes in America to win elections.”

La Riva spoke about her past experiences. ​“I’ve seen your pain,” she said. ​“When 7,000 people came in a refugee caravan from South America, I walked with them. When George Floyd was killed, I marched on the streets. I speak in terms of action, not words.”

The political rally largely focused on issues of homelessness. La Riva described her home city of San Francisco, where almost 20,000 people are without homes. ​“It is absolute hell for these people,” she said. ​“People should not have to wait on others’ charity. They deserve jobs that pay $20 an hour and access to housing.”

Julius Dennis, who is experiencing homelessness, stepped to the microphone to describe inequities in New Haven.

“An entire row of houses along Grand Avenue are closed,” he said. ​“These homes could have actually been used to house people, but instead they put fences and walls and told us to stay away.”

Beyond a lack of public housing, he spoke about rent: ​“We talk about treating each other as equal, but places with higher rents mean that some people are essentially shut out if they can’t pay.” He encouraged the crowd to pursue unity over divisiveness, then gave the microphone back to La Riva, who encouraged him to become politically involved.

Local activists also spoke. ​“I see criminalization of homeless people everyday,” said Norman Clement, a member of the PSL. ​“People are arrested for sitting out and minding their own business. They’ve literally put a police substation across the street so they can watch constantly.”

In New Haven, Clement has been working on a city bill of rights for homeless people. Most recently, he’s been working on a proposal to build a public bathroom. ​“People deserve more than a Porta Potty,” he said. ​“They deserve dignity.”

Chris Garaffa (pictured), another member of the PSL, questioned the city’s priorities. ​“The city spends $41 million on the police, and that’s not even counting the Yale Police,” he said. ​“Why isn’t the city asking homeless and jobless people how they can be helped?”

The rally grew tense as several police cars pulled by, and an officer took a man into custody.

La Riva turned her megaphone towards the police. ​“You shoot and kill us, and you have no punishment,” she said. ​“We will abolish you, and your racist and inhumane practices!”

Linh Dao, a restaurant server in New Haven, attended the rally. She heard about the party through social media. ​“I’m not sure if voting for either Trump or Biden is good,” she said. ​“The public might become complacent if Biden wins, but Democrats perpetuate a lot of the imperialist and capitalist structures we see today.”

“The Democrats cheated Bernie [Sanders], the only candidate who proposed universal health care, out of his nomination,” La Riva said. ​“They had a few years during the Obama era to pass major reforms, and they just didn’t.”

“Who started mass criminalization? Bill Clinton,” she added. ​“And who continued it? Obama.”

When asked how she would pass policy with a non-Socialist Congress, La Riva didn’t seem too worried. ​“Donald Trump has used a lot of executive orders to bypass Congress,” she said. ​“Why can’t I?”

“Frankly, the mathematics make it such that I won’t be president,” La Riva acknowledged. ​“But that’s not what this campaign is about. We want to increase our popular mandate, and show the country that socialism has traction.”