[Dialogue] Fw: Mark Webber on MTV

[Sunny Walker]

Very interesting story, courtesy of Roger Alexander. Danny is Roger's son.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Alexander" <ralexan934 at sbcglobal.net>
> Danny is a good friend of Mark Webber's mother who Mark tells about in
this
> interview. Her story is really interesting and powerful.
>
> From: "Danny Alexander" <dalexand at jccc.net>

> > Tell your friends to keep an eye out for Mark on MTV!
> > ------------------------------
> > Actor/Activist Brings Anti-Homelessness Message To GOP Convention
> > http://www.mtv.com/chooseorlose/headlines/news.jhtml?id=1490915#Scene_1
> >
> > 09.13.2004 12:41 PM EDT
> >
> > The Democratic and Republican conventions saw their fair share of movie
> > and music stars inside the halls mixing with politicos and doing press
> > ops with reporters. But when 24-year-old actor Mark Webber showed up at
> > the Republican convention in New York, it wasn't about hobnobbing: It
> > was about representing his past.
> >
> > Webber, who has appeared in more than 15 films and has worked with such
> > notables as Al Pacino and Woody Allen, was in New York with his mother
> > to bring attention to a problem that shaped his early years:
> > homelessness. "This is an extremely important issue to me," Mark
> > explains. "I grew up poor with my mother, and I was homeless for two
> > years in Minneapolis, living on the streets from ages 10 to 11. So I
> > know what it's like firsthand to not have a place to sleep at night
> > except for a sidewalk or abandoned building."
> >
> > MTV News' Adam Hootnick caught up with Webber - who was staying with
> > other advocates in a "tent city" during the Republican National
> > Convention - just before he was about to lead a march for the Poor
> > People's Economic Human Rights Campaign through the streets of
> > Manhattan.
> >
> > MTV: How did you and your mother become homeless?
> >
> > Mark Webber: We became homeless through a really screwed-up situation.
> > My mother, like any other poor person, was trying to get out of poverty
> > by getting a job. She wanted to become a teacher. We were on welfare at
> > the time, and my mother got a grant to go to college. She ended up
> > finishing college and got a student-teaching job at a high school in
> > Minneapolis. We were able to get an apartment, and things were looking a
> > little better for us.
> >
> > [A few] months later, state police came into her classroom and arrested
> > her in front of her class. She was charged with welfare fraud because
> > she didn't report the grant money that she received for college.
> >
> > You have someone who's trying to get off welfare, trying to make it the
> > traditional American way, yet is charged with fraud for accepting grant
> > money to go to college. The amount of money you get on public assistance
> > is barely enough to pay your rent, let alone pay your bills. Most
> > welfare recipients have to figure out other ways of supplementing their
> > income just to be able to get out of their situation. So my mother took
> > it to court, fought the charges and won. But because of the spectacle
> > that was made at the school, they fired her. Then started the downward
> > spiral where we missed one [house] payment, then another. Soon there was
> > an eviction notice and then we were homeless. That's how it happened to
> > us.
> >
> > MTV: How did you go from there to being an actor?
> >
> > Webber: I moved to Philadelphia with my mother because she married and
> > we were able to move into a house. I found out about a performing-arts
> > high school, and I auditioned and got in. So I was going to a school
> > that's all about the arts. That was how I was able to start making my
> > break into the acting world.
> >
> > MTV: How did you get involved with being an advocate for the homeless?
> >
> > Webber: Thankfully for me, I had a mother who was like, "I'm not gonna
> > tolerate this." She realized that she could organize and started meeting
> > other poor women and children who were in the exact situation that we
> > were. They said, "Hey, we can do something about this if we get
> > together."
> >
> > MTV: So what goes through your head when you're at these marches?
> >
> > Webber: You get a bunch of people together who feel that their lives are
> > just terrible and that there's no way out of their situation. Once those
> > people hit the streets and start marching, those feelings go away and
> > you get that feeling of self-empowerment. You feel like, "I am somebody,
> > I do mean something, and I can change things in this world." It's
> > amazing.
> >
> > To learn more about the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
> > visit the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.
> >
> >
> >
> > www.rockrap.com