protect the civil rights of the poor, being jailed across America for merely asking their fellow human beings for help.

Many if not most cities in America today have ordinances that make it a CRIME to walk up to a stranger and ask, "can you help me?". These so-called panhandling laws are a clear violation of the 1st & 14th ammendments to the U.S. constitution and are designed to specifically target one segment of our population -- the poorest of the poor. We believe these ordinances are discriminatory, not so unlike the old poll taxes and literacy tests of the Jim Crow south. We believe these laws are not only a violation of our civil rights under the U.S. Constitution but also our basic human rights. Mr. President, we only ask that you give consideration to the idea that the people being jailed everyday in America under these repressive "anti-pandling" laws deserve federal civil rights protection.