Cheri Honkala was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1963. Her father, Maynard Duane Honkala, was of Finnish ancestry, and her mother had Cheyenne Native American ancestry. She grew up watching her mother suffer from domestic violence. Honkala's mother quietly endured this abuse for fear of losing her kids.
In print and photography
Honkala was one of two women profiled in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Zucchino's book, The Myth of the Welfare Queen (1999). According to one review, Honkala, as depicted in the book, "helps create a tent city to protest welfare cuts, joins the occupation of an abandoned church and the takeover by protesters of empty houses owned by HUD. She tirelessly seeks publicity for her cause, battles with bureaucrats, and rallies and comforts fellow protesters."  She was the subject of Chapter 6, "Using Economic Human Rights in the Movement to End Poverty: The Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Right Campaign" by Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Carrie Young and Honkala, in the book Challenges in Human Rights: A Social Work Perspective, edited by Elizabeth Reichert (2007). She was also briefly profiled in Katherine Martin's book Women of Courage: Inspiring Stories from the Women who Lived Them (1999).  Since the mid-1990s Honkala has been extensively documented by photographer Harvey Finkle. A YouTube video was created consisting of many of Finkle's photos of Honkala and of other poor people. She also wrote the introduction to Finkle's book of photographs of the urban poor, Urban Nomads: A Poor People's Movement (1997). One of the last photos taken by the late photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004) was a portrait of Honkala for the series Democracy 2004, which appeared in an October 2004 issue of The New Yorker magazine.  Interviews and articles on Honkala have appeared in numerous print and online publications, including The Village Voice, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Weekly, Yes! magazine, Salon, Truthdig and The Nation.

Q: Which books feature Cheri Honkala ?
A: David Zucchino's book, The Myth of the Welfare Queen

Q: How does David Zucchino describe Cheri Honkala in his book ?
A: She tirelessly seeks publicity for her cause, battles with bureaucrats, and rallies and comforts fellow protesters."

Q: What other publications feature Cheri Honkala ?
A: Using Economic Human Rights in the Movement to End Poverty: The Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Right Campaign

Q: Who wrote that book ?
A: Mary Bricker-Jenkins,
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
One of the last photos taken by the late photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004) was a portrait of Honkala for the series Democracy 2004,
One of the last photos taken by the late photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004) was a portrait of Honkala for the series Democracy 2004,