Today, on the fiftieth anniversary of the announcement by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the original Poor People’s Campaign, the long-anticipated renewal of the campaign has been launched. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, now a Bishop of the Disciples of Christ and one of the leading moral leaders of our era, and his co-chair, the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, founder of the Kairos Center, held a press conference this morning. In less than an hour, the debut celebration — to be livestreamed from Howard Theatre in Washington DC — will begin.
Many of us here know already about the new Poor People’s Campaign. (I beg your indulgence for not including a comprehensive archive of posts reporting on Rev. Barber’s activism in North Carolina and across the country.) But for those who are not, or who want to know more, this is the core of the movement (from the Poor People’s Campaign publicity materials):
Our social fabric is stretched thin by widening income inequality while politicians criminalize the poor, fan the flames of racism and xenophobia to divide the poor, and steal from the poor to give tax breaks to our richest neighbors and budget increases to a bloated military. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has emerged from more than a decade of work by grassroots, community and religious leaders, organizations and movements fighting to end systemic racism, poverty, militarism, environmental destruction & related injustices and to build a just, sustainable and participatory society. …
There was a time when our nation was fighting a war against poverty; now it seems we are waging a war on the poor. Our social fabric is stretched thin by widening income inequality while politicians criminalize the poor, fan the flames of racism and xenophobia to divide the poor, and steal from the poor to give tax breaks to our richest neighbors and budget increases to a bloated military.
The twin forces of white supremacy and unchecked corporate greed continue to gain more power and influence, both in statehouses across this nation and at the highest levels of our federal government. Today, one in every two Americans are poor or low-income while millions of children and adults continue to live without access to healthcare, housing, clean water, or good jobs.
At the same time, the issues of poverty and racism have been forced to the margins of our moral narrative and claims that a limited focus on personal morality should overshadow and supplant a commitment to public morality rooted in a critique of greed, racism, and injustice. (emphasis added)
Many people already are looped into the local organizing efforts now underway in 25 states and the District of Columbia, to culminate in 40 days of coordinated public protests in these state capitals and in DC starting on Mother’s Day, 2018. The goal is to have at least 1,000 people per state who are willing to take part in these protests.
If you ARE already so connected and have an interest in sharing your experiences to date in the comments below, please feel free to contribute to the discussion below while you watch the livestream. If you are NOT YET connected, but wish to join local groups in your state (or otherwise be of service to the movement), please go to this page of breachrepairers.org to sign up.
Organizers in Michigan are already moving forward with educational and informational programs and outreach. The coalition is strong, diverse, and committed to a process of integrity and mutual respect for all people and communities involved.
I’ll continue to report on events in my area, and I definitely encourage other members of the site to do so as well.
This is our moment, and we are the people we have been waiting for.
Join the Poor People’s Campaign for Moral Revival
and help this nation become what it has never yet been:
a country with liberty and justice for all.