When political candidates on the left and right do talk about inequality, their language tends to center around "middle class jobs" or "working families." The word poverty is almost always left out of the equation — as if it no longer exists, or the people who suffer from it don't really matter.
But Barber and Theoharis’ Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival hopes to change all of that by creating an intersectional movement outside of the two-party system, one that focuses on the "saving America's soul" from the sins of militarism, systemic racism, environmental destruction, voter suppression, and poverty.
"We need moral revival in this nation," Rev. Theoharis, campaign co-chair, said in Detroit recently. "It isn't necessarily a spiritual or religious revival, but we need to have a revolution of values.”
Beginning on Mother's Day, the campaign will launch dozens of initiatives across the nation, from direct action, to voter registration, to nonviolent civil disobedience, leading up to a mass mobilization at the U.S. Capitol in late June.
"We ought to come [to Washington] in mule carts, in old trucks, any kind of transportation people can get their hands on," King said at the time. "People ought to come to Washington, sit down if necessary in the middle of the street and say, 'We are here; we are poor; we don't have any money; you have made us this way...and we've come to stay until you do something about it."
Fifty years later, the Campaign hopes to turns King's unfinished initiative into sustainable justice. (Heather Dockray, Mashable)
Barber is inviting tens of thousands of people to a Global Day of Solidarity and sending Forth Call to Action Mass Rally in Washington D.C. on June 23, 2018.
Join thousands on the National Mall at 10:00am between 7th St. and 9th St.
The UCC Washington DC Office will be hosting a pre-rally gathering for UCC members.
For more info. Contact Sandy Sorensen: sorenses@#ucc.org