The Poor Peoples Campaign Is Picking Up Steam with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber president of Repairers of the Breach. An author, preacher, and professor, he is chief architect of the Forward Together Moral Movement and The Poor Peoples Campaign and Rev. Graylan Hagler, senior pastor at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C., who has spent a lifetime challenging racism, militarism and poverty, and whose energies are now committed to building the Poor Peoples Campaign
In December 1967, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., announced a plan to bring together poor people from across the country for a march on Washington to demand better jobs, better homes, better education"better lives than the ones they were living. Dr. King was in the midst of organizing the Poor Peoples Campaign when he was assassinated in Memphis, fighting for the economic rights, fighting for the union rights and the dignity of the sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. In tribute to Dr. King, which was to continue his legacy of fighting the three evils of poverty, militarism and discrimination the Poor Peoples Campaign would climax with the Solidarity Day Rally for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom on June 19, 1968. Fifty thousand people joined the 3,000 participants living at the King inspired Resurrection City encampment set up on the Washington Mall to rally around the demands of the Poor Peoples Campaign.
Today, fifty-years later the Rev. William Barber and a new cadre of activists have picked up the reins of Dr. Kings Poor Peoples Campaign, in the face of systemic racism and the national governments carefully stoked white supremacy; and in response to the greatest wealth disparity the world has ever known; in response to impending ecological devastation; and against militarism used against the worlds peoples. The cry of pain from the depths of peoples souls is growing louder and resonates as a drum beat for change and the tears have watered the parched earth of struggle and caused to sprout anew the Poor Peoples Campaign. The Poor Peoples Campaign has been refreshed and emerged to engage in direct action, through mass civil disobedience, across the county for the enactment of policies & the concomitant practices that put need above greed. The Poor Peoples Campaign is bringing together we the people, collectivizing our voices to form a mighty chorus to take control of the narrative and shift the discussion from greed to need. The Poor Peoples Campaign is gathering its forces for a mass mobilization in Washington, D.C. driven by the percussive rhythms of peoples yearnings to turn the promise of democracy and equal rights into a reality " to put peoples needs above corporate greeds!
produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
please notify us if you plan to broadcast this program- knash@igc.org
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