During the April 19 Moral Monday in Jackson, Mississippi, the Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, Rev. William Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis announced a virtual Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, DC to take place Monday, June 21. Bigger still are the Poor People’s Campaign plans for an in-person Mass Moral March on Washington in June 2022.
“It’s time for poor and low-wealth people to flex our power,” Rev. Barber said. “We are committed on that day to put poor and working poor voices at the center of the national agenda during the midterm election.”
Rev. Liz Theoharis led an online roll call of Poor People’s Campaign activists in more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. who affirmed their participation in the 2021 and 2022 mass assemblies. “From Mississippi to Michigan, from California to the Carolinas, we’re committed—we’re committed—to lifting from the bottom so that everybody may rise,” Rev. Liz said.
Weekly live-streamed Moral Mondays, addressing the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, environmental destruction, militarism and the war economy and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism will culminate with the June 21 virtual Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington. Tune in here and join the Campaign!
As Rev. Barber wrote on April 19:
“Mississippi is the birthplace of some of the greatest traditions in music, art, literature, and democracy this nation has to offer. And yet, for all that Mississippi has produced, it still stands as one of the poorest states in the nation. Nearly half of the people in the state of Mississippi are poor or one emergency away from poverty, including nearly 3 out of every 5 children.
The attempts to further voter suppression in Mississippi reflect a coordinated, nationwide effort to stifle the power of a multi-racial fusion movement to make democracy real for the 140 million poor and low-income people living in the U.S.
Our democracy suffers when people are removed from voter rolls, when early voting and same-day registration are restricted, and when voting rights are attacked.
We must reclaim voting rights as a moral issue.
We must continue to cry aloud as Mississippi residents endure the intersecting pandemics of poverty, racism, voter suppression, and COVID-19 after thousands were also left without water and electricity for almost four weeks due to crumbling infrastructure that’s the result of decades of neglect by state and federal leaders.
To defeat voter suppression today, we must be equally as conscious of how attacks on democracy are detrimental to a diverse population, including Black people, white people grappling with poverty, and brown people.
The filibuster is a centerpiece of the arcane, obstructionist rules of the United States Senate. It bars that body from the deliberative role it is supposed to have.
We are not the first generation to have fundamental human rights fall victim to this Jim Crow relic used by reactionary forces throughout history. The filibuster was used in 1937 to block anti-lynching legislation which wouldn’t held law enforcement officers accountable. Imagine if we had that today, considering George Floyd?….
…. The filibuster has been used to block civil rights, labor rights, voting rights, living wages, healthcare access, especially for poor and low-income Black, brown, white, Asian and indigenous people.
By supporting the filibuster, you are either an advocate or enabler of systemic racism, voter suppression, greed, the denial of health care, and the denial of living wages.
We have been working with this political sin for far too long.
We recognize that our vote, our wages, our healthcare, our infrastructure, and our voice are being blocked by an immoral filibuster.
This is why national Christian leaders representing hundreds of thousands across the country joined the Poor People’s Campaign last week for a press conference and release of a joint statement calling on the White House and Congress to end the filibuster and quickly pass legislation to protect voting rights, protect democracy, ensure a living minimum wage, and expand labor rights.”
United for Peace & Justice is proud to be a national mobilizing partner in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, a moral fusion campaign.
