Emerging from the pain and organizing power of the 140 million people living in poverty or with low wages in this nation, the newly introduced Congressional Resolution for a Third Reconstruction reflects an omnibus vision for a fundamental restructuring of society that lifts from the bottom. This non-partisan Resolution comes as a response to years of movement-building to create the collective resolve necessary to implement real and transformational legislative action.
The Resolution recognizes that in order to build a true Third Reconstruction we must simultaneously deal with the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the denial of health care, militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism that blames the poor instead of the systems that cause poverty.
Drawing on the transformational history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggles of the 20th century, the Third Reconstruction is a revival of our constitutional commitment to establish justice, provide for the general welfare, end decades of austerity, and recognize that policies that center the 140 million are also good economic policies that can heal and transform the nation.
On May 20, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, joined Reps. Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal outside the US Capitol for a news conference announcing the non-partisan Resolution. Watch the recording here.
On May 24, the Poor People’s Campaign hosted a Moral Monday online rally to launch the new Resolution and a dynamic digital toolkit to help you ask your representative in the US House to embrace the Third Reconstruction.
On June 7, State coordinating committees of the Poor People’s Campaign will hold simultaneous actions at the offices of members of the US House of Representatives to demand all of their Representatives embrace The Third Reconstruction.
On June 21, 2021, poor people, low-wage workers, moral and faith leaders, and advocates will gather online simultaneously with a socially distant rally at the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh, NC for a National Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers Assembly. The hybrid online/in-person mass assembly will include our over 40 state coordinating committees, 200+ organizing partners, and thousands of moral and faith leaders in our Prophetic Council.
From June 21, 2021 the Poor People’s Campaign will launch a one-year campaign fighting forward every day towards a massive, generationally transformative in-person Moral March on Washington and Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly on June 18, 2022. People from every corner of the U.S. will converge and convene in the nation’s capital in the summer of 2022 to create a national stage for the voices and leadership of people directly impacted by systemic racism, the denial of health care and ecological devastation, militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. We will demonstrate the power and resolve of poor people to make the Third Reconstruction a reality.
United for Peace & Justice is proud to be a national mobilizing partner with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Join the Poor People’s Campaign and find your State committee here. Stay updated on the Third Reconstruction Resolution and campaign here
