Congress has not yet taken action to pass the Build Back Better plan, protect voting rights, advance immigrant rights, fight for the health of the planet, and more. On December 13, United for Peace & Justice partnered with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival for a Mass Moral Monday in Washington, DC to demand that Congress “Get it Done in 2021!” The Poor Peoples Campaign, with the Institute for Policy Studies, concurrently released a timely new fact sheet, A Moral Budget Versus a War Budget.
As explained by Bishop William J. Barber II, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, along with Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis: “Congress must pass voting rights protections and the Build Back Better plan before the end of the year to help the country heal from the pandemics of systemic racism, poverty, voter suppression and COVID-19 that are wreaking havoc on our daily lives, our democracy and our nation’s social and moral infrastructure. So we are telling Congress and President Biden to get it done in ‘21!”
The Moral Monday actions began with an early morning motorcade from Senator Joe Manchin’s office in Martinsburg, West Virginia to DC. There, poor people, low-wage workers, miners and other directly impacted people from 33 states addressed hundreds of people at a noon rally in support of voting rights protections and Build Back Better. Tens of thousands more watched a livestream of the rally. Following the rally, more than 70 people were arrested during a mass nonviolent moral direct action on Capitol Hill to demand meetings with senators who have met for months with lobbyists, serving corporate interests rather than the common good. Sign a letter to Senator Manchin: Moral Mandate to Stop the Lies and Meet with West Virginians.
According to Rev. Theoharis: “Poor and low-income people are saying that we can no longer wait for voting rights, living wages, healthcare, immigration reform and so much more and that we also must take life-saving action to compel Congress and the White House to defend our democracy and lift from the bottom so everyone rises.”
Watch a video recording of the Mass Moral Monday in DC here.
UFPJ is proud to be a national mobilizing partner with the Poor People’s Campaign. Other partners in the Dec. 13 Moral Monday included SEIU/Fight for $15, Black Voters Matter, Common Defense, Presbyterian Church (USA), Unitarian Universalist Association, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, American Friends Service Committee, Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, Hindus for Human Rights, the National Council of Jewish Women, Pax Christi USA, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, Indivisible, Order of Lutheran Franciscans, Dayenu, Institute for Policy Studies, Forward Justice Action Fund, Sunrise Movement, League of Women Voters, DC Vote, Coalition for the People’s Agenda, the Union for Reform Judaism the Deaconess Community ELCA, Global Women’s Strike and Women of Color Global Women’s Strike.
The Dec. 13 rally was the last Washington, DC program of 2021 for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, which will hold a news conference on Jan. 10, 2022, at the National Press Club to announce details of a Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington that will be held June 18, 2022.
Join the Poor People’s Campaign and find your State Committee here
