Poor People’s Campaign
In the spring of 1968, I joined thousands of other people occupying the Washington Mall. Still in shock from the murder of Martin Luther King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference decided to move forward with Dr. King’s dream of confronting the soul of America on racism, materialism, and militarism. The Poor People’s Campaign was a difficult, dispirited, and confused effort to keep the movement alive after the death of King.
A decade ago, as part of the Beloved Communities Initiative, we welcomed the 40th Anniversary of the Campaign. Union Theological Seminary and the Poverty Initiative were key movers in bringing together people from local struggles to see their common connections to economic injustice.
I have also been following the work of the Reverend Dr. William Barber II of North Carolina. As his state became increasingly right-wing, oppressing people through legal chicanery, Reverend Barber emerged as a strong voice for justice. Moral Mondays mounted mass civil disobedience to awaken a more progressive, open-hearted spirit.
After years of sustained actions, North Carolina holds the promise of our ability to challenge and change one another, even in the face of well-funded, right-wing authority. The leadership of Rev. Barber of this new campaign is sure to move beyond nostalgia and invites us to transform our public conversations toward deeper questions about the kind of country we are and who we want to become.
The Poor People’s Campaign calls on people to recognize that we are in a time of enormous danger and possibility, a Third Reconstruction for the soul of America and the heart of Democracy.
I attended one of two events last week in Detroit. Wednesday’s meeting at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History was packed. This session was part of the 4th Annual celebration of the life and legacy of General Gordon Baker. Baker’s long-time comrade, Maureen Taylor of Michigan Welfare Rights opened the panel session, emphasizing the fighting spirit for which she has become nationally recognized. Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, who considered General Baker a friend and mentor followed. Rev. Pinkney was recently released from prison on what is widely understood as state retribution for his effort to challenge the corrupt emergency managers in his hometown. Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis provided an overview of the careful organizing for the new campaign. She also wove together political action and Christian principles.
These three set the stage for Rev Barber who gave a spirited speech, challenging us to once again stand up against the powers of greed and white supremacy, saying that he, like Dr. King, is “unwilling to give up on the soul of our nation.”
Rev. Barber put forward a sharp criticism of the current president and his attack on immigrants, explaining that the young people targeted by the elimination of DACA are “More American than the President.” But we should not be fooled into thinking the challenges we face are only those of the current person in office. He said, “There is a cancer on the soul of our nation” and the nation needs “a new prophetic movement” to address the “deep spiritual malady of our people.” The new Campaign is an opportunity to “open a new season of moral revival.”
The aim is to engage 1000 people in 25 states and the District of Columbia in non-violent direct action for 40 days, pushing for a new commitment to a progressive political covenant.
Calling on images of the moral outrage of the cold killing of a single person in the streets, Rev. Barber asked where is our outrage when 250,000 people are coldly killed by government policies? Invoking the images of Emmett Till, whose mother insisted on an open casket to show what the violence of racism was doing to our children, he said, “We should have open caskets of all those who die from poverty, saying our government’s policies killed them.”
Rev. Barber raised a lot of questions. But he offered a certainty: We can create a “new dream” for our country.