Poor People's Campaign Gears Up for Mother's Day

Poor People’s Campaign Gears Up for Mother’s Day Launch. A major new report makes the case for a 'fusion movement' against systemic racism, poverty and inequality, militarism and the war economy, and ecological devastation.

I am not speaking about the poor. I am not speaking for the poor. I am the poor.” Claudia De la Cruz was speaking at an April 10 press briefing in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.Inspired by a similar 1968 initiative led by Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders, the campaign aims to lift up the voices of people like De la Cruz who’ve been most affected by our country’s persistent poverty. A descendant of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, De la Cruz was born in the South Bronx, the poorest Congressional district in the country. Median household income there is about $26,000, compared to $116,000 for the wealthiest district, which straddles Virginia’s northern suburbs. She’s a member of the national steering committee of the Poor People’s Campaign and one of the state organizers for the New York City area. At the briefing, the Poor People’s Campaign and the Institute for Policy Studies co-released a 120-page report on poverty and inequality, systemic racism, ecological devastation, the war economy, and militarism. The Souls of Poor Folk draws on empirical data and interviews with grassroots leaders in each of these inter-related areas to make the case for reviving the 1968 campaign. The report points out, for example, that 140 million Americans today are poor or low-income. Poor People’s Campaign Gears Up for Mother’s Day Launch A major new report makes the case for a 'fusion movement' against systemic racism, poverty and inequality, militarism and the war economy, and ecological devastation. "We may not run the United States, but we make it run. And we are ready to shut it down with our bodies."  Claudia De la Cruz, Poor People's Campaign press briefing, Washington, D.C. “In a country that is filled with wealth, that has an abundant amount of resources, this is immoral and shameful,” said De la Cruz. The report also finds that one of the most dramatic trends since the original Poor People’s Campaign is the rising gap between the poor and the extreme rich. While the official poverty rate is about the same today as it was 50 years ago, the share of national income going towards the top 1% of earners has nearly doubled. The 400 wealthiest Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 64 percent of the U.S. population (or 204 million people). Nineteen percent of all U.S. households (60 million people) have zero wealth or their debts exceeded the value of their assets (excluding the family car) — and the percentage is even higher among people of color. Because of rising housing costs and wage stagnation, there is no state or county in the nation where an individual earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour can afford a two-bedroom apartment at market rent. Five decades after the original Poor People’s Campaign, homelessness continues to be a severe problem in the world’s richest nation, with the majority of homeless families headed by single women with young children. Despite these overwhelmingly dismal indicators, De la Cruz explained that the new Poor People’s Campaign is “organizing the hope of the poor, the hope that is often used and abused by politicians — whether they are Republicans or Democrats — the hope of a dignified life, our very right to exist.” Campaign Co-Chairs Rev. Liz Theoharis and Rev. William Barber also released an extensive set of preliminary demands for the campaign at the National Press Club event. Among the key priorities: “the repeal of the 2017 federal tax law and the reinvestment of those funds into social programming that helps all” and “relief from crushing household, student, and consumer debt.” http://www.ips-dc.org/souls-of-poor-folks/ “We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together…you can’t really get rid of one without getting rid of the other.”  -Rev. Dr. King, 1967 The Souls of Poor Folk is an assessment of the conditions and trends of poverty today and of the past fifty years in the United States. In 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., alongside a multiracial coalition of grassroots leaders, religious leaders, and other public figures, began organizing with poor and marginalized communities across racial and geographic divides. Together, The Poor People’s Campaign aimed to confront the underlying structures that perpetuated misery in their midst.  Fifty years later, The Souls of Poor Folk challenges us to take a look at how these conditions have changed since 1968. The stark findings draw from a wide variety of sources, including primary and secondary data as well as interviews with and testimonies by people who have been living through and responding to these changes on the ground. The facts, figures, and faces in these pages counter numerous myths about poverty in our society, including two of the most prevalent:    “Poverty is the fault of the poor” This report demonstrates that the structural issues of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy and militarism, and ecological devastation contribute more to poverty than individual failures. “Despite our nation’s abundance, there is not enough for all of us to survive and thrive” This report makes a clear case that the richest nation in the world has sufficient resources to protect the environment and ensure dignified lives for all its people. Contact us at info@poorpeoplescampaign.org Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.  Endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America ( DSA)