["Until our nations leaders invest the great riches of this nation
in ensuring equal justice for all, beginning with the poor and
low-wealth of this nation, we cannot be silent," said Rev. Dr. William
J. Barber. ]
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COALITION CONVENES IN DC TO FIGHT ‘AMERICAN DEATH SENTENCE’ OF
POVERTY  
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Jake Johnson
June 19, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "Until our nation's leaders invest the great riches of this nation
in ensuring equal justice for all, beginning with the poor and
low-wealth of this nation, we cannot be silent," said Rev. Dr. William
J. Barber. _

Advocates dance during a Poor People's Campaign event in Washington,
D.C. on June 19, 2023., (Photo: Poor People's Campaign/Twitter)

 

Organizers and members of the Poor People's Campaign convened in the
U.S. capital on Monday with a message for the leaders of the
wealthiest nation on the planet: Poverty is an "American death
sentence," and the refusal to eradicate it is "policy murder."

“Today, poverty is the fourth leading cause of death nationwide,"
said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber
[[link removed]], co-chair of the
Poor People's Campaign, citing an analysis
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in April.

The lead author of that analysis, David Brady of the University of
California, Riverside, was among the experts who took part in a
roundtable discussion on Monday to kick off the Poor People's Campaign
Moral Poverty Action Congress, a three-day event aimed at ramping up
pressure on lawmakers to do everything in their power to curb poverty
in the U.S.

“Poverty is bad for your health and associated with nearly every
negative health outcome," Brady said Monday, arguing that placing
poverty fourth on the list of leading causes of death in the
U.S.—behind heart disease, cancer, and smoking—is "probably
conservative."

The multi-day event comes after state and federal lawmakers have spent
recent months taking steps that advocates fear
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exacerbate the nation's poverty crisis, from terminating pandemic-era
relief measures such as food benefit expansions
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boosted Child Tax Credit to throwing more than a million people
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Medicaid and planning fresh attacks
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Social Security.

“What does it say about the greatest country on Earth, the land of
the greatest opportunities, if we know what we need to do to address
the problem, but only do it periodically for limited amounts of time?"
Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute
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during Monday's panel discussion.

Joyce Kendrick of the Ohio Poor People's Campaign, one of the hundreds
of people from more than 30 states who traveled to Washington, D.C.
for the three days of action, said that "with pandemic aid expired,
any gains I've made have been reversed."

"I'm back to having to choose between paying for healthcare and car
repairs, or between putting food on the table and seeing a dentist,"
Kendrick said. "That's why I've joined the Poor People's Campaign—a
movement led by people like me, impacted by policies that harm the
poor in order to help the wealthy."

Watch Monday's event:

On Tuesday, according to organizers, members of the Poor People's
Campaign are planning to visit House and Senate lawmakers to urge them
to take action to slash poverty, which impacts tens of millions of
people
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the U.S.

“Given the abundance that exists in this country and the fundamental
dignity inherent to all humanity, every person in this nation has the
right to demand dignified jobs and living wages, housing, education,
healthcare, and welfare," said Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the
Poor People's Campaign. "But the truth is that millions of Americans
are denied those fundamental rights, and thousands are dying as a
result."

Following the Tuesday meetings with lawmakers, campaigners will lead a
funeral procession to the U.S. Capitol to call attention to poverty's
deadly effects.

The next day, the Poor People's Campaign will support Reps. Barbara
Lee [[link removed]] (D-Calif.)
and Pramila Jayapal
[[link removed]] (D-Wash.) as they
reintroduce a resolution
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for a "Third Reconstruction" that would end poverty, protect and
expand voting rights, and ensure that healthcare, housing, education,
clean water, and other necessities are guaranteed to all.

"There is a lie of scarcity, that we don't know what to do avoid
poverty, that it's peoples' bad choices that lead to poverty," Barber
said Monday. "Or the lie that we don't have the moral capacity to end
it. We have all of that. But the issue is: Are we going to do it?"

Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

* U.S. Poverty
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* Inequality
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* Rev. William Barber
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* Poor People's Campaign
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