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Dear John,
What we look like, where we live, or how much money we have should not determine whether or not we can live healthy and whole lives. Every day that this nation chooses not to address the five interlocking injustices, there is a death measurement. The pandemic changed our lives and deepened the divides that have always plagued us.
Before COVID-19 there were 140 million people who were poor or one emergency away from poverty. In the past few months, millions more have lost their jobs. Tens of millions are on the brink of eviction. Millions more are forced to pick between their lives and their livelihoods. Too many of us lack healthcare in the face of a deadly virus. And this is to say nothing of the environmental crisis before us.
On July 20th, people across the country will rise up and go on strike for Black lives. Will you join us?
This nation has invested in systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the militarization of our communities for too long. We must now invest in expanding democracy and establishing peace and justice across the land. Check out our just launched Moral Policy Agenda to Heal the Nation: Poor People's Jubilee Platform and stay tuned for what's to come. |
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Strike for Black Lives
July 20th is a day of reckoning. Across the country, workers will rise up to strike for Black lives. Together, we will declare that Black Lives Matter and build a moral fusion movement that fights against the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the way economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism, and brings about a fundamental revolution of values that will transform our society.
There are many ways to take part, even if you can’t leave home or strike.
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Poor People's Jubilee Platform
The Poor People’s Campaign held a congressional briefing yesterday on our Moral Policy Agenda to Heal America: the Poor People's Jubilee Platform. |
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We Cry Power: Stories from the Moral Revolution
Robert Taylor has stories to tell. Growing up in a "remnant of the old plantation system," Robert writes about the majority-Black river communities between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, also known as 'Cancer Alley,' who have been sickened by the petrochemical industry and how they are fighting back.
"We have been designated a ‘sacrifice zone.’ That is ungodly. I cannot believe in the 21st century, in a so-called Christian country, that they decided that black people can be sacrificed for the profit of corporations." |
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In case you missed it... |
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CNN: Workers Plan to Walk off the Job in Nationwide Strike for Black Lives |
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Sepia Coleman is a certified nursing assistant and home health aide from Memphis, Tennessee who says she was fired by her last nursing employer...after she threatened to go public after she and several other nurses who work there were diagnosed with Covid-19.
"I go to work every day, I pray and make sure I do what I have to do to keep out of harm's way," Coleman said. "I say to myself, 'If I do get it again, I just pray to God I can recover from it.' If we had union rights, we'd be able to negotiate that so that we have insurance from the start." |
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Rest in Peace: Pamela Rush, Alabama Poor People's Campaign |
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Rush was born and raised in Lowndes County, an area in the Black Belt region, known for its rich, fertile soil; ground that made white plantation owner's wealthy, and the lack of which made Black descendants of the enslaved laborers who worked it very poor.
In 2018, Rush traveled about 700 miles to D.C. to demand Congress do something to eradicate the crushing poverty that so many American families had come to know well.
“I live in a mobile home with my two kids,” Rush said, her measured speech breaking off into muffled sobs at the mention of her children. “They charged me over $114,000,” she continued through tears, “on a mobile home that’s falling apart...I’ve trapped about four possums in my house. Cats and stuff. And I got raw sewage,” Rush said. “I don’t have no money. I’m poor.”
Her moving testimony was rebroadcast to millions of people around the world at the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington; a “digital justice gathering” held on June 20 featuring activists, actors, clergy and poor people — all calling for an end to poverty.
Just a few days after the assembly, Rush found herself in a Selma hospital bed, barely able to breathe. Two weeks later, she succumbed to complications of COVID-19, leaving behind her 12-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son. She was 49 years old.
Read more about Pamela's life and fight here, and watch her Memorial Video here. |
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Forward together, not one step back! Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis Co-Chairs, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
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