Team,

In the last months of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech in which he warned of three evils in our world: the evil of racism, the evil of poverty, and the evil of war.

Dr. King was not one to sit down when faced with injustice. He launched the Poor People’s Campaign to build a multiracial working-class coalition to end these evils in the United States of America.‬

Because Dr. King was taken from this world entirely too soon, activist and minister Ralph Abernathy carried out the Poor People's March, bringing tens of thousands of demonstrators to D.C. to advocate for better employment and housing conditions for those in poverty.

Dr. King believed in this vision because the people had been ignored by politicians in Washington for too long. In his words:

“People ought to come to Washington, sit down if necessary in the middle of the street and say, 'We are here; we are poor; we don't have any money; you have made us this way... and we've come to stay until you do something about it.'"

The Poor People’s Campaign led to more funding for free and reduced lunch programs and the expansion of food stamps. It was a monumental step in showing Americans how the destinies of all working people are linked.

In Congress and in my daily life, I will carry on with Dr. King’s vision of radical love. I won’t stop fighting to make sure every person’s most basic needs are met. Each and every one of us deserves the wages and housing we need to have a real chance at not just surviving, but thriving, in this country.

May we never forget Dr. King's legacy.

Ilhan Omar