Support The Poor People's Campaign & The Mobilization To Get Out The Vote

The following is a gently edited letter from Rev. Dr. William J. Barber concerning building the all-important mobilization that is underway to get out the vote and win the swing vote over---that is, the poor and low-income people across this country---to carrying an agenda that changes "the economic and political architecture of this country" and " addresses the needs of poor and low-wage people."
Please read the letter below and do what is being asked, and please support the campaign by watching this video and chipping in to help.

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and co-author Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove discuss

 their book,White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct

 American Democracy, with other speakers during a press conference at Democracy House 

in Chicago, IL, on August 21, 2024.

Dear Movement Family,

Last week my friend Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and I traveled to Chicago to speak with attendees at the Democratic National Convention.

We hosted a screening of the film Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy, where we pushed back on the notion that Christianity calls on us to be anti-gay, against people who may have had an abortion, against immigrants, and against the poor.

We highlighted the truth: that what the Scriptures actually say is that God loves all people. Jesus said the Gospel is about good news to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, welcoming all people, caring for the least of these: the immigrants, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned.

We also held a panel discussing the topic of our new book: White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.

At the panel, we talked about how we need to acknowledge the full breadth of the problem of poverty in America in order to mobilize the swing vote of poor and low-income people so that we can reshape the economic and political architecture of this country.

My longtime friend, civil rights leader and Sierra Club president Ben Jealous, highlighted the need to talk to all people.

“You will hear liberals say again and again, people of color and low-income communities. Well in a nation where the white poor are invisible, what people hear is low income people of color communities,” he warned.

Instead, he wisely counseled that what we need to start doing is including poor white people in our campaigns.

“You [should] say people of color and low-income white communities. You know, somebody might say to you this, they might say hey, but how many poor white folks are there?” he said. “Well, twice as many as there are poor Black folks! We’ve got 8 million and change poor Black folks in America, you’ve got 16 million and change poor white folks in America.”

Pamela Garrison of the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign spoke about the struggles of poor white folks and others in the state.

“My whole state, when the coal mines went down, what they replaced it with was tourism. What tourism is, is low-wage jobs. It’s restaurants, it’s stores, it’s gas stations. That’s what we got. That’s what we’re living on,” she said.

Latosha Brown, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, noted with sadness that her cousin recently passed as a consequence of poverty.

“She went to the hospital for a UTI. They sent her back home because they didn’t bother – because she was poor – they didn’t bother to check her labs,” she noted.

Her cousin had sepsis, when an infection causes your immune system to have a harmful reaction. By the time they called her back to the hospital, it was far too late.

These critical stories highlighted the need to organize America’s most potent swing vote: poor and low-income people across this country.

In every state these voters make up many times the margin of victory in the previous presidential elections. By mobilizing this sleeping giant, we can change the economic and political architecture of this country.

We must push all candidates of every party to embrace a moral agenda that abolishes poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in this country and addresses the needs of poor and low-wage people.

JOIN THE MOBILIZATION

Contact your state Poor People’s Campaign leaders to join our mass mobilization effort.

Click here to visit Vote.org to check your registration, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, check what’s on your ballot, and get election reminders to make sure you’re where you need to be on election day.

You can also help spread the word among your friends, family, and social networks.

Send this email to people you know

Share the Vote.org link on social media

Forward together, not one step back!

Bishop William J. Barber, II, DMin
National Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
President & Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach
Founding Director, Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School

Repairers of the Breach

P.O. Box 1638
Goldsboro, NC 27533
United States

 

The Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington D.C. & to the Polls

On June 29th, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is hosting a moral march and mass assembly in the nation's capital to uplift and center the needs of the over 135 million poor and low-wage people and workers across the United States. The gathering will feature testimony from impacted people, advocates, and moral and religious leaders, and launch a season of continued outreach to 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections and beyond.

A report from the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO said:

Thousands of poor and low-wage workers and their supporters from religious, labor, and social justice organizations rallied in DC on Saturday as part of the Mass Poor People's and Low Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington, DC and to the Polls.

Many Affiliates of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO participated in the event, including AFSCME, OPEIU Local 2, ATU Local 689, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Washington Teachers' Union, 1199 SEIU, 32BJ SEIU, UNITE HERE Local 25, and more. We joined allies from across the country to uplift the voices of people impacted by poverty and to mobilize 15 million poor and low-income voters ahead of November.

“If you came here on public transit, you were most likely with an ATU member," Raymond Jackson, president of ATU Local 689, said to the thousands of people gathered at the event as one of the featured speakers. Jackson was joined on stage ATU Local 689 member Rachid Mhamdi. “We know that the counter to organized greed is organized people," Mhamdi said.

Union Support Is Growing For The 6/29 Moral March On Washington, D.C.

“Workers’ rights, civil rights and human rights are on the ballot this election. American voters will decide: Do we want to stay the course and keep on this path toward a more compassionate government or revert back to this morally bankrupt nation? The American labor movement is committed to registering and mobilizing union members and union families around the mass mobilization on June 29. We're going to elect lawmakers who will advocate for workers and poor people to elect leaders who will put people over profits, protect our democracy, and advance worker and civil and human rights.”---Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO

“Here in the wealthiest nation on earth, millions of people lead lives of desperation and deprivation. They can’t pay the rent. They don’t have enough to eat. They struggle to afford and access basic health care. But working people are rising up to demand structural change, to fight the scourge of poverty, to ensure that everyone can live with dignity. AFSCME is proud to be a part of this movement. Organizing for social, racial and economic justice has always been essential to who we are, long before and since the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ strike. We are honored to be participating in the June 29 mobilization and to partner with Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign in all of their important work.”---AFSCME President Lee Saunders

Go here to learn more and get involved!

AFSCME Council 28/WFSE Sets A High Bar For The Rest Of Us. Let's All Try To Get There Together!

AFSCME Council 28--Washington Federation of State Employees is doing some great organizing, they're moving legislation forward, and they're building a stronger community presence. You can catch up with their latest news here and on Facebook. They have a diverse membership and a progressive leadership. I greatly appreciate that Council 28 is encouraging support for the Poor People's Campaign. 

The photos below come from Council 28 and the call to action comes from the Washington State Poor People's Campaign. We could use a Poor People's Campaign here in the Mid-Willamette Valley, I think.