As poverty plagues communities across America, the Poor People’s Campaign, led by Bishop William J. Barber II, is working to eradicate systemic deprivation through voter empowerment during the 2024 election cycle.
“Our votes are demands and not really support for candidates. We are mobilizing those votes and saying to candidates if you want these votes then talk to poor and low-wage folks,” said Barber.
With poverty can come housing instability, hunger and even death. The nation’s poverty rate leaves millions penniless and currently ranks among the top five leading causes of death killing approximately 295,000 citizens per year. As the population increases, rates of destitution are rising faster than access to homes, healthcare and basic necessities.
The Poor People’s Campaign is uniting with other people across the country to raise awareness about the struggles Americans face daily due to their financial circumstances. Supporters are invited to take a stance during the June 29 “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington” encouraging a call to the polls and to vote.
“The number one reason poor people don’t vote according to our study is because no one talks to them. We have debate after debate for senate and president and the issues that affect poor and low wage persons do not come up,” Barber said during a press conference at the National Press Club in Northwest, D.C. on April 29. “The number of poor and low wage workers that could have voted in the last election but didn’t was over a million.”
He went on to highlight the Poor People’s Campaign’s push for: a nationwide minimum wage of $15 with an index for inflation, an end to voter suppression, and access to healthcare for all among other things.
“This [march] is an offensive move, we are calling people to come by the thousands. This is a mass mobilization of consciousness not based on poverty but on principle,” Barber proclaimed.
Essential legislation like the expanded monthly refundable child tax credit, the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) and other forms of viable aid are facing significant pushback in Congress. Many are waiting to see more federal funding released to those in dire need.
“The White House must treat poverty like the crisis it is if the administration is serious about saving our democracy,” Rosalyn Pelles, senior ardvisor to the Poor People’s Campaign shared in a statement. “We must come together today as a coalition of consciousness with partnering organizations representing millions across the country impacted by this crisis. Today we must speak with one voice as we raise demands for restoration of fundamental rights.”
Workers experiencing the harshest extent of homelessness and bruteness of poverty readily shared their stories with tears prompting those listening to act so that others don’t have to feel or experience the pain they’ve endured.
Multiple groups referenced as “anchor partners” attended and amplified pleas for equity and economic justice. Among them were the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, National Council of Churches, AFL-CIO and SEIU in addition to many more.
“I want for others what I want for myself. A living wage index by inflation that allows me to provide for my family. Healthcare for all. Safe and affordable housing, quality schools that do not depend on my zip code, the ability to vote without fear of intimidation or suppression” the Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens mentioned. “I want to ensure that there is a safety net so that no one suffers needlessly.”
She emphasized the major challenge in disenfranchising those low-income Americans.
“We disrespect the humanity of over tens of millions of poor and low-income voters and workers when we say that they cannot share in the fruits of their own labor,” she continued.
Owens’ concerns and observations were echoed by other speakers citing statistics that show child poverty has more than doubled over the last year with over 5 million children forced to live without their needs being met.
“There is no greater form of oppression than when a country that has immense resources and wealth allows its people to suffer and die from a lack of resources,” said Fred Redmond, secretary-treasurer of AFL-CIO. “Poverty is a failure of the system, it exists because we allow it to exist.”
At the conclusion of the event, Barber’s powerful voice offered words promoting hope for a brighter future, emphasizing the need for people to stand together to fight poverty.
“When nobody talks to you, you have to make them talk to you and you have to organize your power,” said Barber. “This is a resurrection not an insurrection.”
‘ The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC): A National Call for Moral Revival relies on economic calculations showing that 140 million Americans—which is more than 40 percent of the population—are poor or low-income.’
56 years after the original Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, which set out demands for nothing less than the eradication of poverty, 140 million Americans live in poverty, the top 1 percent has more wealth than the bottom 90 percent, and ‘just 1 in 10 black Americans believe civil rights movement’s goals have been achieved in the 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr was killed’ (The Independent, 31 March 2018).
He said “the prescription for the cure rests with an accurate diagnosis of the disease.” yet focused famously on the ‘Triple Evils’ of poverty, racism and militarism, i.e., symptoms rather than the underlying malady, which is why Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer winning historian, could say of MLK that ‘all the issues that he raised toward the end of his life are as contemporary now as they were then’ (NY Times, 4 April 2018).