Poverty does not respect skin color, gender, mental or physical ability or one’s level of education. As the pandemic unfolds, more people are seeking SNAP benefits and assistance from food pantries for the first time.
That’s why the Poor People’s Campaign has been revived. It originated with Martin Luther King, Jr as a continuation of the civil rights movement. He was working with the Southern Christian Leadership Council to organize the movement when he was assassinated. The goal was economic justice for all.
Fifty years later the movement is getting a new lease on life. On June 20, 2020, two and a half million poor and marginalized people gathered in a virtual protest to reinvigorate and reimagine the movement. More than 300,000 sent the Moral Justice Jubilee Policy Platform to their legislators. I encourage you to do the same. You can download it here.
According to Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, “the goal of the Poor People’s Campaign is to shift the moral narrative in this country. And we know that shifting means shifting who holds the power.” The Poor People’s Campaign gathers those directly influenced by poverty to address the issues they know all too well and answer the issues that affect their lives. It is a grassroots movement that has the power to make substantive changes. A major platform of their work right now is working against voter suppression and encouraging people to exercise their right and responsibility to vote. It has the potential to change the political landscape in ways that make substantive change possible.
In response to the ongoing violence and murder of unarmed black men, the unrest is unearthing and merging with other systemic issues in our society. Systemic racial injustice is an umbrella under which limited access to health care, education, affordable housing and clean water are safely shielded. As racism is protested more and more, these issues come to light.
It is estimated that 140 million people in the United States live in poverty or have significantly low income. This backdrop exists as millions of people of all skin colors are applying for unemployment. If we aren’t outraged, we are not paying attention.
The Poor People’s Campaign worked with the nation’s best economists to see how a living wage for all workers can be accomplished. The question of redistribution of wealth is a difficult one; those with privilege are reluctant to give it up. In the richest country in the world people are born into poverty, live their whole lives in poverty and die in poverty, not because there is a scarcity of resources, but because we have lacked the will to change this reality. That’s a whole other blog or two.
According to the Poor People’s Campaign, shifting funding from the border wall and canceling one military contract would fund expanded Medicaid in the 14 states that haven’t done so under the Affordable Care Act. Budgets are moral documents. They tell us where our priorities are and what is important to us. This is true in our own homes as well as in our nation.
Some of the other issues the Poor People’s Campaign raises as related to systemic injustice and racism include:
- Ongoing lack of potable water for Flint, Michigan
- Political corruption (really? Say it isn’t so…)
- Unlivable minimum wage
- Corporate drilling on Native American lands
- Deaths caused by lack of health insurance (and let’s not forget the administration is trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the midst of pandemic)
The Rev. Dr. William Barber, founder and president of Repairers of the Breach, speaks powerfully and prophetically to the need for a redistribution of power, goods and services in our society. He takes up the path of Jesus, who spoke more words about the plight of the poor, the corruption of the Roman Occupation and the collusion with religious leaders, than he did any other single subject.
The Poor People’s Moral Justice Jubilee Policy Platform speaks powerfully to the principles that form the foundation of their work:
- “Everybody in, nobody out. Everybody is deserving of our nation’s abundance.
- When you lift the bottom, everybody rises. Instead of “trickle down,” we start with the bottom up.
- Prioritize the leadership of the poor, low income and most impacted. Those who are on the frontlines of the crises must also be in the lead identifying their solutions.
- Debts that cannot be paid must be relieved. We demand freedom from servicing the debts we cannot pay.
- We need a moral revolution of values to repair the breach in our land. This platform abides by our deepest moral and Constitutional commitments to justice. Where harm has been done, it must be acknowledged and undone.”
While the platform builds on solid constitutional principles, it also builds on strong theological principles. In addition to Jesus advocating for the poor, this movement also puts forth the biblical commitment to Jubilee. In the Old Testament, every fifty years, all debts were cancelled, lands seized in tax defaults were returned and everyone had a clean slate to start the next fifty years. It was not an invitation to reckless living, but rather an assurance that when life is hard beyond imagining there is a way to start over with a clean slate and hope for something better.
The poor of our land need Jubilee, a promise of something better that comes when we join hands and work for the redistribution of goods and services on a platform of compassion and justice.
The Irreverent Reverend 