Poor Peoples Campaign launched

Popular Resistance - The Poor People’s Campaign kicked off 40 days of civil resistance calling for a new economy where workers have a wage “commensurate for the 21st-century economy,” everyone has healthcare through a single payer system, homelessness is ended and war and militarism no longer dominate the economy.

Poor People’s Campaign comes 50 years after the campaign Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was doing when he was assassinated. Today’s Campaign officially launched on Monday with advocates for economic justice rallying in Washington, D.C. and more than 30 state capitols nationwide. Hundreds were arrested in Washington, DC alone.

Rev. William Barber called for a “moral confrontation” stressing that 140 million people live in poverty in the U.S.—one of the world’s wealthiest countries—and the abandonment of American workers indicates a profound moral failing of the government. On poverty, he added, “250,000 people are dying every year from poverty and low wealth.”

The 40 days of nonviolent direct action building to a final mass protest in Washinton, DC on June 23 was described by Barber as the launch of a “multi-year campaign.”