50 years after Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign, people are again taking to the streets under that banner. The modern campaign is a nationwide effort to confront lawmakers with a progressive moral agenda.
The fundamental principles of their campaign center around framing systemic racism, income disparity, ecological devastation and militarism as being immoral. The Campaign, therefore, is a call for a moral revival. It also invites comparisons between 1968 and today, which seem increasingly important as voting rights are curtailed.
Now into the final days of the campaign’s 40 days of action, the movement persists despite crackdowns and arrests. Some protesters have made the case for why they will get themselves arrested for their cause. Some even actively intend to get arrested to garner attention for the cause.
A leader of the movement, Rev. Liz Theoharis, was arrested last week for praying at the Capitol.
Today’s protests move the campaign closer to its national march this Saturday. And today, they took aim at the appalling treatment of immigrant children at the hands of the Trump administration.
“Right now there are individuals who are using our sacred and our holy texts to justify unholy acts” #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/0nagMZZFtL
— PA Poor People's Campaign (@PennsylvaniaPPC) June 18, 2018
Everybody ought to know what unity is! #PoorPeoplesCampaign outside HHS demanding an end to policies that do violence to children at the border, in our cities, and across our land. pic.twitter.com/MuxounDUFB
— Poor People's Campaign (@UniteThePoor) June 18, 2018
The #PoorPeoplesCampaign is taking over the entrance to the Dept of Health &Human Services, attempting to bring our demands inside. We must end the inhumane policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border & institute policies to establish justice for all. pic.twitter.com/4tQdEh92ev
— Kai Newkirk (@kai_newkirk) June 18, 2018
“We demand that families need to be reunited. No more attacking immigrants. No more pitting us against each other.” @liztheo #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/OId1gH7WWh
— Poor People's Campaign (@UniteThePoor) June 18, 2018
And they were not afraid of the consequences of their protest, and the latest round of mass arrests their campaign would endure.
Wearing a religious stole that reads “Jesus was a poor man,” @RevDrBarber is arrested at #PoorPeoplesCampaign action in DC. pic.twitter.com/98JIDAAYOH
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) June 11, 2018
I am not afraid. I am not afraid. OH, I am not afraid! I will fight for liberation cuz I know why I was made. #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/i6cMtby5jB
— Ohio Poor People's Campaign (@OhioPPC) June 18, 2018
More arrests now, while witnesses sing our promise: “The walls that they build to tear us apart will never be as strong as the walls of heart.”
These are dark times, but even deep political evil cannot overcome the power of love and unity rooted in justice! #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/XwNfwzMrTu
— New York State Poor People's Campaign (@nysppc) June 18, 2018
Your silence on the #PoorPeoplesCampaign is part of the reason we have a distorted moral narrative in this country @CNN, @MSNBC, @nytimes, @abcnews, @CBSNews & @NBCNews. We’re confronting it today, you should too! pic.twitter.com/x90UisvgMm
— RepairersOfTheBreach (@BRepairers) June 18, 2018
Turnout from Albany to Alabama was gave some truly beautiful images and stunning displays of democracy in action.
#happeningnow @nysppc sitting in the state capitol! #poorpeoplescampaign #unitethepoor pic.twitter.com/FsG7BFKnft
— Laurel Ashton (@laurela1020) June 18, 2018
Standing w/comrades in Detroit stopping traffic at robber baron #DanGilbert 's office demanding clean water for all & an end to punishing poor ppl for being poor. #PoorPeoplesCampaign #FightPovertyNotPoorPeople pic.twitter.com/w1aWnhjvnK
— Aryeh Bernstein (@aryehlou) June 18, 2018
Organizing the south in #Alabama to build power and shift the moral narrative #poorpeoplescampaign follow @AlabamaPPC for updates! pic.twitter.com/WG7I8IoSio
— Laurel Ashton (@laurela1020) June 18, 2018
South Carolina is out in the heat reminding us why we must build a moral fusion #poorpeoplescampaign follow @forward_sc for updates! pic.twitter.com/OCC7XGQveL
— Laurel Ashton (@laurela1020) June 18, 2018
Week 6 ANew and Unsettling Force #Wisconsin #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/lpDPyX4sqV
— Wisconsin Poor People's Campaign (@WisconsinPPC) June 18, 2018
And it’s starting to have an impact. A small group of legislators met with the Campaign last week, including Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) who are all favorites to seek the Democratic bid to unseat Donald Trump.
The Poor People’s Campaign returns to Washington, DC this Saturday.
Katelyn Kivel is a contributing editor for Grit Post in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Follow her on Twitter @KatelynKivel.
