By BGR Staff
In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. launched a “Poor People’s Campaign” to give his moral vision a wider field that could bring together people of all races and ethnicities whose aspirations for a decent life were being blocked by the scourge of poverty and economic hardship. Dr. King saw chronic poverty to be intricately linked with racism and militarism, forming a set of three inseparable evils that were wrecking the soul of this nation. His endeavor to advance this campaign was cut short by his assassination shortly after the project began. While his colleagues sustained the campaign for some time after his death, it was eventually disbanded without achieving its goals.
Two years ago two progressive champions of faith, Rev. William J. Barber Jr. and Rev. Liz Theoharris, initiated an attempt to revive Dr. King’s ideal by founding “The Poor People’s Campaign” which they describe as “A National Call for Moral Revival.” The Campaign points out that in the U.S., the wealthiest nation in human history, 140 million people—43% of the population—are either poor or of low-income status. The PPC contends that “the evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and the war economy and militarism are persistent, pervasive, and perpetuated by a distorted moral narrative that must be challenged.” To call the attention of our country’s leaders to the persistence of poverty throughout this land, the PPC formulated plans to conduct a March on Washington, which was scheduled for June 20 of this year.
While the march was originally intended to bring thousands of poor and disadvantaged people to Washington in person, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the PPC has had to revise its plan. Now the “march” will take place in digital format as a 2-hour internet program that will be broadcast over the weekend of June 20-21. It will be broadcast on Saturday, June 20 at 10:00 am EDT and 6:00 pm EDT, and again on Sunday, June 21 at 6:00 pm EDT.
The purpose of the march, in the words of the organizers, is “to marshal our collective voices to demonstrate the power of our communities. We demand that both major political parties address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism by implementing our Moral Agenda.”
The hope is that by uniting the millions of people who struggle each day just to get by, who lack health insurance, living wages, access to clean water, and secure voting rights, we can move forward the moral and political imagination of this country and revive the heart of American democracy.
For more information about the march, go to june2020.org. And for general information about the Poor People’s Campaign, go to poorpeoplescampaign.org.
Since the aims of the Poor People’s Campaign correspond closely to the moral vision that underlies Buddhist Global Relief, we endorse the “March on Washington” and urge our supporters to participate in the digital presentation.
