Forty days of moral action during the Poor People’s Campaign begin tomorrow, Monday, May 14, 2018. This was the campaign that Martin Luther King was pursuing when he was killed in Memphis. His campaign and his spirit live on. Tomorrow, around the country people will present a list of demands to remake this country as the land of freedom and opportunity for ALL. See you at the State House in Trenton, NJ tomorrow. Or the PPC event nearest you.
I don’t know what kind of media coverage there will be of these actions. I’m fairly sure that the what is being demanded will not come through the media circus. Here’s a link to the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Read for yourself and then join us.
Here is a summary of what the Poor People’s Campaign seeks.
Systemic Racism
- We demand the immediate full restoration and expansion of the Voting Rights Act, an end to racist gerrymandering and redistricting, the implementation of automatic registration to vote at the age of 18, early voting in every state, same-day registration, the enactment of Election Day as a holiday, and a verifiable paper record.
- We demand the right to vote for the formally incarcerated.
- We demand the reversal of state laws preempting local governments from passing minimum wage increases, the removal of Emergency Financial Managers that are unaccountable to the democratic process, and statehood for Washington DC.
- We demand a clear and just immigration system that strengthens our democracy through the broad participation of everyone in this country. This includes protecting immigrants’ abilities to organize for their rights in the workplace and in their communities without fear of retribution, detention and deportation.
Poverty and Inequality
- We demand federal and state living wage laws, guaranteed annual incomes, full employment and the right for all workers to form and join unions. We also demand fully-funded welfare programs for the poor.
- We demand equal pay for equal work. • We demand equity in education, ensuring every child receives a high-quality, well-funded, diverse public education. We demand free tuition at public colleges and universities and an end to profiteering on student debt. We demand equitable funding for HBCUs.
- We demand the expansion of Medicaid in every state and the protection of Medicare until the full implementation of single-payer universal health care for all.
- We demand reinvestment in and expansion of public housing, ensuring that all have a decent house to live in.
- We demand equal treatment and accessible housing, health care and mobility, adequate income and services for people with disabilities.
- We demand public infrastructure projects and sustainable, community-based and controlled economic initiatives that target poor and rural communities.
- We demand relief from crushing household, student, and consumer debt. We declare Jubilee.
- We demand that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share of our country’s urgent needs around decent and affordable housing, free public education, a robust social safety net and social security.
- We demand the repeal of the 2017 federal tax law and the reinvestment of those funds into social programming that helps all.
- We demand a change in the current poverty standards. We demand an accurate assessment of who is poor — based on access to decent and adequate housing, education, health care, water, sanitation and public utilities, childcare, as well as income, savings and debt, and welfare — and that is made widely available to all.
- We demand an end to mass incarceration and the continuing inequalities for black, brown and poor white people within the criminal justice system.
- We demand equality and the safety of all persons regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Ecological Devastation
- We demand 100 percent clean, renewable energy and a public jobs program to transition to a green economy.
- We demand a fully funded public water and sanitation infrastructure that keeps these utilities and services under public control and that prioritize poor, rural and Native communities that have been harmed by polluting industries.
- We demand a ban on fracking, mountaintop removal coal mining, coal ash ponds, and offshore drilling.
- We demand a ban on all new pipelines, refineries, and coal, oil, and gas export terminals.
War Economy and Militarism
- We demand an end to military aggression and war-mongering.
- We demand a stop to the privatization of the military budget and a reallocation of resources from the military budget to education, health care, jobs and green infrastructure needs, and strengthening a VA system that remains public.
- We demand a ban on the proliferation of guns in our communities, including semi-automatic weapons.
- We demand the demilitarization of our communities on the border and the interior. This includes ending federal programs that send military equipment into local and state communities and bringing down the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- We demand an immigration system that, instead of criminalizing people for trying to raise their families, keeps families together and allows us all to build thriving communities in the country we call home.
National Morality
- We demand that all policies and budgets are based on whether they serve the general welfare and lift up lives and the environment.