May 7, 2018

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, traces its roots to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who saw the need for an organized push to demand a better education, better jobs, better pay and a better life for poor Americans.

The renewed version of King’s Poor People’s Campaign is in full swing, uniting tens of thousands of people to “challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality,” according to the organization’s website, poorpeoplescampaign.org.

Led by Revs. William Barber of North Carolina and Liz Theoharis of New York, the campaign kicked off in December, 50 years after King's plan for a poor people’s march on Washington. The original Poor People's Campaign lasted into the early 1970s and lay dormant until Barber and Theoharis resurrected it in 2017.

The campaign’s first nationwide event is set for Monday, May 14; nonviolent, moral direct actions will take place in over 30 state capitals, according to the group’s website.

Empire State aid

In New York, activists will rally at 2 p.m. on May 14 in West Capitol Park in Albany. The event is titled "Somebody’s Hurting Our People: Child poverty, Women, and People with Disabilities."

The New York State Poor People’s Campaign is organizing Poor People’s Campaign events in the Empire State. Working with the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State, the New York State Poor People’s Campaign has slated rallies and training and organizing activities in areas statewide.

For more information, or to become involved, go to the New York State Poor People’s Campaign Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/NYSPPC . CLICK HERE to learn more about the Poor People’s Campaign and to take the pledge to join the movement.