On June 29th, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival hosted a moral march and mass assembly in the nation’s capital to uplift and center the needs of the over 135 million poor and low-wage people and workers across the United States. The gathering featured testimony from impacted people, advocates, and moral and religious leaders, and launched a season of continued outreach to 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections and beyond.
Click on video below to hear the voices representing millions of people joining together to fight for everyone in need and to use the polls as part of the fight.
Karel Riley, writing about her impressions of the event for the People’s Tribune, described what a few of the many outstanding speakers said:
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, said: “Those most impacted by injustice, organizing together, mobilizing together, and voting together can force the changes that we know we need that will be good for everybody.” She argued that putting the poor at the center of the struggle for democracy “is what can save this nation.”
“There are cities where you can find unleaded gas, but you can’t find unleaded water,” said campaign co-chair the rev. William Barber II, who moderated the event. “We don’t care what kind of debate you have if you don’t have a debate that asks candidates where they stand on living wages and labor and healthcare, that’s the failure.”
The rally went on for over 4 hours! and each speaker was given two minutes to talk, so there was a huge number of speakers: religious leaders, union members, indigenous people, disabled people, a Muslim woman speaking about the Gaza, homeless — the broadest range of poor and low-wage workers you could imagine. The speakers were very diverse. It appeared that most of the speakers were women. Many of the speakers were members of the Poor People’s Campaign in various states.
Some other notable speakers included: A young woman, Gabriela Martinez, with the Franciscan Action Network, who spoke about her entire life living near chemical plants. She started to get sick so she moved, but got sick again, and moved some more. Everywhere she moved, she was exposed to more harmful chemicals. She has to take many medications and some are very expensive. She said, “There’s nowhere to run in this country that’s not contaminated by the disease of injustice.”
A woman named Marilyn Hendler with the Maryland Poor People’s Campaign said she has been permanently disabled since birth. Her whole life she has had to fight to prove she’s disabled in order to get her medical care and benefits. Her story was very moving.
A young Black woman, Priscilla Hoyle, cleans airplanes for a living for American Airlines. She and her coworkers joined to form a union of airline workers to unite people. She makes a very low wage. She said, choking up, “I can’t provide for the life I want for my children.” She can’t afford to take a vacation. Priscilla has never flown in an airline. The CEO of American Airlines makes $16,000 per HOUR.”
Background from the Poor People’s Campaign announcement of the event:
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is calling on people of moral conscience to join us on June 29th in the nation’s capital to uplift and center the needs of the over 135 million poor and low-wage people and workers across the country. The June 29th Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington D.C. & to the Polls will launch outreach to 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections and beyond. 800 people die each day from poverty and low wealth. This is an unacceptable and abolishable reality. Our votes are demands. We demand that those running for office commit to enacting our 17-Point Agenda, which includes living wages, voting rights, and other essential policies that lift from the bottom.
Contact the campaign at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/m
