Transcripts For CSPAN Poor Peoples Campaign Holds A Nationwide Virtual Rally 20240712

People of all races, religions, creeds, sexuality, building power. I believe that we will win. This movement is not about saving the Democratic Party or criticizing the republican party. This is about saving the soul of this nation. Fightare rising up to poverty. We must do more, organizing, organizing. Educating. Vote. Who stand that i claim to be a follower of jesus christ and be silent about the moral outrage going on in our country. We are not afraid. Any nation is in a moral and economic crisis. There will be a movement. Bring people together. Thisthe heart and soul of democracy. Almost 57 years ago my father , reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. Reminded america of the fierce urgency of now. Now is not the time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real, the promises of this democracy. He was working with poor people of every race from every corner of this nation to build a Poor Peoples Campaign when he was assassinated in memphis tennessee five years later. Today, as his daughter, i am honored to add my voice to the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. I stand with the 140 million poor people and low wealth addressrging america to with the fierce urgency of now, the big issues of poverty and race. Please join us in this move. There is a coming together of people all across this nation. Fusion movement that lifts of the 140 million american poor People Living in poverty in america. Welcome america to this coming together. Welcome to the digital poor Peoples Assembly and march on washington. A movement that is bringing together black, brown, white people. Liberals and conservatives. Queertraight, trans, we people to fight the injustice of poverty and the injustices that grow out of poverty. Petty fromrend nancy raleigh, North Carolina. We come to you live this morning with the Poor Peoples Campaign. I am part of the Poor Peoples Campaign and passed chair of iport of the board of am honored to stand with reverend alan jackson and welcome the nation and the world to this historic day. Putsurpose this day through the message of the 19th century reconstruction and the 1968 Poor Peoples Campaign. Economic justice for poor people. In the words of dr. King, we have come to this hallowed spot to remind america of the fierce urgency of now. Lift oure time to nation from the quicksand to the solid rock of brotherhood and sisterhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of gods children. Welcome. Welcome to the poor Peoples Assembly and march on wash. To 909you to text moral june2020. Org. Im proud to stand with you today welcoming nation and the world to this digital justice gathering. Im alvin oneill jackson, executive director of the Mass Poor People Assembly and moral wash march on washington. Today we will hear from the prophets of our time. Not just those who stand in churches inside the walls of churches and mosques, synagogues, temples. On high elevated podiums. Survive who struggle to in food deserts and who scream and shout, march and protest on city street. The 140 million poor and low wealth people in this country. Whereby Abraham Joshua henschel human but theyre sound a bit too high for our years. They have experiences that define our understanding. The assaulters of the mind. Their words often begin where our conscience and. Hear from the prophet. Listen. Them, we will have a word from faith anders followed by video cochairs ofng, the the porch eat poor peoples , the reverend William J Barber the second will speak. Needs. Ome with any those too sacred to voice. Jesus, mohammed, buddha. Moses, and others. In the system, silence is betrayal. The voice of each human. Each person. Is endowed these rights, recognition. Racism is the virus that tears in our humanity. Infect our system. Festers within the great democratic experiment. That is america. Somebody hurting our people. It has gone on far too long. We wont be silenced anymore. The pandemic magnifies the fissures. Racist capitalism. Essential workers are really sacrificial. Not given the essentials they need. The nearly 700 people who die every day. From poverty. We pray that we would not be comforted by. The thoughts of a broken system. We would find a new way. Economye among us and of interdependence. Somebody is hurting our people. It has gone far too long. We will be silenced anymore. Enough for everyone to live free. There is not enough for corporate greed. And solidarityds strikes, movements for farmers and growers. For Public Health workers. Indigenous struggle for sacred land. Somebody it has gone on far too long. We wont be silent. Anymore. We lament a nation addicted to war. We cant fully address the people. We continue to spend half of our budget on the military. Lining the pockets of corporations and billionaires. And sacrificing the lives of our young people. Let us study war no more. Somebody is hurting our people. It has gone on far too long. We wont be silent anymore. For the labor and witness of those who have gone before us to light the way forward. We remember the shoulders on which we stand. And those who laid the foundation for this movement. For those who dreamed us to this moment. And this movement. This sojourner truth. John brown. Harriet tubman. Malcolm x, Martin Luther king. Dorothy day. Abraham peschel. Pauli murray. For the elders still with us, for the children in this movement now. We pray. Thank you for the courage of our people in the streets today. Lifted up to organize in our communities today. And we, like the ones before, are now the ones weve been waiting for. And we will not be silent anymore. Anymore. We lament because we love. We prophesy and stand for prophetic witness because we love. We advocate for justice because we love. We speak painful truths because we love. Because we love our fellow human children of god. Because we love this creation god has given us. And because we love, we must stand up for what is right. Because we love, we must stand up for what is good. Because we love, we stand up for what is just. Because we love, we stand up for what is not selfish but sacrificial. Because we love, we march. Because we love, we call on our leaders to help us to make city onamerica, shining the hill, and not a place of darkness and despair. Let love lead us. Let love guide us. Let love show us the way. Shall we pray . Great god, love is not only what you do. It is who you are. The scripture says, beloved, let us love one another for love is of god and everyone who loves is born of god and knows god. He or she who loves not knows not god for god is love. You taught us that there is no fear in love and that love casts out fear. The greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. And as my grandmother used to say often, love is not a say word. Love is a do word. Help us to live lives filled with love. Amen and praise god. At one time, poverty was a temporary condition. You were on a downslope from for a minute, but you could bounce back up. We cant bounce back up today. Its permanent. Were not going back to the factory and building cars and trucks like we once did. A job working at mcdonalds or at the Grocery Store does not pay enough for one person to live. You work a 40hour work week and is still not enough to live from paycheck to paycheck. Rent is 600 a month. We got a water bill, electricity. I do this for my kids. And it hurts. We had water shut off. This entire neighborhood was shut off all at one time. I saw all of my neighbors get shut off right in front of me. It was kind of terrifying. Im a 42 years old and cashier at mcdonalds. I had lost my house. Theres a lot of people that are living in their cars. You never notice until youre in that situation. I need to take care of my children. Im paying all of these bills and they need School Clothes and stuff. I see poverty in my own community. There 70 Unemployment Rate in the reservation right now. In new york city, were home to millionaires and billionaires and there are summative people on the street. Thats just not right. Ive been living down here since i was 17. Im from flint, michigan. You cant imagine being in my footsteps. I have children who have never had the experience of drinking from the tap. The00,000 people are on verge of losing their food stamps. Everythingnow that thats happening to us isnt right. Im in stage five of Kidney Disease. I fell behind on my health care and they canceled my Health Insurance and they tell me i have to wait until open enrollment. Theres only five stages of Kidney Disease and im in the fifth stage. If you ask me, its murder. I lost a daughter. No parent in america should have to bury their kids. My children are no more my god. My god. Im wailing because my babies aint no more how many more babies . No more. What love the lord requires of thee one love the lord requires we of thee but you do gently love of mercy godwith, with woe unto thee you o present decree dereecious precious decree walk calmly with god one love the lord requires of thee what doth the lord require of thee what to do justly love mercy god we are gathered today to call for a radical redistribution of political and economic power, a revolution of moral values, to demonstrate the power of poor and impacted people banding together, demanding that this country change for the better. We are rising together in this digital, mass poor Peoples Assembly and moral march on washington. And we thank you for gathering with us. My name is the reverend dr. Though is, cochair of the womens Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. We are a moral Fusion Movement of the poor and activists, and all of those who will not stand by as 700 people die every day from poverty and inequality in this, the richest country in the world, who must come together, organize together, demand just justice together in the face of systemic racism and police violence. The Climate Crisis and the militarization of our community. Who believe to the very depths of our being that we can save the planet, demilitarized our world, and actually abolish systemic racism and systemic poverty for all. Were here because people are being abandoned in the midst of abundance. People are being murdered by the police. People are being denied health care while the wealthy profit of a pandemic. And many of the richest corporations in the world are paying essential workers expendable wages. We are here because there was a war on the poor at home and abroad because people are being forced to choose between rent and medicine and food. Were here because we have to be. Somebodys been hurting our people. Its gone on far too long, and we cant, we wont be silent anymore. Up the truth lift of our nation, to put faces on mourn, injustice, to shock thisas to nations conscience, and to show wherever hope for change really is. Hope, you see, comes from the bottom, from those most directly impacted by profound people in America Today coming together and building power. Revolutionary,ld systemic change is only possible when we have a powerful movement to write these wrongs to righ t these wrongs. And these kinds of movements dont just happen. We are called to be. We are called to build them. Those empowered today want nothing more than to stop this kind of movement. Its why they spend so much time and money trying to deny us the right to vote, why they attacked protesters, why they spread lies meant narrow a revision, the net our aspiration, divide us by limit our aspiration, divide us by region, gender, political status, Political Party. But today, were here to were here. That were poor. Were not going anywhere. We will come together. Little stay together. We will transit we will stay together. We will transform this nation from the bottom up. Ae poor people camping, National Call for revival. Please text the word moral to 90975. A movement is rising up. Forward together, not one step back. Thank you so much, reverend, and im the cochair of the Poor Peoples Campaign and National Call for moral revival. And also with repairers of the breach. Today, we are gathering, and my primary words are going to come at the end, where i try to sign the call of action after i heard what dr. Jackson calls the prophets. This digitaly, rally, the stage is being given to people who are impacted, people who are poor and low wealth who are impacted by the systemic racism, systemic poverty, denial of health care. The war economy and the false narrative of religious nationalism. They will give their stories because were going to put a face on poverty, a face you might not normally think of, so youll hear from a coal miner in kentucky, but also from the Delta Mississippi and somebody from up north in maine to california and arizona. Voice putting a face and on these people. That is important. Not just to have people pontificate on the poor, but to allow the people impacted to speak to this nation because through change you change the narrative by changing the narrators. And by putting a face on it so it is not just numbers. And when we talk about 700 people dying a day, you can see a face. So today is really about the people. The people, those profits prophets dr. Jackson talked about. Emily want to talk and we want to talk about this people. We have over 200 Facebook Live streams going on right now and plus100,000 people, 150,000 people who rsvped. Go get somebody else and join them because we believe if you see these faces and hear these voices, you will join this movement and you will understand why america has to face this issue thats impacting 43 of the people in this country, 140 Million People. Theres a second reason were here today. Because today, even as im speaking now, its just gone live, and it will go to every congressperson, governors and legislators. The poor peoples moral justice jubilee policy platform. Because we understand that a Movement Must not only have moral act regulation moral articulation, but you must have a moral agenda. We have found the money. Weve had people work with the best economists and impacted people, putting a budget together. And our platform, the five principles, everybody in, nobody out. When you live from the bottom, everybody rises. Prioritize the leadership of the bts that cannot be paid must be relieved and we need a moral revolution of values to repair the breach in our land. And somebody asked one time, what two things do you want . Our response was, the corporations got 2. 5 to 3 trillion things. Dont limit poor people. Dont limit the low income. We want what is required. We want what is supposed to be. The bible says, woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their rights and make women and children their prey. And then the third thing is we are building power. Ill talk about some of this at the end. But you need to know that the number of people in this country , who have not voted because they dont hear poverty talked about on the applicable stages and they dont hear them talk about on debates. But the number of them that have not voted far outweigh the margins for any candidates victory. Poor and low wealth people, as dr. Martin luther king jr. Told us on the steps of the Alabama State house, hold the key to fully transforming the political calculus in this country. So, we come that you might hear from the people. We come today that we might present a platform that addresses how we address the issues of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, denial of healthcare and the false moral narrative. And we have come to say that its not only time to change the narrative. Its time to be a power among poor and low wealth people and we wont be silent anymore. We want you now to hear, as people we will introduce, the first up is danny glover. And then others. But stay with us and hear these voices. I declare your mind will be changed. Your heart will be touched. And you will want to join in and transform this nation. God bless you. Danny hello, im danny glover and im part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Did you know there are 140 Million People in this country who are poor or one emergency away from being poor . Even before covid19 hit. Jean high, im gene hi, im gene. I know this is a challenging time. Many have lost their jobs and healthcare. Danny meanwhile, just three billionaires have the same wealth as half the country. Gene we cant be silent anymore about poverty. Thats why im part of the Poor Peoples Campaign and this National Call for moral revival. Danny its time to hear from these people and see the faces behind the numbers. My name is christine and i lived in South Carolina since 1997. Poverty and homelessness have has been a part of my life story since i was 10 years old. We were short 160 of rent one month. We asked the landlord for an extension for three days and the got aning we know, we eviction notice. We moved downtown charleston. We got another house to live in and prayed that the walls would not shake too bad when the wind blew. We had begged businesses to use their bathroom. When you never had to be hungry, people in washington are sending war machines to other countries to build war against others instead of homes for people here, or medical for people here, or food for people here, for children that are sleeping in their cars that go to bed hungry at night. Hi, my name is pamela and im from alabama. And i live in a mobile home with my two kids. Its all right. 14,000 for mobile home thats falling apart. I trapped four possums in my house, cats and stuff, and i have raw sewage. I dont have any money. And i had to travel to birmingham to take my daughter to see a doctor. I dont have a car or anybody to take her. And then we have a high utility bill. And i was paying like 370 per month on the trailer. My name is Mary Jane Shanklin , rn, and im a proud kansas farmers wife. My husband, mark, is a fourth generation farmer. We live in a 129yearold farmhouse with barely adequate electricity and barely adequate plumbing. We live in a food desert. There was only one Grocery Store in our county. We live in a news desert. We have no hospital in our county. And the nearest one is 30 minutes away at 70 miles an hour. And kansas farmers are in a breaking point because economic stress and polluted groundwater. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in kansas. A lot of it is due to the fertilizer and pesticide runoff in the water. We didnt get city water until 1984 on the farm. Before that, it was pond and stream water treated with chlorine. Almost everyone we know has a cancer story. The kansas farmer suicide rate is 85 deaths per 100,000, which is higher than our veterans suicide rate. 2017, has shot up since when world grain markets were destabilized by tariffs. Farmers live in invisible poverty in silent desperation as foreclosure loomed and the blame for being the one who lost the family farm hangs over them every single day. Employment is really important to all of us. Many of us who are here come from this community, including myself, and so it is important that if we hear things like one out of every four students is homeless, that means something. Its more than a number. That means there is children and family going without and thats not right. The homelessness that youre seeing in the streets of l. A. And our community, you can see it in sacramento, you can see it in salinas, you can see it in chico. You can see it all up and down the state, people in the street, living in cars and rvs. Its a growing phenomenon. And one thing thats important, i dont think this is because know how todont manage their finances. This is economic devastation. We are all tied to that root. My name is olivia williams. I work at the starbucks in the Orlando International airport. My coworkers and i began organizing a union because we were frustrated about the disrespect from the host management. Im 24 years old and i was hospitalized twice in two years from workplace incidents. The pandemic made things worse. We had no training on how to protect ourselves or the public. I speak up and i told them that management only started paying attention to us when we started fighting for the union. Im not afraid to fight. Ive been fighting all my life. I was born with Cerebral Palsy and my parents were told i would never walk or talk. Instead, i graduated high school at the top of my class. Hms host underestimate me and my coworkers. But working People Like Us are strong and powerful when we come together. This is why we demand an historical investment in resources to end the pandemic of poverty in the midst of plenty. Repeal of the 2017 tax breaks for the wealthy, relief from poverty and wealth inequality. Im tired of watching my friends die in the street. Everyone has the right to Affordable Housing and living wages, and thats why i work with the Poor Peoples Campaign, the National Call for moral revival. Hi, im wanda. Did you know that women and children are on the front lines of poverty . Thats why im part of the Poor Peoples Campaign. Im not poor, but im a woman and i have children and i care. Did you know that women make up two thirds of the workforce consistently in the lowest paying jobs . Three quarters of the people in the United States of america who are poor are women and children. Wanda most of womens care work goes unpaid. Its time to hear from them. My name is Amy Hutchinson and i come from west virginia. As i look back on my life, im 46 years old and i have never spent a day without poverty on some level. I have medicaid and without any notice, they sent me a letter and told me to send in a form in february. This is april when i get the letter. By the time i received it, i had a couple of days notice that i know longer had Health Insurance. Please tell me, as a poor person, what im supposed to do. I have a bachelors degree. Im trying to heal a medical condition with essential oils and prayers. I work full time and take my kids to softball games. Im doing everything i can and organizing around other poor people, predominantly low income moms. I dont think that we should have to give this much of ourselves in order to have a good quality of life in america. The richest country in the world. My name is nicole hill and i just want to tell a little bit about my story about being a poor person in the city of detroit. You are constantly raped by corporate greed. I lived without my water with it being cut off the first time in may of 2014. It was off for two months. No matter how poor they are, theyre always helping somebody else. And thats why despite whats going on with donald trump, whats going on in this country, we are going to win. Im confident in that. I believe in that. I really do. [applause] good morning, everybody. Im reverend chambers and im from baltimore, maryland. Im a welfare rights woman, one of the women that helped started welfar rights. And were still fighting. Dr. King came to welfare rights and asked us to help. To help start, help the Poor Peoples Campaign so that we can get started. And we agreed. And we said dr. King before this, dr. King, where were you when we were out there fighting for food stamps . You know, we sent you a letter but you didnt respond. And he didnt. He said yeah, but im here now and i heard about you ladies and i want to be with you all. So we went back, and thats when food stamps came about. This is why we demand living wages. A fair income, a guaranteed income. With equal pay for equal work. You know, honestly in this moment, im just grieving. Im just grieving and mourning and wailing. And its for these reasons and more that im a part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Poverty is a form of trauma for our children and their families. If you have to go to school hungry, without enough food, you cant learn and you dont do as well in school. If youre concerned about where youre going to live from one day to the next, if you dont feel well, but you cant go to the doctor, all of these things have a generational impact on our children. Our children are struggling, theyre growing up in poverty. Thats why im part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Did you know that nearly 39 million children in this nation are poor while living in a low income family . Did you know that 1. 5 million children are homeless and one in five children are hungry . Its time to hear from these young people. Im a first generation student of a food service worker. I was born and raised in kentucky. I could tell you about collecting firewood when we didnt have electric or collecting rain when we did not have water. Or how scared my mom was using snap in public because of the way people talked about it like as being hungry was shameful even though she was working overtime every week. I used a gym membership to shower regularly to say for an apartment and bills. I would sit in the mcdonalds parking lot for wifi so i could finish homework. My name is jayda ricard and im from boston, mass. And im 10 years old and im going into the sixth grade. We are miles away from not one, not two, but three methadone clinics. Some of us see people walking up and down the street. I see people walking like zombies, like from a movie and always falling down and it scares me. If you asked me what im fighting for, im fighting for my life and my community. Thank you. A third child was born seven weeks early. The only thing my family knew was the beautiful addition to our family. Adriel is deaf, blind, and developmentally disabled. As he begun to have medical hurdles to overcome, we flew into action. My husband and i are dedicated parents. We would provide and support our children so they can thrive. Adriel would be no different. And on that day, we were firmly launched into the shadows. In the shadows are hundreds and thousands of marginalized people and families. In 2016, it was reported that Unemployment Rates for those who experienced a disability is 64. 1 in this country. As a young person living in harlan county, i think a lot of times our voices are put down. A lot of people around here do dont really realize the issues that are going on. And i think that its time that we, as a people, educate the people that dont know whats going on in their community. Its time that we show our elected legislatures whats going on and that us young people know what theyre doing, that us young people are going to rise above and we wont be silent anymore. Hi, my name is sophia and im a student in new york city public schools. This is why we demand free public quality education, housing for all, safe water for all. We demand healthcare. Debra hi, its debra messing. Our lgbtq communities face highrisk of poverty and violence. Thats why im here today as part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Did you know that lgbtq plus youth represent 20 to 40 of the Homeless Youth population . Debra that transgender communities experience shocking amounts of violence and discrimination. Did you know that lgbtq immigrants are 15 times more likely to experience Sexual Assault in confinement . Debra this violence against lgbtq communities must end. Its time now that we hear from them. My name is sophia. And i served for 10 years in the u. S. Navy and then the coast guard. When i was discharged from the coast guard for being transgender, i was put out into a world with no training, no preparation, and there was no consideration for what could happen to a transgender woman with no job and no skills. Is it any wonder why so many of us live in poverty . And for what . So an Aerospace Company can continue to raise their valuation by 1 10 of 1 while their aircraft fall out of the air, or just flat out refused to fly, and their missiles destroy the lives of some people that we consider an enemy . My name is curtis and i am a poor, white, gay christian from the tenderloin. And i actually live in a single room occupancy room. I was sick and homeless and alone, and i was an addict. And i wasnt homeless because i was an addict. I was an addict because i was homeless and alone. I had been denied Social Security despite being hospitalized 12 times in two years and i was way too sick to work. I was here in San Francisco because i fled the homophobia i encountered elsewhere and the stigma of aids that it made me an outcast. I had to win the lottery to get housing. At age 55, i finally have Health Insurance for the very first time in my entire life. Can you imagine . First time. I watched the police come and take all those peoples belongings and force them to move on even though they had nowhere else to go. And when i was homeless, i experienced that first hand. See, the war on the poor in this country seeks to blame poor people for their circumstances. It wanted me to believe that i was the problem, that my illness was my fault, a moral failing on my part. That if i was a better person, i wouldnt be in these circumstances. And the sad part is they almost had me believing that. I was almost ready to give up. But im lucky. Im still here despite the odds and i no longer buy into the narrative that poverty is my fault. This is why we demand equity and safety for all persons , regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. We demand housing for all, a just immigration system, an end to incarceration, deportation, and detention. This is why im in the campaign and we wont be silent anymore. My name is Laurel Ashton and im the organizing director with the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. And my name is reverend erica williams, and i am codirector of the moral fusion student organizing fellowship program. As you all have already seen, we are in a moral crisis, a crisis that began before this pandemic. But thankfully, people around this country are organizing. Speakers that you have heard are organizing in their communities tens oft now, there are thousands of you tuning in around the world. And we need you, we need you, to help build the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for a moral revival. We are bringing people together from all across this world from different races, gender, and sexualities to build this powerful movement and we need you to take the next step. So were asking you to go to june2020. Org or text moral 90975 to join this movement as we build this powerful movement of a nonviolent army of justice, love, and peace. Coming up, youre going to hear from people impacted by poverty wages, from kentucky to missouri to d. C. Youre going to hear from essential workers who are leaders in their local unions. Now, youll hear an interview on the cost of inequality. Youve been writing about this for years. The folks doing todays event have been talking about it for years and working at it for years. But we are in a moment between the coronavirus pandemic and the they are heightened and there understanding of how inequality manifests in the lives of poor people, disadvantaged people. Do you think we are in a good moment to take this opportunity and affect meaningful change . Es, i do. Were a rich country with poor people. It makes absolutely no sense. And the pandemic has laid this out so clearly. Its not an equal opportunity virus. And weve made this decision. The things we care about a lot, our children, our elderly, we say we dont want to spend any money on them. We dont want to pay the people who care for our elderly and our sick and our children. We dont want to pay them a decent wage. To me, i find that completely beyond reason. And we dont want to go back to the economy that we had in january and february, 2020. We want to go to a new kind of economy, one in which its a knowledge economy, a more equal economy, and a greener economy. Hi, im reverend rodney williams. The bottom 80 of our country has not realized a rise in their income in the last 50 years. And although people are calling lowwage workers essential, they are treated as if they are expendable. Did you know that 60 Million People in our country earn less than a living wage . Theyre working one, two, or three jobs and still cannot pay cant pay their bills. Most lowwage workers are women and women of color. And on top of that, 40 million working people have lost their jobs in just the past two months during this pandemic. This is a movement of famine. And it is a movement of equality. But ive seen the power of this movement change the consciousness of america. Its time to hear from these workers. In 1969, we, as nurses aides, we had to help cut down, we did everything on emergency cards. So we were tired. Sick and tired of being overworked and underpaid. All we want was a little bit of money for the hard work that we done. We didnt get that. Instead, we got jail. We got put in jail. We got kicked. We got beat. I got kicked out of my house. I didnt have any place to go. But we cannot stop here. We have to fight on for what is right. We are working for under wage back in 1969. Were doing the same in 2019. What are we going to do about it . Were going to stand still and let it happen to us all over again . Put in jail . For what . Because we feel like we deserve more money for the hard work we done. Lets pass the torch. Lets not leave it where its at. We started in 1969, we can finish in 2019. Im with you all the way. Lets fight with justice. My name is terrence and im a 37yearold secondgeneration fast food worker. Im a leader in the fight for 15 movement in kansas city. And im also a father of three girls. I currently work at mcdonalds and despite my many years of experience, i only make nine dollars an hour. For my fiance is a Home Healthcare worker and a walmart worker. She works doubly hard. And despite her 13 years as a Home Healthcare worker, she only makes 10 an hour taking care of some of the most vulnerable citizens in this nation. Neither her nor i, neither one of us have benefits, pension, paid time off. It means that me, i havent been to see a doctor or dentist in 18 years. It means that my daughters, my three little girls, have memory of getting ready for school in the back of our purple minivan in subfreezing temperatures right here in kansas city while me and her get ready for work in the front seat because we are homeless. Yall, when mo and i got sick earlier this year and she was in and out of the hospital, our employers didnt care if we became homeless again. They didnt care because we dont have paid time off, sick pay, insurance. They didnt care if she lived or died. And thats the truth. Thats what poverty wages and no unions look like in the worlds richest nation. Ive been a union member since 1968. I have black lung. I worked 41 years in the coal mines. We have an old saying, its rough at the face. And where i live in south Eastern Kentucky its rough at the face. That area hasnt gotten better. Its worse today than its ever been. It took me seven years going to see doctor after doctor after doctor to get a settlement on my black lung. I live in durham and work at freddys, where i work and train other employees. Freddys a multimillion Dollar Company and i earn 8 an hour. That is a poverty wage. The largest employers like mcdonalds and walmart are paying 7. 25 an hour. Our labor creates billions of dollars in profits. North carolina has the lowest rates of Union Membership in the country. We learned that union rates are actually tied to the legacy of slavery. Racism is used as a tool to divide workers and pass antiunion laws that are still in place today. [cheering] and these policies have a real impact on our lives. So, why am i so focused on unions here in the south . Because poverty and racism are systemic problems that need systemic solutions. We are that solution. [applause] ive been fighting to raise wages in the restaurant sector for the last 20 years. These are the poorest workers in america suffering and that is why im join with the Poor Peoples Campaign National Call for moral revival. Today, 75 of workers are women, women of color, and single survive struggling to with the highest Economic Security and highest Sexual Harassment in the industry. That was prior to the pandemic. 10 million of these have lost their job and 60 said they cannot access Unemployment Insurance because that minimum wage is too low to meet state thresholds to qualify for benefiel benefits. They are being penalized for being too poor. Im a bartender in downtown d. C. In washington, d. C. , the subminimum wage is 4. 45 an hour. I have to rely on tips to make up the base minimum wage in the district of columbia, which is 14 an hour. Nobody should have to live like live tip to mouth. We could end this injustice if we had something called one fair wage. One fair wage, you allow the people to end economic anxiety. They do not have to live in economically let. And they have the ability to save and weather the storms that is the crisis of covid19. I invite all of you to fight for one fair wage. We demand a National Living wage. We demand that everyone have a living wage, no matter the state where you live. Guaranteed income, full employment, and equal pay for equal work. And that is why im part of the Poor Peoples Campaign. That is why were all nationalities and we wont be silent anymore. And now im going to go to a certified nursing assistant. Thank you for this platform. We are not protected and these patients are coughing and their are all types of symptoms. As i speak to you right now, im smuggling ppe to my coworkers. This is mass murder weve become the sacrificial lambs. Ralph schoen im sure youve seen the news in the meatpacking industry. They were forcing people to go to work. How inhumane and violent is that . Sioux falls, south dakota Processing Plant had nearly 900 cases, more than half of the states 1700 cases. Here in alabama, the people who are dying the most from this coronavirus im sure the vast majority are poor. Youll forgive me that jobs on the ground. U. S. Weekly jobless claims 6. 6 million versus 3. 1 million expected. We are clearly in a recession with major impacts on working men and women in this country. And kansas is where im at. A lot of people have lost their jobs and those jobs are connected to our health care. It has exposed what we already knew, that some lives are deemed more important than others. Some lives are disposable. So i think that i continued to stay connected to the Poor Peoples Campaign because its a matter of life and death. Those who are rich and greedy dont want to talk about whos living in poverty, but thats because they dont want us to identify with each other. Dozens of Flight Attendants are in the less than 15 an hour. Like so many essential workers, many Flight Attendants live at or below the poverty line. And were not getting any pandemic pay either. Were keeping essential travel moving in the federal government has refused to issue guidelines. They put Flight Attendants and passengers in unnecessary danger. Id like to introduce one of our union members, who will offer her firsthand experience. Im a regional Flight Attendant. Many people do not know regional Flight Attendant are paid 45 less than main line Flight Attendants. Although one job should be enough, we are forced to find additional jobs to pay our bills and make ends meet. Thats why were joining the Poor Peoples Campaign. We demand fair treatment for all workers. Did you know that 90 of hospitality workers have been laid off because of covid19 . Im the general Vice President of the union unite which represents workers in hospitality and Service Industry for nearly a quarter of black americans work. Right now, the Unemployment Rate for black people in the u. S. Is almost twice as high as for white people. Less than 50 of black adults now have a job. Black workers need a union because otherwise were the last to be hired, but the first to be fired. I believe building my union is a Racial Justice project. All black people, all working people to better when in unions. Theres a system of interlocking systems of racism that runs so deep in america. Covid19 has deepened these injustices, but also heightened world awareness more than ever. Just being aware is not enough. Just saying you want to do something is simply not enough. It requires a collective effort to actually create a change. Now id like to introduce a unite member, duane, who works in concessions in miami at a proper could tell us the story of how unite is fighting. So here in florida, theres been about 2. 1 Million People who have applied for unemployment. Less than 50 have received that. This is unacceptable. This is not something we as citizens shoulds should accept. Should accept from our government. We did caravans demanding the government to an executive order tax requires the state unemployment as fast as possible. Its over eight weeks for some people. Some people its close to 10 or 11 weeks for some. Ive had to wait almost 11 weeks 7 weeks tost 6, getting a response. T was bad something needed to be done. And the governor and the representatives from the state are just sitting there doing nothing while the people are suffering. Im the president of 1199 representing 450,000 health care workers. Did you know that 70 of the Nursing Homes fall below the recommended standard of care of four hours per resident, per day . Its difficult to give the quality care that residents deserve at such low staffing levels. When covid19 hit and families were unable to visit their relatives, nursing home workers became the family for the residents. Here is reeva, 1199er, to tell her story. Im a nurse in baltimore, maryland. Ive seen of. Covid19 presented longterm workers with challenges we were never prepared for. Community longterm care workers dropped the ball. We were left without proper ppe, equipment or supplies. This is not acceptable for people who are responsible for the care of our elderly and most honorable. If we had been given the same access to ppe as the hospitals, it is are stressful to take carryover patients and my own family. I was afraid of bringing the virus home to them and did everything i could not to. But for many of our patients, Nursing Homes are their families. Literally some residents we were the only communication to the outside world. We cannot let this happen again. We must make sure all workers are protected. Our residents should never fear their own safety because our government is not protecting health care workers. It is wonderful to be called a hero but it is more important to have what we need to have to care for ourselves and our patients. He came to memphis to express solidarity with sanitation workers. 1,300 african men had gone on strike to demand dig knit and respect. The slogan was proud, simple and kobe bryant. I am a man. To this day and everything members do to serve and strengthen our communities especially amid this devastating pandemic. We are inspired by dr. Kings courage and sacrifice and his commitment to eradicating poverty for people of all races. Now i want you to meet john henry. One of the every day heroes who works as a disease intervention specialist for the city of columbus, ohio. Thank you, president saunders. In my role has a pickup health professional. Every kay i see huge disparities in access to Quality Health care. I see it in my regular job where i help high risk populations. I have seen it during the last few months of the coronavirus pandemic when i have been reassigned to work as a contact tracer. Covid19 has presented health and financial challenges for families across the country. It is disheartening, while gametime i see hope that we could change these things, that we could reinvest in pickup health, that we could give it the funding and prioritize it in the way it should be. We need to do more to break down the barriers of trust and levels of funding that would level the playing field, giving us a pair Health Care System that serves everyone. O systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation. The warbased economy, and the lse moral narrative of religious nationalism. That is why this morning we launched the poor peoples moral justice jubilee policy platform as an update to our moral agenda and moral budget. We need your help in getting this platform to our elected officials. O we are asking you to go to june2020. Org or text moral to 90975 and make sure we get this urgent policy platform to our elected officials. Please help us today. This is not a time to tinker around the edges with small reforms. We need both demands and a complete restructuring of society to address these interlocking injustices. Go now to june2020. Org or text now moral to 90975 to send these demands now to congress. You know, i am from louisiana. It is my home state, and those numbers are absolutely staggering. When i saw this beginning to happen, this narrative about how we were going to go ahead and reopen the country, there was a clear racial continuing to it. There was a sense as news outlets like yours have begun to cover the racial disparitieses that conservative politicians around the country made a big shift in the way they were talking about and saying we can reopen the company. Underlying that is that these lives dont have value. Hen i use the term necro employment, it refers to the politics of death. W states, power entity use policy to determine whose lives are worth protecting, whose lives are valuable and whose lives are expendable. We dont typically like to think about our government as acting in that kind of way, but we are facing a pandemic in which we have lost almost 65,000 people in a matter of eight weeks or so. So we are absolutely at this point talking about the politics of death and we need the kind of terminology that helps us think about how is the government determining how it is inacting policy. And seth, when you think about it, you go all the way back. The life of an enslaved person was only as value as they could reproduce people that could be owned by the person calling thelves the owner. The imgrant workers in the 20s and guilded age, it is not like people thought their lives had any value other than the times they can crank the wheel. People had to strike, and they had violent strikes to get that. The idea about american work, the people at the lowest end of the work pool has always been a sense of do you value this human, or are they just a means to an end . It feels like we are back there again. I almost feel like we are reliving the calvin coolage era. Your thoughts . I think that is precisely right. I think it is a continuation of a long history in the United States of devaluing working people, particularly brown and black working people. This order that President Trump t in place under the defense production act that forces latino workers and white workers back into beef, chicken and pork plants so they can be responsible for getting the food supply back in shape. Those are some of the most dangerous work places in our country. What we are seeing is an health the even care and Health Insurance in orcountry. This administration in a crisis easily could have responded to that with extending Health Insurance, reopening the obama care exchange, making Health Insurance more widely available. Picking up the call to pay for all covid treatments, particularly a front line worker who is exposed. None of those things have been done. You cant say you care about workers if everything you do, every policy, taking osha off the beat, not giving ppe, not providing Health Insurance results in those workers having a much increase likelihood of death. The United States spends more for health care than any other advanced nation in the world, and yet 87 Million People here have inadequate or no Health Insurance. Did you know that 72 Million People cannot afford their medical bills and had to take out loans or suffer our financial hardships because they got sick . The Prescription Drug industry is the most profitable industry in the United States. They shouldnt be making more profits off of the covid pandemic. Now listen to the stories from the people who are actually on the front lines of this crisis. Four weeks ago i was ok. I am young, have no kids, and i am healthy. So is my partner. We dont have a lot, but we have enough, or so we thought. Until this pandemic hit. All of a sudden the Chocolate Factory i work the for closed. So i am out of work. Now more than ever i feel the fragility of just being ok. My partner and i are part of the millions that are just one emergency away from losing it all. Meanwhile, our government uses this crisis to fatten the pockets of those who cant fit anymore bills in their already overstuffed pockets. I am a volunteer organizer with the Poor Peoples Campaign in wisconsin because i know there is enough, enough food, enough clean and safe water and definitely enough money for every human being. Not just in this country, but on our planet to live with dignity. Join with me in fighting to create the society we all deserve to live in. I reside in dallas, county. I am continuing to wear a mask to this day. It is just fright ebbing that in ave 236 more cases Dallas County since last night, nd i have to report to work. Then i have to return home to my family. The when i do return home, i call to let my daughter know that i am outside so that everyone else can go into their room, and i can go into the kitchell and wash my hands and my face and take my clothes straight to the laundry room. This is what my life has been ike since returning to work. Mothers day was this past weekend, and my daughter in a letter to me wrote i am so afraid when you leave to work. It will breaks my heart because i dont know what is going to happen when you come back. Hi. I live in flint, michigan. I am age 44 with two children. My life before the covid19 has been very stressful. It has been over six years, and we are still fighting for clean water here in flint, michigan. He lead exposure impacted my family extensively. I lost two sets of twin due to drinking contaminated water. Not only am i fighting for clean water, but fighting for my sons education. My son is struggle negligence school. Due to the lead exposure, he has had a lot of problems in school. He is a special Education Student and the schools are getting the special education money but not providing the special education care these children need. Due to the covid19 there have been a lot of deaths i know of that have died from the virus. All i can do is pray and keep moving on for my family. I have no personal transportation so i rely on friends to take me to the store for grocery and for massive amounts of bottled water that are needed for me. Here in flint we need bottled water two everything, washing our vegetables, everything. We cannot drink our tap water. But now that i am going out to the stores, the shelves are often empty of the supplies that we desperately need here in flint. This is why we demand full medicade expansion, medicare protection and universal health care for all. We demand free treatment for covid19. Throughout this pandemic, the Health Care Industry is expected to make huge profits. That march for profit, that drive for profit is not going to change unless we actually demand that change. Collectively and together, because we are all going to need this care. I think that is the thing that us. S that unites if i am going to get the proper service, they do treat me different, if they know that my insurance is is high quality. This is why we are organizing to change the narrative. E wont be silent anymore. Hi, i am al gore, chairman of the climate reality project, and i am proud to be a part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Right now this call for a revival could not be more timely or more important. We are way over due in america for a solid reckoning. It brings everyone closer to understanding the intersection of the Critical Issues we are facing in our time. I am very proud to be working alongside reverend William Barber ii, reverend liz harris and the Poor Peoples Campaign and alongside all those who are fight to go expose and address these evils and intolerable injustices. We already know that poverty and systemic racism are completely linked with the Climate Crisis, and the Climate Crisis is already causing massive human suffering around the world and in our country, and will cause even more impacts unless we act with urgency. En our planet heats up, it affects the most vulnerable, and that is particularly true for low income families. Communities of color, the elderly, infants and children. Also the mentally ill and the homeless and those with preexisting conditions. The Climate Crisis, if it is not addressed, threatens to push another 100 Million People worldwide into poverty by 2030. That is on top of the present poverty crisis in this country, where today nearly 140 million americans are poor or low income. These impacts have been brought into much clearer focus recently. As evidence shows that exposure to more air pollution significantly increases the infection rate and mortality rate from covid19. For these reasons and so many more, this moral call is so crilt cal to raise National Attention and focus it on those affect the by ecological devastation, to lift up their voice and able leaders from those communities to lead the way toward real solutions. At this critical moment in our countrys history, we can, and we must forward together, and we are not moving one step back. Hi. I am jane fonda. Climate crisis cause massive human suffering. That is why i am part of the poor peoples cam fayne, a National Call for moral revival. Did you know that a third of the people in this country cannot afford water . The accidents and the toxins from the fossil fuel community particularry harm communities of color. Investments in clearwater could create jobs and save trillions of dollars from ecological devastation. And strengthen and protect the health of all people. It is time to hear from the front lines of this crisis. My name is Sarah Anne Young bear brown. Y name means woman standing on the edge of a river, the fish clan. Today the people are the only remaining tribe living in iowa state. This land is beautiful, and the land holds the spirits and memories of our people, our villages ceremonies and prayers. Our people were caretakers and believed that this land would take care of us, and in our turn we would take care of the land. Without that thought, lets come together and help each other. I am here today to talk about environment alracism. I live in a place called dallas, texas. And in dallas we have three superfund sites. That means when an area has been declared by the United States government as toxic. We are being killed by air, with the concrete plant, we are being kill the by the water with a place called, where a company has been there for 90 years. In the 90 years they have been there, they have put, cyanide, mercury, lead, sulfur and other things in our water and ground. Our children are dying. Our children are developing skin cancer. Our women are developing breast cancer. We are being attack the by the corporate klu klux klan. White supremacy used to be in the sheets. Now it is wrapped up in a corporate business suit. My name is nick smith. I am from southwestern of nia, the coal fields appalachia. Am the son of a coal miners daughter. That is two generations of not having access of good union jobs. As the coal jobs have disappeared, nothing has come in its play and it has created chronic poverty. If you grow up poor, your upward mobility to become not poor is stunted. Grew up around natural gas and hydraulic fracturing. The water that ran into our house and we bathed in, we couldnt drink. It seems like every year a relative of mine is dying from cancer because of this ecological devastation. I cant get off work to go to the funerals. It is either go into debt or go into the military, which many people are not fit to do. When we try to fight, our ability is taken from us because of antiunion legislation such as right to work. My papa was a union coal miner. He was there in 1989 when the company decided to cut Health Care Benefits for retired miners. Many of the poor people are divided by race. We were intentionally segregated, and it hurts poor whites as well as poor black and brown for example. As long as we are divided, they can conacher. Everybody is aware that that school where remember grandchild is going to is being poisoned 400 to 700 times what e. P. A. Has determined to be a safe level of that poison emitted throughout the parish. If they close that school in an emergency plan to protect the children, that school sits trite in the middle sits right in the middle of a black community, 100 . Not only is that school being exposed at that egregious level. That entire community, one of which i live in, which my children were raised in. My wife and daughter and my immediate family are suffering right now. My youngest daughter has some horrible kind of disease we had never heard of. The doctor said the chances of her getting that was one in five million. And there are three other young ladies in the same community with the same disease. This is why we demand 100 clean energy and transition to a clean economy. Fully funded water and sanitation infrastructure. A ban on mining, drilling and burning, dirty energy. We demand the protection of native land from pollution. We are coming together to change the narrative. Somebody is hurting our brothers and sisters, and we wont be silent anymore. My name is reverend mark thompson. I am going to spend a few brief moments here with a renowned economist, since we are talking out poverty, with a renowned economist, dr. Julian malvo. Welcome to you, and dr. Barber has a couple of questions he wants me to ask you. Before covid19 hit, donald trump said it was a great economy. What is your analysis . Is it great . What is the state of the economy . Can it recover . First of all, great for who . You have these maga hats running around talking about make America Great again. For who . I see these media things talking about america in crisis. When . Black america has always been in crisis in connection to this pandemic. Poor america, not just black america, poor america, has always been in crisis. The way that capitalism works is that you have to exploit somebody so somebody else can make money. So when we look at it, if black folks are at the bottom, there are other people who are being exploited. N r white people, appalachia people, latino, people who are there when the buildings are closed doing the maintenance work. This is a function of a predatory capitalist society that says i will take from you. So the question is what do we do about this . The answer is the 140 Million People who have been exploited need to rise up, plain and simple. They need to rise up. And when we look at the series of questions that we are raising, raising questions about the way our economy works. Dr. King once said there are 40 million poor people in our society. You have to ask what kind of society creates 40 million poor people. Then you have to ask who owns the oil or iron other. If the world is 2 3 water, why are we playing a water bill . The bottom line on that is when dr. King was raising questions of economic structure, a predatory capitalist structure that exploited people. We cannot accept that. Forward together, not one step back. These are people who have experienced generations of iolence in the first can chapter of this nations history. Tu know u. S. History begins with the genocide of native American People . That is 60 of native mmunities are considered poor, that native American Health institutions have gone unsupported for decades. Lands are being destroyed by extraction. It is time to hear from these communities. What the Indigenous People in the surrounding communities, are being affected. We talk about health care and worrying about the environment. When they are allowing open pit mines and letting it league into the water, the high rate of cancer and the high billles of health is going to continue to raise because of corporations and greed, and politicians that dont want to listen. I am lois. Raised ative born woman tribe in south dakota. I am a mother and grandmother. I have experienced the profound ways that poverty has affected our people in this community and in this country. I have experienced how systemic racism often makes these struggles worse for people of color and native people like me. Growing up, my family, the poorest in this wealthy country. The poverty and low income rate among native American People is very likely higher than 65 . Me and my family are part of it. I left the reservation as a teenager, but i see how generational poverty and systemic racism affects people in kansas city, too. Currently my income is only 470 a month. My partner works for the same Property Management company as me and has had for 15 years. E makes 1050 an hour. He makes 10. 50 an hour. Our rent is 600 a month, all utilities paid. That means close to 50 of our income goes to housing. A majority of my neighborhood in kansas citys northeast neighborhood are poor immigrants, people of color and poor whites. Almost 60 of us are ants, and we struggle to pay our rent as it is. In many ways the struggle of native people is mirrored in the struggle of all oppressed people against the continuing injustice of inequality, systemic racism and poverty. I am honored to be a part the Poor Peoples Campaign. By the ntry was birthed attempt of genocide against us. It didnt work. We are at a point in this country where this reckoning this place must happen. Our destiny is inter2009ed with ur black relatives is intertwined with people of color. Plus people who are newly arrived to this country. Our future will be something we create together. We demand that our rights as Indigenous People be protected and respected, including our land and resources, and the freedom to exercise our culture and religion. We demand sovereignty for all first nation, constitutional guarantees, human rights and treaty protection. The first chapter of this country must be told so that we can build a True Foundation that will support us all. This is why we are changing the narrative. E wont be silent anymore. Did you know that there are 45 Million Immigrants in the United States . There. On of them are did you know they pay more in taxes than the wealthiest 1 , that they are blocked from services. Did you know that many immigrants are considered essential workers, but yet they are harassed and separated from their families . It is time to hear from them. Heir voices, their pain, their hopes. Stivens not passed, temporary protective status was rescinded. Ever since the president enact the the zero tolerance policy in order to separate children from their parents at the border, life hand continued to become more difficult for immigrant families. Separation of families doesnt just occur at the border. T occurs here in our own state. Ur immigrant families continue cases of discrimination, racial profiling and abuse by ice and being dehumanized. We are not criminals. We are not animals. We are human beings that come to work. We need to progress. We need to study. Up we want our kids to grow in a good society. All human beings. And when it is right. Respect, and they should never take away our dignity. This is why we demand an immigration stham protects immigrants rights to build communities and strengthen democracy. An end to detention, did he important takes and the stop of building a wall along the u. S. mexico borderer. I have lived in the u. S. For most of my life as an undocumented immigrant. I have seen count lis immigrants forced to live in poverty because the system is working as intended to create fear and control over our people. Immigrants and all working class people must unite to create a system that values humanity over profits. This is the reason why we are joining the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival, tone sure our communities can thrive, grow and have the future that every Single Person in this country deserves. And in communities across the this country. The Poor Peoples Campaign is mobilizing, registering and educating people who a movement that votes. There are so many people who have died and given their lives and paid for the right to vote. Today we are standing strong against the extreme forces of racist Voter Suppression that keeps us from the polls. The Poor Peoples Campaign is strictly not partisan, but we are deeply political. This is not about left versus right. This is about right versus wrong. This means we do not endorse candidates, and we will never bite our tongue if an elected official or any Political Party runs from the issues of systemic racism. Poverty, ecological devastation, the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism and mill tarism and the what were economy. We need to vote this year like our lives depend on it, and they do. I can hear them sake we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. We must show um. We are asking you to go to june2020. Org to make sure you are registered to vote and to make sure you status is up to date. We must stand. We must vote. And we must make our voices heard at the polls. Coming up next, you will hear voices from activists and artists who are standing with us such as Erica Alexander and david. They will be standing beside homeless organizers and folks fighting for housing rights across the country. I cannot forget my brothers sisters with the define nine. They listen standing with us today. So stay tuned. Hi, my name is Erica Alexander and i am happy to be in support of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. You may know me from the roles i have played, but i was born in the mountains of arizona. Both of my parents were orphans. My father was an item rant preacher and my mother was a teacher. The first 10 years of my life, e lived in a who tell called star light off route 66. Voter suppression and Racial Injustice destroys the dream of ordinary americans who are extraordinary in their possibility little. Did you know there are 52 million low income and poor voters in this country . And over the past decade we have seen 27 states pass Voter Suppression measures. These laws target blacks, browns and native communities. The laws that are passed when people are brought into office for Voter Suppression. They wouldnt be fighting us so hard if they didnt know the power of our vote. In this pandemic we are witnessing a greater attack on our democracy. It is now hear from the people on the front lines. I am braxton, and i am a senior at North Carolina a and t state university. I dont see a difference tween gerrymandering and compromise. I dont see the difference between racist photo i. D. Laws and a poll tax. Ever since black people and women have earned the right to vote, we have seen the suppression of democracy sweep across this nation. And unfortunately penetrate the state of North Carolina. In fact, Voter Registration here in the United States riginated as a method of disenfranchisesment as a wait to separate poor people, people of color and women. Fast forward to 2018 where North Carolina serves as a National Poster child for racial and partisan gerrymandering. My own campus has become a prominent victim of voter disenfranchises idea. It now enrolled over 12,000 students was gid two two different Congressional District here in gronals borrow. They did this intentionally because they know the power of our vote the i am from dodge city, kansas, known in history as the cowboy capital as well as the wickedest little city in the west. The latter still holds true today. A Latino Community people run by people as diverse as a 1950s add, which is is not at all. Unfortunately in dodge city and across the country it has. A city with nearly 30,000 people and 14,000 registered voters. They have one polling place ilokaed in one of the few affluent and white areas of team. It is the most burdened poll location in kansas. This is what happens when democracy is not valued and left to those who simply dont care because it doesnt affect them. My name is maria, a native trinidad and tobago. I have been living and working in massachusetts for over 30 years in the medical field as a c. N. A. , a p. C. A. , a companion. There are two things in place to ensure that i dont succeed. You cant achieve your goals or dreams when you are working for a wage that does not even allow ou to meet your basic needs. I thought my issue was just that, mine. I found out i was not alone. Millions of people have the same problem that i was experiencing. E are all hostages of poverty, primarily because we lack the knowledge of truth. We are the solution to every problem that we face. In your brokenness, to unify, mobilize, come together. Because then we are stronger han the forces against us. Brorningse busted and disgusted, in one broken, busted and disgusted in one voice, speaking truth to power. I found my voice when i joined a cause bigger than myself. That cause is you. This is why we demand a restoration and expansion of the Voting Rights act. An end to racist gerrymandering. Same day registration, early voting and an election day holiday. We also demand that people who are formerly incarcerated have the right to vote. They have paid their debt to society, and they are human beings. We demand that they have the right to vote. It is time for us to come together and build a movement to assure that democracy will survive. That is why i am part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Hi, everyone. I am david. To vote is to be hugged. To be hugged is to bring about change. In this moment, use your power. Use your vote. Bring about that change. That is why i am part of the important peoples campaign, a National Call for moral revival. The National Council representing nine africanamerican and greek letter fraternities and sore rortse are referred to as the define nine. They are proud to be a part of this gathering, the poor Peoples Assembly and march on washington. We raise our letters high as we join with the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival to build a movement to force this nation to address the interblocking crisis of systemic racism, ystemic effort, ecological devastation, the warbased pfert and the distorted narrative of religious nationalism. I join these great leaders of e council hello. I am the 34th National President of the National Council incorporated. I am general president of Alpha Phi Alpha up corpsed and chairman of the council. Together we rise. I am glenda, international esident of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated. Together we rise. I am rueben shelton. Together we rise. I am dr. David marion, the leader of the omega fraternity. I am bever smith, National President and c. E. O. Of dealt ake cigna Theta Sorority incorporated. Together we rise. Greetings. I am Valerie Hollingsworth baker and i am the president of the sorority. And together we rise. I am debra catchings smith, gammonsa of sigma rose sorority incorporated. Together we rise. Hello, this is andre, 22nd International Grand player us, and together we rise. Hi. Michael crystal, interNational President. And we are proud to support the Poor Peoples Campaign virtual march on june 20th because together we rise. Did you know that eight million to 11 million mahimni are homeless and on the streets right now . Is. 5 million of them are school age titans. In this country we have more Housing Units than people who need them. We throw away more food than families could possibly eat. We have the best technology in the world but the worst provision. This is a system that must change. It is now time to hear from the front lines of this crisis. I am an artist. I am a play wright, an actress and an educator. I started out doing this work, doing housing organizing as an illy, an ally or so i thought to Public Housing for Public Department litigation and forced relocation of their homes. When i lost my housing, health care and income all at the same time, i was terrified, panicked, and i went to the people that i thought i was an ally too because they were guiding me. I am the daughter of indian hindu immigrants to this country, and this movement is for my father who struggled with steady work, who blamed himself for not having enough for his family, who was in and out of a psychiatric ward of a hospital and who killed himself when i was 10. This movement is for my mother, who raised me and my brother without anybody around, without anybody. And this movement is for me. And this movement is for you. Each of us. All of us family members, because no one gets left behind. I am a worker for h. S. S. , i am a care provider. I am sagele mom. I barely got into housing. And i have been homeless. Not necessarily sleeping on the streets, but with my child, i had to live with somebody. Thanks to low Income Housing i do now, and my life is getting a lot better. That is nothing i wanted to deal with. I had to go down there to g street and look for her when i wanted her to be a grandmother tore my kids. Those places are scary sometimes they are hiding in the dark because they are not allowed to be there, and they are going to get in trouble. They are heighting from the police, and they are hiding from being who harassed. They cant be anywhere else. Give them somewhere. I am a 38yearold momenter of five. Arkansas is the only state in the u. S. Where landlords are not required to make home repair. So they often refuse. I have woke enup in the morning to use the restroom, and when i flush the toilet, feces came out of it straight into the tub. When this happens, i have to hurry up and clean it because this is the same tub that my kids need to use to get ready for school in every morning. You think this could only happen once, but this was my experience in not one, not two, but three different homes i rented. They were all by three different landlords. These dangerous, unemanesthetic practices are part of a system that has been fed set up by the privileged and wealthy to the detriment of me and all of the working class poor people. But what they did not count on was us. Us gal strahanizing our collective. Us drawing strength on those who came before us, us unifying , Standing Shoulder to shoulder empowering each other, us loving each other, and us being that new force who will not stop until we have safe housing for all people and for future generations to come. I am a member of the homeless union. We believe that when people name their own priorities because they know their own needs and know what is needs to happen, that real change will be produced. If poor people are not allowed to speak these priorities for themselves, no one else women. I understand some things about poverty because i am a poor person, having four children living off disability due to chronic medical conditions. I have been forced out after speaking out about substandard Living Conditions in groans borrow. This is not just about my story. This is about how there are too many people in situations like mine. When there are this many people getting eli victimmed and separated from their families, and getting criminalized and becoming homeless, then we know it is not just about one of us. 23 families fails eviction every day in greensboro, and more than half of these people wind up homeless because of it. And the vast majority of these folks are people who have already been beaten up by the system, black folks, brown for example, disabled folks, elderly folks and children. But the people who maintain the system dont want to talk about it. They want to blame us and blame this mess on us like it is our individual choices that got us into this. We have to correct that. We have to remind people that mass homelessness is not an individual moral issues. Mass homelessness is a societys collective moral failure. This is why we demand housing for all. We demand an expanse of public and Affordable Housing. We demand relief from household and mortgage debt and rent payments during this crisis. We demand expanding snap and other programs to meet nutritional needs. This is why we are changing the narrative. E wont be silent anymore. Public education is under attack. Did you know that half of kindergarten through 12th grade students are in segregate schools . Did you know that 1. 5 Million Students were homeless in 2018 . Were you aware that student ebt is now over 1. 5 trillion, affecting 44 million households . Now you will hear from people who have been impacted by this crisis. Hi. I am president of the American Federation of teachers. On behalf of our 1. 7 million members, we are so blessed to be here partnering with Poor Peoples Campaign mass assembly, and all of you as we raise our voices and take action together for a better future. Meanwhile, black and brown students in schools were denied dollars alf trillion over the last several decades are now being told by republicans in the senate that they should return to schools that are less funded it is a moral attack on our nations children and the undermining of Public Higher Education must end. Let me introduce myself. Collero. Mendez, i am deaf. I myself am the first in my family to go to college, and i i admit i have struggle have been struggling financially. My fathers ncaaed recent hi, but then that resulted in them cutting my financial aid. So his increase in income isnt. Ough to support my Schooling College is so expensive. Am overwhelmed there are actually 120 students that have had to leave school due to financial issues. They cant afford food, their. Rm, their transportation that is 10 of our undergrad student body here. We are trying to follow our dreams, but they seems impossible without support. As a young person, i think a lot of times our voices are put down. A lot of people around here dont really realize the issues that are going on. I think that it is time that we as a people educate the people that dont know what is going on in their communities. It is time that we show our elected officials, our state legislators what is going on and that us young people know what they are doing, that us young people and us as the people are going to rise above, and that well not lay slept no more. I bring you greetings as a native here mississippi. There are very limited resourced here as i grew up. There were limited jobs and resources such as Mental Health facilities, Recreation Centers and limbed resources when it came to schools. When the state gets ready to cut budgets and funds, the first budget goals to is the education budgets because a lot of their children are not in the schools. Most of them are in those private schools. We see a lot of Charter Schools that are opening up here in mississippi, and we need to know that a lot of state funds coming from the education budget is going over into those Charter Schools. That is why we demand equity in education. An end to the resegregation of schools. Relief from crushing student detriment free tuition of public institutions. And equitable funding for hbcus and native institutions. This is why we are changing the narrative. We wont be silent anymore. Last year i steffed a deprall dr. Barber to come and join this a call from dr. Barber to come and join this movement. A year before he was gunned down on a memphis balcony, i he medical dr. King and fanny lou rching on the streets of indianola, mississippi. We are living in similar times when a new movement is being birlted and born, but we need you to help us grow and build that movement. So i invite you now to join us at june2020. Org or text moral o 90975. June2020. Org or text moral to 90975. We know that when movements start to push this nation forward, that there is always a backlash from those who dont want to see everybody enjoying the rights and liberties promised to us by our constitution and our holiest of scriptures. But if we mobilize, organize, register and educate like never before, we will be there to meet the backlash with a movement that is too strong and too broad to be brown. The Poor Peoples Campaign needs your support. We need you to show up with your Bodden Illston and your voice your bodies and your voice. We need you to get the poor peoples moral justice jubilee platform into the hands of congress. We need to you vote, and we need your financial support. To donate we are asking you to please text moral to 90975 or go to june2020. Org. We need your support in all of these ways, and we need you to donate. Hi. I am donte sharp. I was wrongfully convict the of murder in 1994. I did 25, almost 26 years. I noticed a lot of things. I noticed mass incarceration. The people that make up the mass incarceration are poor people. If you are poor you are going to jail. That is how it is. If you have no money, you are going to jail. You dont have the funds to hire a lauras and the system is set up really to apress the people and keep them down. Encourage people to vote, encourage young kids to get out of the street, do what you can do, what is available to you were right in front of you. Hi, my name is caitlin. Poor communities are being locked up and walked out. Did you know we spend one of its 179 billion annually on incarceration . Question you know that the United States has 4 of the worlds population and 25 of the world incarcerated population . We have to fight for power over the corporations that hurt us, power over the Justice System that exploits us, and power over some of the other systems that puts us in harms way. My son is Anthony Swain and my husband is Anthony Swain sr. We have been on a roller coaster since anthony has been incarcerated, which started in february of 2016. Anthony is a paraplegic, 40yearold black man who was shot in the back at age 20. Hes now 43. He has spent the last four years with his health in a declining state, and we have been attempting, especially since the covid, to give him relief. He has been taken to the hospital and diagnosed as positive for covid19. We came up at like, 3 00 in the morning, to take him to court. He doesnt come back from court until 8 00 or 9 00 at night. Being gone all day, he is placed in a cell with his hands and legs shackled together. He already cant move from the waist down. And yet, he cant even shift his weight nor take care of his own personal hygiene because of the way they treat him in jail. So, were very concerned about him, about anyone that has any other type of disability, about those young men and women who have families that they can go home to, help to take care of or be taken care of by their families, and for whatever reason, our system is not listening. My incarceration at the age of 17 wasnt due to a lack of guidance or morals from my family or loved ones. The people in low income communities are not criminals. But a crime has been perpetrated against them. And that crime is called apartheid. I never committed a crime because i have dependency to commit crime. I did it because i needed something or i was hungry. When i was nine years old, my mother was locked up, and for food stamp fraud, and that left me and my other five siblings alone in the house to fend for ourselves. Now, the state knew that she was a single mother. But they found that locking her up was justice. But i felt that i know that the crime against our family was way worse than what she did. [speaking foreign language] im from guatemala. [speaking foreign language] i want to tell you what all immigrants go through in Detention Centers. [speaking foreign language] the Detention Center where i was with the other immigrants, they didnt treat us well. [speaking foreign language] they gave us a frozen burrito to eat and they didnt allow us to take a shower. [speaking foreign language] we are not animals to be treated like that. This is why we demand an end to mass incarceration. We demand equality and safety for all. We demand education, housing, and living wage jobs. I need your help. It has to stop. And it has to stop now. This is why were changing the narrative. And we wont be silent anymore. The military budget is over 738 billion, and the majority of it is going to military contractors. Just one of those military contracts could pay to expand medicaid in 14 states. Did you know that . 54 of every discretionary dollar goes to the . 15 goes toonly antipoverty bills . Its time to change that. Lets hear from the frontlines lines of those crises. Im with veterans for peace. Im ahead draw mechanic in National Guard and its no secret that there is always enough money for a bigger military and more jails but never enough for education and the poor. When i joined the military, i had no idea that the United States military has over 1000 bases worldwide. Why do we keep such a strong presence throughout the world . The short answer is to provide lesser in capital, with continuous access to foreign resources and markets. Most of the military budget is used not to fight wars but you exercise soft power in support of american capital. Instead of a deployed military ensuring the wealth transfer continues, we have a deployed police force that protects the wealthy from the poor. When i joined the military, i had no idea that the best way to end american militarism aborad is to end it in our community. End the war on immigrant spiky funding ice in the border on evergreens by defunding ice in the border patrol. We will not rid of our problems by bombing them away, by shipping them away, by throwing them behind bars. According to the department of defense, for the fiscal year 2017, we spent 606 billion on the department of defense. 2019, we spent 685 billion. And for the year 2020, theyre proposing 718 billion. To put this in perspective, for 2020, the department of education is only getting 9. 9 of that amount. Im representing veterans against the war. You get promises with the militaryindustrial complex that we have to spend on defense for our own security. But after 16 years of war, millions of civilian deaths and refugees, is anybody more secure . Most of the National Budget is for war and most of that money is given to private corporations, not to a publicly owned and accountable military and not to the poor people who make up the majority of the 3 million veterans who served in these wars. [applause] these wars, they serve no moral purpose and no economic benefit. And military members are forced to carry out the spiritual debt of this nation. But the spirit will not die because veterans and poor people are a resurrected people. The pentagon budget is more than what the government spends on agriculture, education, and environment, diplomacy, housing, science, and veterans combined. This is why we demand that we stop the prioritization of military spending and military spending increases. We demand the reallocation of resources to Social Security. We demand the demilitarization of the border and local communities. That is why im part of the Poor Peoples Campaign. We wont be silent anymore. Police brutality is something that lived deep within our country for such a long time. The only thing different now is we cant ignore the call. When folks asked black people in america, are we upset, the answer is yes. There is literally no way that all apes can matter in a country all lives can matter in a country where black lives have never mattered. [chanting] living in america is a constant state of mourning. Until we address the original sins of this country, there will be mourning every day. Cooks go, go. [chanting] being out in the streets, it feels revolutionary. With the amplified police presence, its terrifying. We were teargas and pepper sprayed, and many were shot with rubber bullets. In the midst of all that, protesters Still Standing with our hands up saying, dont shoot. Exactly the type of situation that these systems are meant for. They are meant to break us up before we become unified. It adds a sense of urgency to the importance of organizing. The fact that we present it has to be an intersectional front because its a war affecting all of us. We have to recognize that we are so much stronger together than we are divided. These uprisings are going to continue to happen until we have built and fought for a government and a country that seeks people with human dignity, that provides for housing, health care, education, jobs, and an ability for people to live lives worthy of dignity in this country. Thats why im a part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for brawl revival, because this is the way we will do organization, the only way to build the world that we deserve, the world that we have earned, the world our descendents and children can be proud of. Did you know, because of the department of defense program, excess military background and military equipment like tanks, grenade launchers, and other weapons of war are being sent to lawenforcement agencies . Did you know 36,000 people died from gun violence every single year, including 2800 children . Did you that know border Immigration Enforcement spending has increased by 900 over the past 40 years, with 11 times as many deportations during that timeframe . My name is claudia de la cruz. And im an organizer and mother. And as someone who was born and raised in the porth Congressional District in the United States, the south bronx, and has witnessed firsthand the brutality and terror that is inflicted by the state through its Police Department, there is no other option than walking and working on the side of justice. I think mothers and i can speak to as a mom of a black boy who was growing up in this country and this society when george floyd was killed, there was a call that he made and he called for his mom. You know, and i think that most moms who saw that clip of those eight minutes and 46 seconds, when the life was being taken out of this man and heard him call for his mom, heard our own children call for us. So, when we are talking about decisive moments, this is a moment. No police should be Walking Around with military equipment. No Police Department should have teargas or rubber bullets. Or tax. Its ludicrous. Its crazy. And only in a Crazy Society would be accept that as the norm. This country has invested in death and has refused to invest in lifegiving projects. And enough is enough. I think the people of this country are clear and taking to are taking to the streets and will continue to take the streets for as long as the demands are met and division is isnt achieved. I came home in 2003 after serving 40 years in state and federal institutions. I walked the yard with a whole lot of men who were serving death incarceration. When i was 15 years old, here, in the city of brotherly love, philadelphias finest decided that i couldnt be out after curfew. So two very, very large Police Officers cornered me. I was about three blocks from my home. Im a young guy. Im from the streets. And when they approached me, i knew who they were. Lights were in my eyes. I tried to defend myself. They beat me to a bloody pulp right on the street. They almost killed me in the street. We demand a ban on assault rifles and easy access to firearms. We demand the demilitarization of our border in our communities. This is why were changing the narrative. We wont be silent anymore. Hi, my name is reverand doctor, im the director of the private sector for religious right and social justice at Union Theological seminary and cochair of the Poor Peoples Campaign. I may cochair of the National Call for moral revival. Im a minister, biblical scholar, an activist for justice in jubilee, and someone who has had firsthand experience with poverty. For far too long, the poor, immigrants, victims of racist police violence, young people have been blamed for all of societys problems. For too long, we have been divided by race and immigration status, religion, sexuality, and gender. For far too long, we have been fed the lie of scarcity. When we live in a world of abundance, where the only scarcity we have is the political will to establish justice, promote the general welfare, secure the blessings of liberty and justice for absolutely all. For far too long, the false narrative of religious nationalism has blessed what is wrong and condemned what is right in the eyes of god. It is wrong for black people to be murdered by the police. For people to be ripped from their families and deported. It is wrong for people to work for starvation wages. It is wrong to go to war. It is wrong to poison children with lead. It is wrong for the powerful to deny responsibility for these injustices. What is right is to feed people, give People Health care, secure the right to vote, respect all work with dignity, to forgive debts to offer a home for everyone. We, as a nation, as a movement, must break through the lie that only small changes, on one issue at a time, are possible. We must break through the lie that poverty and death are the will of god or that poverty has to be with us always. We must break through the lie that some lives are more precious than other, that it is impossible to organize for change or that the rich and powerful are coming to save us. When we cry out, when we organize from the grassroots, when we take bold action together, it can be done. Si se puede. We join profits throughout the ages that have declared through society that ignoring the poor and protecting the rich is evil. That the people demand justice and we are going to build the power to achieve it with god on our side. The prophet micah asks, what does the lord demand of you but to do justice, to love kindness, too humbly with your god . The book of leviticus demands that we welcome the immigrant stranger. Deuteronomy, that nations forgive debts, outlaw slavery, a pay people what they deserve. Isaiah demands that we stop passing laws that deprive the poor of their rights. Jeremiah said the wealthy stop evicting people, stop dropping from pandemic, making misery for the poor. John the baptist demands that the military and ruling authorities and police stop killing the people, stop exhorting money, and stop spreading lies about each other. Matthew demands that religious leaders stop covering up for those who divide. Instead, take the side of the poor, the side of the bruised, rejected, and battered. Jesus turns over tables, engages in holy disruption, commits himself even unto death to demand justice for us all. These Freedom Fighters remind us that movements dont just curse the darkness. We dont just awake the nation to what is wrong, but we come together in power with demand. We reject the false narrative that poverty is inevitable, that if god wanted to end poverty, he wouldve already done so, or that the only time well all have what we need to thrive in the society is after we die. We, instead, rise together. We demand justice and will do so until we claim all of our rights. We in the Poor Peoples Campaign have a moral agenda and today, we released a moral justice jubilee policy platform that policy platform. Demands healtht care, jobs that pay a living wage, a guaranteed, adequate income, immigrant rights, womens rights, lgbtq rights, an end to police and policy violence. Indeed, if we cut our military and make this world safer, if we have a fair taxation system where those who can afford it pay just a little bit more, if we forgive debts and invest in health care and education and housing and living wage jobs, we can indeed abolish poverty, confront systemic racism, save the planet, and turn this war economy into a peace economy. We want to ask you all today to join with the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. To do so, please text moral to 90975. You are needed in this holy uprising. A nonviolent and intergenerational, a multiracial army of the poor and all of those who care for justice is challenging this false moral narrative. Were building power amongst the 140 million poor people, low income people, people on the despair,recarious and and were rising up for truth and justice and love. May please may peace and blessings be upon you. Am lender. I was one of the national my name is linda. I was one of the national cochairs of the womens march on washington. My faith teaches me that i must stand with the most Vulnerable People in my society. This act that were doing today is an active force because my god is a possible god. So im here today to tell you that you can count on us. Our community, muslim committees, women across the country will have joined the Poor Peoples Campaign at state capitals. That we will not be silent. That we will be unapologetic and we are willing to put our lives on the line for the most marginalized people in our society. And i stand here today presenting millions of jewish people around the country, some here in this place, and many in state capitals across the country. The oldest and boldest formula for Economic Justice comes straight out of the hebrew bible. In the 50th year, the jubilee year, two things happened. All of the slaves are freed and all property reverts back to its original owners. This is a holy reset button that is pressed. It is a sweeping and a revolutionary act of economic reset that is rooted in the assumption that in a just society, there can be no permanent class of poor, that the destitute, exploited, the downtrodden deserve a fair shot, and they deserve their fair share. And most astonishingly, overturning those economic systems benefits not only the enslaved and the poor, it actually saves the society from breaking proclaimed liberty throughout the land from all of its inhabitants. 50 years after the assassination of dr. King, we declare a jubilee. We lift our voices for justice, we put our bodies on the line for mercy and together, we will proclaim liberty throughout the land. Want to salute the great legacy, Martin Luther king jr. , ella baker, and all of those who came together to ensure that poor people would be at the center of our analysis of power, at the center of our hearts, minds, and souls. I salute for what they are doing in there in spirit, let the embodiment of the legacy of bringing all of us together, the rich legacies of dorothy day, Abraham Joshua, our asian sisters, Indigenous Peoples, and others, religious folk, be they hindu, be they jewish, be they catholic, be they protestant, be they buddhist, like bell hooks, all of us together, focusing on the precious humanity of poor and workingclass brothers and sisters made in the image and likeness of a god that we serve and will be faithful unto death. Let us come together. Let us be together. Let us struggle together. Let us continue to fight together. This Poor Peoples Campaign is a light in a moment of darkness. Exemplifies the love in a moment of hate. Im there with you in spirit. Right on. We recall to you from all corners of this nation. A National Call for moral revival. And we are here because somebody is hurting our people. Somebody is killing our people. And it has gone on too long. He wont be silent anymore. Today and every day. We are called to be a movement. Reunite. We are the poor. We are the 140 million. We are people of crisis and of faith. We know how to find love and joy in desperate times. Dare and struggle. These times require a Poor Peoples Campaign and National Call for moral revival. The interlocking of systemic racism. Poverty. Ecological devastation. Militarism. A war economy. The distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. Our backs are against the wall. Weve got no choice but to push. America never was america to me, and yet i swear this oath. America will be. America must be. Americas got to be. America will be, made new with a movement from the bottom up. If you step up. You, right here in this room. Your heart and minds invoices and bodies. Your time and talents. Your stories and courage. A new nation is possible. A new world is possible. Across the nation, people are losing their fear. Theres no going back now. We dont want to go back to normal. Normal. Normal . Normal in america got george floyd. Breonna taylor. Ahmaud arbery murdered. Normal in america. Taught us gerrymandering. Normal in america. Got us 140 Million People in the richest nation in history. Normal in america. 700 people dying a day from poverty before the pandemic. Tor ourselves, our families. Our children. We fight today and every day. Forward together, not one step back. Join us. We are the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for moral revival. We are called to be a movement and we wont be silenced anymore. What happens in wall street often doesnt say a thing about whats happening on the real streets of america. [applause] everybody. Everybody. Has a right. Has a right. To live. To live. A National Call for moral revival has come up with a series of demands. We are here for the same reason we all are here. The pain and the discontent is real. And the demands of our movement are moral. We know what we want to focus on. Our agenda is clear. We demand an immediate implementation of federal and state living wage laws. We demand demand we the right for all workers to form and join unions. We demand equal pay for equal work. We demand a guaranteed annual income. A guaranteed annual income. We demand we demand fully funded antipoverty programs. That protects the welfare of us all. That protects the welfare of us all. We demand the expansion of medicaid in every state. We want to compare University Health care, not for some, but for everybody. [applause] immediate restoration of the Voting Rights act. The racismn end to of the Voting Rights act. We demand an end to test we want registration to vote at 18. If we can be drafted, we ought to be able to vote at 18. Early voting in every state, sameday registration, and the enactment of election day as a holiday. We demand a reversal of state laws that prevent disabilities prevent municipalities from raising minimum wage. We demand an end to mass incarceration and the criminal Justice System. We demand the right to vote for the formerly incarcerated. A clear and just immigration system. This includes providing a timely citizenship process that guarantees the right to vote. We demand. The first nation, native american, and alaskan native people retain their tribal recognition as a nation. We demand we demand housing. We demand relief from debt. We demand equity in education. We demand an end to the resegregation of schools. We demand free tuition at public colleges and universities and an end to profiteering on student debt. We demand. Equitable funding for historically black colleges and universities. We demand the repeal of the 2017 law. And we demand that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. We demand an end to military aggression and warmongering. We demand a stop to privatization of military budgets and any increases in military spending. We demand a ban on assault rifles and a ban on easy access of firearms. We demand an end to federal programs that send military equipment into local and state communities. We demand that the call to build a wall at that u. S. Mexico border be ceased. We demand a ban on fracking, coal mining, and all offshore drilling. We demand a ban on all new pipelines, refineries, and coal, oil, and gas export terminals. We are demanding that we stop the war on our poor. [applause] somebodys hurting my brother. Somebodys hurting our sister. And its gone on far too long and we wont be silent anymore. We believe that we can win. We believe that we can win. We believe that everybody, everybody, has a right, has a right, to live, to live, to live, to live, to live. So we give honor to god today. You have heard from the prophets and the people on the front lines, we promise that this stage would be built so america would have to hear herself and see herself, see her face and hear her voice. We must change this narrative and change this reality. I want to take a moment and also honor in their absence, because they could not be here , do due to covid and all of this happening, the mayor of the original poor peoples camp, reverend jesse jackson, and the policy director who works for the childrens defense fund, mary wright element, the founder. Its time for transformation, reconstruction, and revival in america. Two years ago, we were together on the National Mall and in washington, d. C. , and over 25,000 of us from every corner of this nation walked in a solemn procession to the steps of the u. S. Capitol to declare that we were relaunching the Poor Peoples Campaign, a National Call for a moral revival with our eye on the Reconstruction Movement of the 19th century and Poor Peoples Campaign, a halfcentury earlier in the 20th century. We did not pledge to sit in or camp out on the National Mall, but to go home to alabama and alaska, california, the carolinas, to mississippi, maine, we went back to build a movement, permanently organized communities of people from every race, creed, and culture, and sexuality, who are ready to rise up together and shift the moral narrative in this nation. We did not know then all that would transpire in this nation and in this world, but we sang a pledge to one another. Dr. Petty and dr. Jackson, somebodys been hurting our people and its gone on far too long. And we wont be silent anymore. We committed to do more, mobilizing together, organizing together, registering together, educating together, people form a movement to vote. And to educate this nation together on the long train of abuses, which had persuaded us that now was the time for transformative change. Frederick douglass famously said power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and never will. Thats true, but brittany coopers recent books as power concedes nothing without an organized demand. Today, we have seen the faces of poverty and weve heard the cries of americas poor. We did not know that this meth mass gathering this mass mass gathering would happen amid cries in our streets. We planned to be on pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house before the pandemic hit. But we know there are plans that are higher than our plans and there is a timing that supersedes our time. And in the long arc of human history, there are moments when the universe itself groans and declares its time. In the scriptures, theres a text where jesus takes up the prophet, isaiah, and declares the spirit of the lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, released to the oppressed, healing to the brokenhearted, and proclaimed it to proclaim the year of the lords favor when jesus read those words at the synagogue in the ghetto of the lords nazareth. It wasnt the first time the prophets message had been proclaimed to the people, but jesus came along at just the right time and said its time. And we have gathered today to say its time, america. Its past time and we were born at the right time and we are rising together at the right time, each person with us today, each person hearing the voices of the poor and pushed aside today. Each of you must know that this may be the reason why you were born. Now might be the very moment that called you into being. Fearsome and illegitimate power in a malignant river of money are attempting to phase down face down what remains of american democracy. What we have is people power. And that is the force that will prevail. And each of you are an irreplaceable part of gathering and exercising our rights. You have waited long for this moment. The ancestors have waited long for this moment. And in this faithful hour, your time has finally come. When we look back to the text of this nations founding documents, we find these words, we hold these truths to be selfevident. The declaration of independence begins trumpeting equality at its promises of life and liberty and pursuit of happiness for all people and even though these words were written by a slaveholder and did not match the social contradictions he and others accepted, the spirit of the universe wrote in a rep your class because to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their power from the consent of the governed and whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute a new government. Its right there in the text. When a long train of abuses demonstrates that a government has become destructive, it is our right and our duty to throw off such government. When we think about all we have heard today in a nation that makes such lofty promises but has accepted such abysmal realities, we must say, after such a long train of abuses, its time for a moral revival, its time for medical radical transformation and reconstruction. Its time to remake the systems of our common life and to make sure they serve everyone. America, at this for Peoples Assembly, you have heard dozens of witnesses testify to a long train of abuses. What begun as genocidal violence against Indigenous People and channel slavery imposed upon black bodies has continued for 400 years in policies and practices that have served the rich and powerful while they have kept nearly half of us from having what we need to survive in the richest nation in the history of the world. 140 million americans are poor and low income. 43 of the nation, and it will be 50 before this pandemic is over. 700 people die every day from poverty and low wealth, quarter million a year and rising. We know it does not have to be this way. It can be altered. A new and better government can be instituted. We know what policies and public commitments are needed to address poverty, systemic racism, ecological devastation, denial of health care, and the war economy. And we know we have the resources to do it now. Now is the time. This is the place. And we are the people. Now, this isnt about conservative versus liberal. Thats too puny. This isnt about to left versus right. Thats too puny. Its about life versus death. On camera, we have witnessed terrible, murderous instances of police violence, but today, through these voices you have seen our sociopolitical violence has also gripped millions to the interlocking injustices of american inequality. We never see this reality on camera, but it has snuffed the life out of untold thousands , whom we hold in our hearts and in our minds and in our spirits. Over half a century ago and we dont talk about this side of dr. King dr. King said, is murder to deprive a person of a job or income. Now, millions of people are being strangled that way. Millions of people have been crying i cant breathe far too long. This nation has refused to hear them. And now the covid crisis has exposed for all to see the boones caused by systemic racism and poverty in this society. But we are here today to say together its time to choose life, america. [nome for us to audio] we cant pretend that the crisis we face is about a single individual in office or one Political Party alone. Sure, were clear about whats being exacerbated, but even the current occupant of the white house and if it from a culture that had been benefited from a culture that had been cultivated by dr. King and even before. We know its not just with the president is doing, but what a regressive senate, a Regressive Congress does far too long. Our public leadership has been far too comfortable with owners there. Republicans racialized death and too Many Democrats racialized poverty and too Many Democrats run from poverty. Its time to say that every piece of public poverty has a death measure on the ground on the demo. Every piece of public policy, regressive piece of public policy, has a death membership on the download, and its been kept on the download. Download down low, and its been kept on the down low. Its time to expose it. , 3000 william iii people died from air pollution that comes from politicians protecting corporate polluters. When you protect corporate polluters, it has a death measurement, and its time to reject the culture of death. Even racist Voter Suppression has a death measure, because when it is used to help people get elected, who once they get elected, they block health care, living wages, and protect greedy corporations, then Voter Suppression is used in a way that produces a death measure. And like the prophet ezekiel not onlycripture, its that politicians acting as riven itsll, its as wool, also the ones who cover up to them, and its up to greed, violence, and racism that hurt, her, and destroy lies. We need an analysis. Its time to embrace an agenda rooted in the deepest values of closestdas, the values to the heart within each of us. Love, justice, mercy, and truth. Thes time demand that we people live up to a commitment to establish justice, promote general welfare, insured domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and guarantee every american equal protection under the law. Its time. In fact, it is past time. But it is time for major reconstruction. In recent weeks, we have heard the media ads. When will the protest start . What one demand is your top priority . Well, we say when you decided to do covid response, you gave to provide trillion dollars, nearly 3 trillion 2. 5 trillion, nearly 3 trillion to the banks. We are not asking for one thing. We are demanding that this nation reconstruct everything. We are demanding for the sake of the people who accuse policies of life, liberation, and love. In this campaign, we know things dont have to be kept the way they are. We know that. Institutedt if we peer elections and restricted the influence of big money in our politics, we could transition to automatic, online Voter Registration, and give life to our democracy by ensuring eligible voters can vote. We dont have to choose death. We can choose life. We need to understand that many of the things we are seeing dont have to be there bad choices their bad choices. People in line to get food, bad choices. People who need health care come from bad choices. People without sick leave and basic and decent unemployment is called bad choices. Money going to corporations in the middle of a pandemic rather than going to the communities, bad choices. We the nationge, can change, everyone here is bill, yes. Make sure theres money in there for city and Municipal Workers so we can see the job Service Public workers also guarantee health care, but also guarantee living wages, but also guarantee sick leave, but also guarantee rent forgiveness, but also put a moratorium on utilities being cut of. We can do this and have life. If we instituted a 15 minimum which immediately, we would raise pay for 49 million workers by 320 billion per year. 49 Million People would come out of poverty. If we implement it a housing which, we could wage, we could raise for millions of workers. This would give life to household and economy. If we and mass incarcerate and mass incarceration end mass incarceration, and this would give life to our communities and raise resources to secure housing for all. If we stop pouring money in resources into a portable, we could move that 20 a border wall, we can move that 20 billion into education and give life to their dreams. If we canceled one military contract, we would have 25 billion to expand medicaid in the 14 states that havent already done so under the Affordable Care act. This would mean life for millions of people in the state who are still uninsured in the midst of a pandemic. If we cancel another military contract, we would have more than enough resources to put towards expanding our morning infrastructure and create 945,000 jobs. Instead of putting that into war, we would put that in life because water is life. If we cut 350 million in the military budget, we would still have more money than china and north korea and iran and iraq combined. But we could make a world a more safer place and put resources toward health care and lifting our people. If we had put 6. 4 trillion that we poured into in this wars since 9 11, if we had put that money into green energy, we would have built a Renewable Energy grid by now with nearly 2 trillion to spare. If we restore the Corporate Tax rate to what it was before the trump tax cuts, we would raise 130 billion per year. This will be more than enough resources to fund the 100 billion we need to provide early childcare and education for every child in this country, that could live if we instituted a tiny tax on wall street trade. We would raise more than the 70 billion we need to invest in Free Public College for all. If we implemented a wealth tax on the wealthiest, we would raise 270 billion a year to put towards fixing our public infrastructure. If we tax inherit wealth fairly, we could raise billions a year and use that to close the racial wealth gap by putting bond programs that establish a savings account, with resources for every american child. If we repented the injustices against Indigenous People and policies for undocumented americans and homeless americans, we could change our present and future and have true healing from our past. I know somebody is saying did you get that from the democrats . No, i got it from the bible. Jesus said. Jesus said every nation would be judged by how it treats the poor, how it treats the least of thee, the hungry and in prison. As a attend said war isaiah said war and to those that make children their prey. Its time the worst mistake we can make now, with all of this marching and protesting in the street, would be to demand too little. And we have the capacity to change the political conversation in this country and its time. 23 million poor and low income people who are eligible to vote in 2016 didnt vote, many of us telling us because they never hear politicians talking about their issues, about 107,000 votes in pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan decided the election. In those three states along, nearly 2 million poor and low income people who did not vote in 2016 are eligible to register and vote in 2020. Throughg to a study, columbia university. In the south, a. 9 million wealth and poor people who couldve voted to develop. Why dont many of them vote . Because they say they never hear their issues of poverty. If we want to change the electric, if we want to change the political calculus, we need to Start Talking to port and low wealth people and stop whining on pourable people. Most did not vote for the current administration. Many of them did not vote because nobody comes and visits them and talk to them and listens to them and heres the story and says how they are going to address the issue. We have the power to change the officeholder and we have the power to put pressure on them, nonviolent, disobedient pressure to push our agenda. We have power for in the streets, in the streets, we have power, nonviolent power, and its time to use it. Its not only time, its past time. As our time. When we vote together, we can change and make the systems of government to serve our people. Its time to move together and reviews to be divided. Our mantra is somebodys been hurting our people, and its gone on far too long. We will be salad anymore. It is we wont be salad anymore. It is a cry we wont be silent anymore. When we stay forward together, not one step back, it is a call to the unity needed to enter the time with the in. That revives thing hope of democracy every moment of reconstruction that has been a moral fusion poor, whitewhen farmers and enslaved voters realized it was time to form a fusion party across the south, they stand Domestic Terrorist Organization and White Supremacy camping, campaign, they were able to move together. Whe multicultural corporations decidedn it was time to come together in a Labor Movement after rubber one, the corporate after world war i, the Corporate Power attacked them because they were scared of people coming together. The in the 1920s, a Philip Randolph but in the 1920s, a. Philip randolph and his brothers became the backbone of the civil rights in america for generations. In flint, michigan, our workers to over factories and became autoworkers took over factories and became a force. If you like a threeday weekend, you owe it to organizers. When poor white folks decided it was time, the Poor Peoples Campaign 50 years ago was founded. And as we face a pandemic, we know america has a long history of dividing people, blaming chinese or the mexicans or spanish or indians for disease in the past, scapegoating people by nationality. We know the tricks. But we also know that when we decide its time to unite, oh, theres power. This parable may come together. The truth theres power when we come together. The truth is when there is power, we never lost. When Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass and quakers live and decided it was time to get together, they formed this Fusion Movement that brought about abolition. Women didnt have the right to vote. The others decided it was time, time, time. Mother jones, its time. Plosser versus ferguson look like they had the victory, but black lawyers and jewish lawyers and said its time, its time to take on plessy. It looks like jim crow had eaten down injustice beatendown injustice. But when they decided it was time to get with white folk like fire larusso and james reeb, when they got together, they tore jim crow down. So we come together between juneteenth and june 21, the summers oldest summer solstice, to say its time to be free, we are free, to shine in light and dark prices. Tot means each of verse need be taking inventory of our own time on this earth. Let me close here. I dont mean to be morbid. But in this pandemic, we must be honest about the fact that anyone of us could be 48 hours from our last breath. I ask you today, if you knew you were going to take your last breath in 48 hours, what would you use your last breath to fight for . What kind of world would you want to breathe life into for the next generation . Use your last breath for if you knew there was just a day or so away, where its time to live like our last breath could come any moment . Its time to use every breath left in our bodies to fight for love and truth and justice. Its time to believe again lie time to challenge the about not having resources. Its time to believe in what as though we are sure, we are sure that love is still greater than that, that truth hate, truth is still greater than lies. Its time to be sure that hundreds can be fed, that the sick can be insured, that the immigrants can be welcomed, that the war machine can be cut. Its time to believe that black and white and poor and latino people in the south can be organized and to a new powerful coalition for change. Its time to come together like never before. Whether you are black or brown or first nation or asian or latino, whatever, whoever you are, gay or straight or trans, young or old, from the rural or from the city, its time to believe that this heart and this whole of this democracy can live, that we can breathe into it the spirit of a genuine democracy. Its time, even if it takes nonviolent resistance, with every breath we have, while we still have time, its time to rise up. Its time to reconstruct. Its time to call for a revival to put america together that works for is all. Its time to help somebody. Its time to show this world that its traveling wrong, this nation that is traveling wrong. Its time to show some beauty to a world. Its time. This is why were living. Its time to mobilize. Its time to educate. Were living in time for this time. Its time. Its time its time come join the Poor Peoples Campaign and lets do something in time to change time because the time is right now. Amen, amen. We are in one of those moments that demand a Poor Peoples Campaign. Our brothers and sisters are sleeping on the street. For country this which to have so many people poor, its immoral and its wrong. When we throw away more food than it takes to feed every person, not just hungry in this country, but around the world, that is not right. Something is wrong. As a moral emergency, and thats why we need a Poor Peoples Campaign. Theres other systems oppressing us that voting will always fix, and weve got to talk about, call about, mobilize, change the things that our politicians will always change. If we dont recognize it, it goes back to the second chapter. We have to get this by going. Its crucial we make ourselves heard. Let the people vote [applause] when you hold down the poor, you hold down america. Our backs against the wall and we have no choice but to push. We are building a multiracial, intergenerational, nonviolent army of the poor that will break every chain. Every chain. And so we have to come to a point that every attack on the poor will embolden our agitation. It will embolden our agitation. Every attack on immigrants will embolden our agitation. We can do more. We can do better. And were building the power. Movement time. Its time to shake this nation for this nation is locked up. Rise up. Rise up. Rise up. Rise up. Get up tomorrow and start the revolution. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Were taking your calls live on the air and discuss policy issues that impact you. Authorup this morning, john dixon discusses his new book, the hardest job in the world the american presidency. Flame uthor of ghost life and death of the hidden more. He discusses the 70th anniversary of the korean war. Watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern sunday morning. Be sure to join your discussion on with your phone calls, facebook messages, and tweets. South carolina senator tim scott and other senator republicans unveiled Police Reform legislation at induced conference on capitol hill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said he hopes to move on the legislation soon. Good morning