The following article was published in a newsletter from the Poor People’s Campaign on June 27, 2023.
In June, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, held our Moral Poverty Action Congress (MPAC), where hundreds of directly impacted and poor people, faith leaders, and advocates from over 30 states traveled to Washington DC to put the nation on notice that we will not be silent anymore as poverty kills 800 people every single day in this country–more than homicide, more than respiratory disease and more than opioid overdoses.
Over three days, we strategized, mobilized, and planned a season of intensification to shift the nation’s attention to the reality of poverty in the country, highlight poverty and low wages as an American death sentence, and force elected leaders to take action to end unnecessary and avoidable murder by public policy.
The idea for the Congress predated the Poor People’s Campaign and grew out of the Moral Fusion Movement’s goal to shift the political narrative to one that centers the voices of poor and low-wealth people. The Moral Poverty Action Congress is sponsored by Repairers of the Breach and the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and co-organized by Roz Pelles and the Rev. Liz Theoharis, with Bishop William Barber as a senior advisor. The first Congress was held in 2019 and attracted 12 presidential candidates, who all pledged to address poverty, low wages, and low wealth. Covid hit and the second Congress was held online.
Below are five highlights from our third Congress.
1. WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AMERICA IS AT STAKE
The Congress opened Monday with a launch event televised live in its entirety on C-SPANhosted by the Yale Center for Public Policy and Public Theology, featuring Bishop Barber in conversation with Yale School of Public Health Assistant Professor Gregg Gonsalves, UC-Riverside Professor David Brady, the author of a recent report citing poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in America, Valerie Wilson from the Economic Policy Institute, and Valerie Eguavoen, the Center’s Associate Director.
“What does it say about the greatest country on earth, the land of the greatest opportunities, if we know what we need to do to address the problem, but only do it periodically for limited amounts of time,” Wilson said. “The entire idea of what it means to be America is at stake.”
The launch event began with a moment of silence to those lost to poverty and a series of videos of members of the Poor People’s Campaign who passed away as a result of poverty.
2. ‘BACK IN SURVIVAL MODE
Impacted people and faith leaders held a national speak out in front of the Supreme Court, where we raised the alarm about the death sentence for poverty in America and honored loved ones lost to poverty and the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, militarism, ecological devastation, the denial of healthcare, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism.
We lifted up the voices of the poor, declaring “Poverty = Death and We Will Not Be Silent Anymore.”
“Thirty-nine percent of our population in Ohio lives in poverty,” Joyce Kendrick, of Middletown, Ohio told the crowd during the speakout. “Lawmakers let the SNAP expansion and other pandemic programs expire. I’m back in survival mode. I’m back to choosing between proper medical care and a proper meal. I need stronger safety net protections that won’t be taken away by lawmakers or by complicated eligibility requirements.”
3. A THIRD RECONSTRUCTION
Following the speakout, we walked to the U.S. Capitol, a beautiful long line of Congress participants stretching from the Supreme Court to the Capitol, where we joined Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Barbara Lee as they re-introduced a resolution to fully eradicate poverty throughout the United States.
The Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low Wages from the Bottom Up resolution draws on the history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the Civil Rights Movement and includes a series of 20+ policy proposals that address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, public health inequity, militarism, and more. Learn more about the Third Reconstruction here.
4. VISITS TO HUNDREDS OF HOUSE & SENATE OFFICES, WHITE HOUSE
The Rev. Theoharis opened the second day by framing the action that would occur later on Capitol Hill. Then-Attorney Shailly Barnes and the Rev. Kazimir Brown, co-policy directors of the Campaign, taught the entire Congress and all watching online the contents and research rationale for new state-by-state and national facts sheets
produced in conjunction with the Institute for Policy Studies.
Hundreds of poor and low-wealth state leaders, advocates, and faith leaders from over 30 states then visited hundreds of Senate and House offices on both sides of the aisle to demand lawmakers use their power to address poverty, which kills more people every year than homicide but gets significantly less of the attention from politicians.
And on Wednesday, some of our state leaders joined the Repairers of the Breach Moral Movement delegation of poor and low-wealth people, advocates, and faith leaders on a visit to the White House, where they met with senior administration officials to demand the Biden administration address the death by poverty that is devastating our nation.
5. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE IMPACTS OF POVERTY IN YOUR AREA
In 2023, once again, the Poor People’s Campaign, Kairos Center, Repairers of the Breach, and the Institute for Policy Studies are taking stock with the release of new, updated fact sheets that examine the state of poverty and inequality at the national level in the United States, as well as provide extensive data for each of the 50 states and D.C.
Read a full breakdown of key findings from these fact sheets and the actions decision-makers must take to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality in our communities here.
Key fact sheet highlights include:
- Poor and low-income people make up more than 40 percent of the population in 13 states.
- As pandemic protections wind down, millions of Americans are at risk of losing their health care, including over 5 million children, 6.6 million white people, 4.6 million Hispanic/Latino people, 2.2 million Black people, and over 500,000 Asian and Native people.
- With rising inflation, average household debt rose in every state between the last quarter of 2021 and 2022, with a third of all states now having average debt burdens of $50,000 or more.
Click here to learn more about how these challenges impact your community or here to read our most recent opinion piece on what comes next.
We look forward to building on the momentum from Congress in the months ahead. For too long, we, the 140 million poor and low-wealth people of this nation, have been left out of our nation’s abundance. Until this nation invests its great riches towards those living at the bottom of our society, those who have been discarded and left out, we cannot be silent. When you lift from the bottom everybody rises.
Forward Together, Not One Step Back,
Bishop William J. Barber, II National Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, President & Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis National Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, Director of Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice
Roz Pelles Senior Strategic Advisor, Poor People’s Campaign, Assistant Director for Student Engagement, and Lecturer at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at the Yale University Divinity School
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