Excitedly doing some last minute preparation for tomorrow’s big Mass Poor People’s Assembly and (Digital) Moral March, which is an event that the Poor People’s Campaign has been building towards for the past year. It will take place during two broadcasts — the first at 9:00am CDT and the second at 5:00pm CDT (you can watch it on MSNBC as well as via the Poor People’s Campaign’s Facebook page where it will be livestreamed). And if you miss those two, there will be one final broadcast Sunday at 5:00pm CDT.
It is our goal that this will be the “largest digital and social media gathering of poor and low-wealth people, moral and religious leaders, advocates, and people of conscience in this nation’s history.” Please join us by registering now at: june2020.org.
Thinking today about what motivates people to organize.
For me, it was out of a feeling of necessity. But in times like these, there is SO MUCH GLARING NECESSITY, yet (seemingly) very little action.
I understand why that is: people are scared, people are confused, they feel hopeless, etc. They are attending to their basic needs. Or, they figure, what’s the point? Maybe they have even tried to organize before and lost. Maybe they are just burnt out.
I find it interesting how Americans (specifically, U.S. citizens) are so complacent, even when their immediate needs are stripped from them. Is there a point when people, en masse, will actually revolt?
It is clear to me that we need the Poor People’s Campaign, and that the only way to win true change is by organizing the poor, the most impacted, and the dispossessed. But what can we do right now to engage folks who are (in many cases) fighting for their lives?
Delegates from 40 states (including me!) representing the Poor People’s Campaign at our congressional hearing on poverty in Washington D.C. –June 2019
Been working on Illinois Poor People’s Campaign statewide call planning today… had a good call committee meeting this afternoon!
Our next statewide call, which I am producing/facilitating!
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival was launched in December of 2017, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign. We are a multi-racial, multi-generational campaign founded on 5 pillars (for more info check out the “Our Demands” page on the national PPC site):
End systemic poverty
End ecological devastation
End the war economy
End systemic racism
Change the false moral narrative
Our campaign began with 40 Days of Action, which entailed civil disobedience at state capitols to bring attention to issues around poverty and our 5 pillars (as of today, we are organizing in 43 states and the District of Columbia). Then we organized our first Moral Action Congress (mass meeting) in D.C. last summer, and now we are building towards the upcoming June 20, 2020 Mass Poor People’s (Digital) Assembly and Moral March.
We, as the Illinois Poor People’s Campaign think it is of the utmost importance for us to continue to convene and strategize during the shelter-in-place order, seeing as there have been 493,000 new unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic hit Illinois (just in the past 4 weeks) and over 16 million nationwide–and so many without access to testing, healthcare or clean water to protect themselves against the virus. And we know these numbers are woefully underreported. So many are struggling, and we must continue the crucial task of organizing the poor, working class and dispossessed. As long as the statewide shutdown is in effect, the Illinois Poor People’s Campaign is committed to conducting biweekly calls to bring us all together to that end. We realize that not everyone has the privilege of computer and internet access, so we are hoping this call will inspire folks across the state to find creative ways to help “cross the digital divide,” and organize their communities.
Here is our next statewide call info (below) for those interested:
Please join us for the next Illinois Poor People’s Campaign’s Statewide Action Call on Wednesday, April 29th at 8pm Central! Learn the latest about this historic campaign, hear report backs from impacted folks across the state and find out what you can do right now to plug in.
Our featured political education presenter (on the topic of systemic racism) will be: Jaquie Algee
JAQUIE ALGEE is Vice President/Director of Community Relations for the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois/Indiana/Missouri/Kansas (SEIU HCIIMK). In this capacity, she directs activities that support and foster positive relations and collaboration with faith leaders and congregations, community organizations/residents, elected officials and key stakeholders in support of SEIU HCIIMK, worker rights, as well as a variety of shared community interests and issues. Ms. Algee works to ensure that SEIU HCIIMK establishes and maintains relationships within the broader community as a committed partner in the fight for justice.
She also serves as a Quad Chair for the Illinois Poor People’s Campaign.
Registration for this call is required, and you will be sent call-in information as soon as it becomes available.
Today I am thinking about poverty and all those struggling across the state due to lack of income, food and housing insecurity, lack of healthcare… and thinking about those who don’t have the privilege to stay home right now. I have been working on producing the very first Illinois Poor People’s Campaign (IL PPC) statewide action call, where we will talk about systemic poverty and hear testimonies from those most impacted by the coronavirus and surrounding “policy violence.”
I have been a member of the IL PPC Coordinating Committee for over a year now, but during this statewide shelter-in-place order it became abundantly clear that we need a way for the various groups across the state to speak out to the public and make direct calls-to-action.
Today I am feeling a little less depressed, and am putting my energy into this much needed cause. I hope if you’re reading this that you will join the call this Wednesday, April 15th at 8:00pm Central time. You can register for it here.
I have always had the sneaking suspicion that those in power want people like me dead. Growing up in poverty, I was made to feel at best like an “other,” at worst, a “burden on the system.” At times, friends suggested that perhaps I am “too sensitive” or “cynical” for feeling this way. But today, in the United States, it seems we have fully transitioned from our typical, more genteel “policy violence” into a clear and overt plan to eliminate (sacrifice?) the poor and most vulnerable.
“So if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 [thousand] and 200,000 [deaths], we altogether have done a very good job.” –President Donald J. Trump, March 29, 2020
In a press conference held in the White House Rose Garden this past Sunday, President Trump came right out with it: if we lose only 100,000, possibly 200,000 people due to the COVID-19 virus, we will have done “a very good job.”
It is clear who those 100,000 to 200,000 people will be: our most vulnerable. It will be poor people (many now deemed “essential workers”), who don’t have the privilege of paid time off or job security. It will be frontline workers like nurses and cashiers. It will be the homeless, prisoners, and migrants. It will be folks like me with disabilities, compromised immune systems and other underlying conditions.
Frankly, it is a bit refreshing to hear such honesty when you have been gaslit your whole life! Thank you to the ruling class for their candor in admitting that indeed there is a subclass of human beings that society can not only do without, but — in fact — things will run much more smoothly, cheaper, and more efficiently without.
As I sit here today, on day 15 of self-isolation here in my Chicago apartment, I can’t help but contemplate this new reality I am surviving in… and what the next several months will be like for those Americans deemed most expendable.
