A demonstration is set in the Arkansas Capitol rotunda at noon today to remember those forgotten in the halls of Congress.
The Poor People’s Campaign, begun in December, 50 years after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’.s original call for such a campaign, will have events in more than 30 state Capitols to talk about people harmed by racism, poverty, the war economy and ecological damage.
Grassroots and religious groups are taking part in what they say will be a multi-year effort, “A National Call for Moral Revival.” The action includes grassroots organizing, voter registration
Six weeks of direct action is planned this spring, organizers of the event say.
The Arkansas delegation of impacted people and moral leaders will deliver a letter to politicians highlighting dozens of racist voter suppression laws passed nationwide in recent years and a stark jump in the percentage of people living in poverty. They will vow to risk arrest beginning Mother’s Day if politicians fail to adopt a moral and just agenda.
If they’re serious, arrests will be forthcoming. The leader of the U.S. House has already said he plans to follow the windfall tax break for the wealthy with a cut in the program that provides medical aid to poor people. A “moral and just agenda”? Not from this bunch.