Movement leaders, poor people unite to demand lawmakers pass policies to combat the American crisis of death by poverty.
Mass assemblies launched 40 weeks of action leading up to November’s elections, when poor, low-wealth voters will play crucial role in key states.
NATIONWIDE – Poor and low-wage people united together in mass assemblies at statehouses across 32 states and Washington D.C. alongside Bishop William J. Barber II and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on Saturday, March 2, to mobilize poor and low-wage voters and demand legislators take immediate action to end the crisis of death by poverty in the United States.
Even as it rained in many capitals, poor and low-wage people and advocates gathered in full force to declare their votes are demands for living wages, voting rights and other policies to combat poverty and save lives. As part of the assemblies, poor and low-wage voters shared testimony of how poverty has impacted their lives and why politicians need to champion the issues that matter most to poor and low-wealth individuals, including lifting 52 million people out of poverty by creating a living minimum wage. Gatherers also carried signs emblazoned with slogans like “Abolish Poverty as the 4th Leading Cause of Death” and “Everybody’s Got a Right to Live.”
Saturday’s mass assemblies took place in Alabama, Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
“The Poor People’s Campaign is mobilizing today to wake the sleeping giant of low-wage voters who have been ignored for far too long. Do not listen to those who say poor and low-wage voters are apathetic about politics or marginal to election outcomes,” said the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and co-chair of the 2024 mobilization. “Poor and low-wage voters have the power to change electoral outcomes up and down the ballot in November. We are putting politicians in every state on notice: if you want our votes, you must legislate to end the crisis of death by poverty in America.”
“We are seeing from state houses all over the nation that we will NOT be silenced or ignored anymore. The number one reason poor and low-wage workers don’t vote is because no one talks to us. No one listens to us,” said Von Allen Goodman, Tri-Chair of the Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign, at the assembly in Boston. “This nation is home to 52 million people who make less than a living wage in their state. We will not be silenced anymore. Fight poverty, not the poor.”
“In a time of division, exclusion, and hate, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is calling for love, hope, and justice and declaring life everywhere there’s death. We are building the power to make the nation better for everyone. When you lift from the bottom, everyone rises,” said the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.
We Must End #DeathByPoverty
Poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in America. In a country with so much wealth, poor and low-wealth voters are refusing to accept the myth of scarcity and instead are demanding elected leaders take action to reduce poverty and save lives. At each mass assembly, poor and low-wage voters will share powerful testimony and put politicians on notice: if you want our votes in November, you must address the crisis of death by poverty.
“We all will get together and move as one so those at the top cannot ignore our voices and must act,” said Christina Jimenez, a CWA member and Maximus call center worker from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, told the crowd of voters assembled in Jackson. “When we stand together with our families and our children, we will win.”
There are approximately 85 million poor and low-wage eligible voters in this country who represent at least 30% of the electorate. In so-called battleground states it’s close to and over 40%. 800 people die each day as a result of being poor and low-wealth. These deaths are preventable and unnecessary. High percentages of poor and low-wage voters do not vote because politicians fail to enact policies or address the issues that affect their lives.
Saturday’s simultaneous assemblies amplified the collective power of poor and low-wage voters and educated politicians and the public about a moral public policy agenda that can save lives by eliminating poverty in the United States. On Monday, March 4, advocates will reconvene at legislative offices in their state capitols to deliver a comprehensive package to legislators on both sides of the political aisle documenting the conditions poor people are facing in their state and the bold actions lawmakers must take to address these crises.