Moral Monday returns to NC with program in WI on same day
Contacts for North Carolina:
Ana Blackburn| blackburnana@yahoo.com
Martha Waggoner | mwaggoner@breachrepairers.org
Contacts for Wisconsin:
Britnie Remer | britnieremer@gmail.com
Lauren Zehyoue | lauren@kairoscenter.org
Taking to the streets: Poor People’s Campaign in North Carolina & Wisconsin rally to support policies that lift from the bottom & fight those killing, hurting the poor and low-wealth
These two states are among several holding actions on way to June 18th Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival continues its march toward Washington with in-person marches and rallies in North Carolina and Wisconsin, the home states of the co-chairs on Monday, March 28.
This joint stop of the Mobilization Tour will start at 5 p.m. ET in Raleigh, North Carolina, and at 5 p.m. CT in Madison, Wisconsin, as the PPC:NCMR demands that this nation adopt policies that lift from the bottom.
The programs will be live streamed here.
Impacted people and faith leaders from Virginia and South Carolina will join the Raleigh stop while the Wisconsin stop will include those from Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota: Impacted people and faith leaders from Virginia and South Carolina will join the Raleigh stop while the Wisconsin stop will include those from Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota including a member of the Chicago Homeless Union, an indigenous young person fighting the Line 5 pipeline, and others.
The co-chairs of the PPC:NCMR have deep connections to these states, and each will join the march and rally in their state. Bishop William J. Barber II, who was born in Indianapolis in 1963, moved to his father’s hometown of Roper, North Carolina, in 1968. He is pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and president of Repairers of the Breach.
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis was raised in Milwaukee in a family dedicated to social justice. Her mother was a faith-based peace and justice activist. Her father - who passed away this past summer - broke open the FBI during the era of Director J. Edgar Hoover. He served as a professor and was active on voting rights and defending our democracy.
The Poor People’s Campaigns in Wisconsin and North Carolina will march and rally as part of a Mobilization Tour stop on the way to the Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls.
The priorities and demands of poor and low-wealth residents of North Carolina and Wisconsin will be front and center as they take on the lie of scarcity and put forward a Third Reconstruction agenda that demands, among other things: updating the poverty measure to reflect the real cost of living; enact a living wage and guarantee the right of all workers to form and join unions and guarantee quality health care for all.
Poverty is not a personal choice but a policy choice and even before COVID, these policies were killing and hurting people, with 250,000 dying from poverty each year in the US.
The actions will call attention to the needs of the 44% of people – 4.5 million – in North Carolina who are poor and low-income people and the 35% percent – or 2 million – in Wisconsin, along with the 140 million people nationally who were poor or low-income before COVID.
But poor and low-income people also have power at the polls. In the 2020 presidential election, poor and low-income cast about 43% of all votes in the 2020 presidential election. In Wisconsin, the figure was about 39%.
The program begins at 5 p.m. ET at Bicentennial Plaza in Raleigh, North Carolina, and at 5 p.m. CT on State Street and North Carroll Street in Madison, Wisconsin.
In Madison, participants will proceed down State Street around the Wisconsin State Capitol, then hold a rally at First United Methodist Church, beginning at 6 p.m. CT.
The Mobilization Tour will make at least 10 stops nationwide to Mobilize, Organize, Register and Educate people for a movement that votes. Our study tells us that poor and low-income do vote. In the 2020 presidential election over 35% of the voting electorate, or 58 million people, identified as poor and low-income.
Speakers will demand that this nation do MORE to live up to its possibilities:
MORE to fully address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the denial of health care, militarism and the war economy and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism.
MORE to change the narrative and build the power of those most impacted by these injustices.
MORE to realize a Third Reconstruction agenda that can build this country from the bottom up and realize the nation we have yet to be.
The reality of 140 million people who are poor or low-wealth and just one $400 emergency away from being poor – and who represent every race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, ability and political party and account for 43.5% of the people living in the richest nation in the world – is a moral crisis.
Other cities on the tour include: Cleveland, DC, New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Memphis and the Delta of Mississippi.
The June 18th assembly in DC will be a generationally transformative declaration of the power of poor and low-wealth people and our moral allies to say that this system is killing ALL of us and we can’t…we won’t…we refuse to be silent anymore!
“It is NOT just a day of action. It is a declaration of an ongoing, committed moral movement to 1) shift the moral narrative; 2) build power; and 3) make real policies to fully address poverty and low wealth from the bottom up.”
—Bishop William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. co-chairs of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival