During 2016, Reverend Barber, Reverend James Forbes, Reverend Traci Blackmon, and Sister Simone Campbell led a national 22 state tour, “The Revival: Time for A Moral Revolution of Values”. They have called on the nation to resist extremism and join a fusion political movement to advance state-based moral public policy agendas. They have welcomed all - people of faith and those who have deep moral convictions - to this social justice initiative. In 2017 and 2018, the next phase in the evolution of this moral movement will be an interfaith, interracial, intergenerational “Moral Revival Poor People's Campaign” whose focus will be:
- A call to people of conscience to enlist in the fight against extremism and our current moment in history;
- A call for a race and poverty audit of America;
- A call for a national Campaign to address systemic policy-based racism, poverty, denial of healthcare, voter suppression, environmental injustice, LGBTQ rights, and xenophobia.
“In 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others knew the nation needed a Poor People’s Campaign to challenge extremism,” said the Rev. Dr. William Barber. “Today, we recognize that in order to challenge the extremist policies that are being proposed at the highest levels of government, which hurt the most vulnerable, we need a Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign. Standing down is not an option. We must stand up and advance a moral movement in America that can transcend the limited language of left versus right politics, if we are going to save the heart and soul of our democracy.”
"The Poor People's campaign, motivated by a desire for economic justice, began in 1968. At that time it was estimated that 40-60 million citizens were living beneath the poverty line, and the idea was that all people should have what they need to live,” said the Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon. “Here we are 49 years later, 2016, with similar numbers of impoverished people in our midst. If the incoming administration is to indeed establish itself as pro-life, efforts must extend … to health care coverage, living wages, and adequate food and housing for all.”
The foundational premises for this Campaign have deep roots that draw from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. In plain, common sense language the Declaration lays out a list of fundamental human rights that should protect all people. Its central premise is that all humans have inherent dignity, worth, and rights as members of the human family, and that among these rights are freedom from want and fear. Article 23 states that, “Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity.” Article 25 states that, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” And, as Dr. King observed in his call for the Poor People’s Campaign, “It is time to move from an era of Civil Rights to an era of Human Rights.”
While we in NC, and many other states, continue to fight against strong disenfranchisement efforts and extremist super-majority state legislatures, we must also expand our efforts to build a national fusion movement of the poor Brown, White, and Black Communities in order to deliver the social and economic security in our nation that allows everyone “full citizenship” and an equal place at the table of Justice.
The National Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign Watch Night Service was held New Year’s Eve at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church where President Obama attended services on the Sunday before his second inauguration. It’s also the site where the funerals of both Rosa Parks and Frederick Douglass were held.
The watch night service in 1862 was celebrated by enslaved and free African Americans, abolitionists, and others awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation would become law to free Blacks living in the South. The 2016 event brought together diverse communities in the shared fight against extremism and to renew their commitment to advance state-based moral public policy agendas. To watch the Watch Night Service Livestream go to www.breachrepairers.org/... .
To read an open letter to Donald Trump from members of the Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign on the eve of his inauguration, see here.