Preparing for Children's Sabbath on October 19, 2008
At the beginning of 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders began organizing the Poor People's Campaign.
The Poor People's Campaign was supposed to bring poor people together from all over America. Poor people were going to gather in Washington, D.C. and march through the city's streets. Then they were going to visit government leaders. If those leaders wouldn't talk with them, they were going to have non-violent sit-ins at their offices. The idea was to get the attention of the President and the leaders in Congress. The Poor People's Campaign wanted the government to enact what they called the Economic Bill of Rights. They wanted the government to help poor people get jobs, health care, and decent places to live.
They planned to stay in Washington until that happened.
But a few weeks before the Poor People's march was supposed to take place, Dr. King was killed. His widow and his friends decided to pick up where Dr. King had left off. They decided to make sure that the Poor People's March on Washington happened.
Thousands of people participated in the march on May 12, 1968, a month after Dr. King's death.
The Rev. Ralph Abernathy led the march. "We want to open the doors of America to the almost 50 million Americans who have not been given a fair share of America's wealth and opportunity, and we will stay until we get it," he said.
Everyone who participated in the Poor People's Campaign lived together on the National Mall in Washington. They put up tents and built shacks and camped out for six weeks. They called the place "Resurrection City."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was one of the leaders who lived in Resurrection City. Looking back on that experience, he said, "What I remember the most was that we set the tents up at the foot of Lincoln's memorial. It seemed to rain without ceasing and became muddy and people were hurt, and we were still traumatized by Dr. King's assassination. Then, while we were there, Robert Kennedy was killed."
The demonstrators were discouraged, Jackson remembered. He tried to give them hope. He told them, "I am somebody. I am God's child. I may not have a job, but I am somebody." He made them repeat that over and over again: "I am somebody. I am God's child."
About 50,000 people ended up marching in the Poor People's Campaign that spring and living in Resurrection City until it was torn down by police in June. Many considered the campaign a failure because nothing much really changed. When it was all over, there were still lots of people in America who didn't have enough money to buy food, pay for health care, and afford good places to live.
For many of America's poor, there hasn't been much progress in the 40 years since the Poor People's Campaign. In 1968, nearly 13 percent of Americans were living below the poverty level, according to the Census Bureau. In 2008, a little more than 12 percent of the population is poor. 13 million kids in our country are poor – that's 1 out of every 6. 5.8 million of these poor children are really, really poor. Their families live on about $200 each week.
When Dr. King was alive, he wasn't afraid to tell everyone what he believed. This is what he said as he was organizing the Poor People's Campaign:
"The dispossessed of this nation – the poor, both White and Black – live in a cruelly unjust society. They must organize a revolution against that injustice, not against the lives of fellow citizens, but against the structures through which the society is refusing to lift the load of poverty."
When will we hear – truly hear – Dr. King's call to end poverty in America?
We can do it. We just lack to will to do it.
Questions to think and pray about:
What is one thing I can do with my family to help someone who doesn't have enough money to live on?
What is keeping me from doing it?