Today's News NJ Daryl Mikell Brooks on a Poverty Tour In Mississippi 6/20/09

Brooks and new Godson Mario from Mississppi
















Brooks at the poverty march in Jackson, Mississpi

Daryl Mikell Brooks,The Gathering of Hearts Organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and others spoke at a Public Hearing and March on the crisis of poverty in the Delta of Mississippi on Friday and Saturday June 19-20, 2009.

Delivering on Dr. King’s 1968 planned “Poor People’s Campaign” in Washington, D.C. to demand President Lyndon and Congress’ in help addressing the need for jobs, decent homes, health care and education in rural America; the SCLC and Gathering of Hearts has planned a Poverty Tour, assessing the living conditions in the Delta on Friday June 19, followed by the Poor People’s Public Hearing at Quitman County Elementary School in Lambert, MS.

“Someone has to help shed light on the living conditions in places like Louisiana and Mississippi. No one should have to live like this, no where in the world and especially not in America,” said Antoinette Harrell, Founder of Gathering of Hearts, who has organized Poverty Tours for the last six months in both Louisiana and Mississippi.

According to the 2009 Mississippi Human Development Report, a new county-by-county assessment that examines disparities by county, race and gender, “a black male born in Mississippi can expect a shorter life span than the average American in 1960. A black woman in Mississippi earns less today than the typical American in 1960. The overall infant mortality rate for nonwhites in Mississippi is more than 18 per 1,000 births, about the same as Libya and Thailand. Overall, black Mississippian are worse off than other black Americans, ranking second to last on the health and income index (just ahead of Louisiana) but dead last in education.”

“Mississippi ranks last in overall human development, said Harrell. Two years ago, President Obama, talked about Bobby Kennedy’s visit to the Mississippi Delta over four decades ago, and how Kennedy, with tears in his eyes, asked a single question about poverty in America: “How can a country like this allow it?” Forty years later, President Obama answered, ‘We can’t.’ So we are calling on President Obama and lawmakers act now to address the crisis in Mississippi. We can’t wait.” Said Harrell.

Daryl Mikell Brooks, The Gathering of Hearts and the SCLC are also calling on national leaders, organizations, influencers, and the young people to join the fight on poverty.



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