Daryl Mikell Brooks, President
Message from Brooks
My friends, America is a troubled place and we have all seen too many dreams fade away. We have millions who are impoverished, millions in prisons, and millions more without access to decent healthcare. We live in a nation where not one, but both of the leading parties - yes Democrats and Republicans - have abandoned those who need them the most in order to guarantee the privilege of those who line their pockets. But there is one thing they have forgotten; there is one thing that they have underestimated. They have forgotten that it is precisely those who struggle, who built this country, and it is the poor the oppressed, and the neglected who will fight to make it great.
As the President of the Poor Peoples Campaign, I have joined people of faith all across this country in taking up the banner of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to say that we must not let dreams of a better world remain dreams. We must fight to make those dreams a reality. We must always pray with our hearts, but we must also pray with our hands for a tomorrow where equality, opportunity, peace and justice are not just nice words at campaign time but the lived experience of every generation.
And what kind of prayer will that be? It will be a prayer to reform a criminal justice system that continues to indict the color of skin. It will be a prayer that begs that all people are to be treated with the dignity they deserve, that they will have access to health care. It will be a prayer that seeks to squash poverty, to fight for better schools, we that protects affirmative action. It is a prayer to preserve this creation that God has so blessed us with and to restore suburb, city, and country. It will be a prayer that ends senseless wars abroad and at home.
My dear citizens, it will always be dangerous to raise our voice as the citizens of old once did. We will always be in danger for attempting to right wrongs, but I must ask: if not now, then when? If not us, then who? The time has come for a new voice, one that places peace and justice at the very heart of its ideology. The time has come to admit that the party we have supported for so long has taken us for granted. It is time now for the Poor People’s Campaign.
To move the People to go out and improve their community
To focus on direct action, justice system reforms, immigration, community economics, gang-related violence, non-violent methods, and housing.
Adequate jobs for the unemployed and the underemployed.
A massive program of building and renovation to provide decent housing for the poor and those Americans who live on minimum, fixed income.
Better schools that will provide students with a world class education.
Adequate medical and dental care for all Americans.
The elimination from the law enforcement and judicial systems of whatever forms of discrimination against minority groups and poor people.
We are hoping that through these efforts; our citizens will be able to understand and navigate situations of changing safety in their communities, changes proposed by health care reforms that affect the elderly and the poor, and changes that need to occur in public education to help the break the cycles of poverty and violence.
Poor People's Campaign/Resurrection City the Movement History:
The first phase of Poor People's Campaign began in May 1968 when nine caravans of poor people arrived in Washington D.C.. The convoys started from different parts of America on May 2 and picked up demonstrators along the way. In Washington, D.C., demonstrators erected a camp called “Resurrection City” on a sixteen-acre site near the Lincoln Memorial. Reverend Ralph Abernathy, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) successor to the slain Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began the Poor People's Campaign with the proclamation that "the poor are no longer divided. We are not going to let the White man put us down anymore. It is not white power, and I will give you some news, it's not Black power, either. Its poor power and we are going to use it.”
The Poor People's Campaign (PPC) was a convergence of racial and economic concerns that brought the poor, including those who were black, white, Indian, and Hispanic to live in shantytowns and demonstrate daily in Washington, D.C. from May 14 until June 24, 1968. The PPC was conceived by Dr. Martin Luther King, but unfortunately, was not led by him.
Our intent in 2009 is to move beyond just making poverty visible, since there are already myriads of programs doing that. Our intent is to move toward empowering people to change their environments by training, teaching, and encouraging them to use the skills they have and to gain the skills they lack.
Poor People's Campaign/ The Movement
Email: gcw2008@gmail.com
Mail to: P.O. Box 5430
Trenton, NJ 08638
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on change
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