WASHINGTON - Poor, impacted people, advocates and faith leaders with the Illinois Poor People's Campaign will travel to Capitol Hill June 19-21 to highlight poverty as an American death sentence and demand action to end murder by public policy.
The three-day Poor People's Campaign Moral Action Poverty Congress will sound the alarm on the crisis of poverty and bring together poor and low-wealth people and faith leaders from over 30 states to strategize and plan to force poverty onto the nation's agenda heading into the 2024 elections.
It comes as 38% of people in Illinois are poor or low-income, 2.3 million are working for less than $15 an hour, and 877,000 are without health insurance.
What's more, hundreds of thousands of Americans are being kicked off Medicaid, child poverty is on the rise after the expanded child tax credit was allowed to expire, and as we near the 14th year since the impossibly low federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour was increased. And it follows a manufactured debt ceiling crisis that was resolved on the backs of poor people.
"Today, poverty is the 4th leading cause of death nationwide. It is a death sentence for Americans. It is a moral travesty and a detriment to the soul of our nation that poverty kills more people than homicide yet the powers that be don't want to address it," said Bishop William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign. "There's not a scarcity of resources, but a scarcity of political will. Until our nation's leaders invest the great riches of this nation in ensuring equal justice for all, beginning with the poor and low-wealth of this nation, we cannot be satisfied."
The Congress will open Monday with a launch event featuring Bishop William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, leading a discussion with Yale School of Public Health Assistant Professor Greg Gonsalves and UC-Riverside Professor David Brady, the author of a recent report citing poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in America, among others [ bradydave.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/bradyetal_preprint.pdf ] .
On Tuesday, local Poor People's Campaign leaders will blitz every member of the House and Senate — on both sides of the aisle from the 30+ states they represent — to demand they use their power to address poverty, which kills more people every year than homicide, but gets significantly less of the attention from politicians. As of press time, Illinois leaders will meet during the Moral Action Poverty Congress with Representatives Jonathan Jackson (District 1) and Jan Schakowsky (District 9), and staff from the offices of Representatives Robin Kelly (District 2) Delia Ramirez (District 3), Mike Quigley (District 5), Sean Casten (District 6), Danny K. Davis (District 7), Raja Krishnamoorthi (District 8), Brad Schneider (District 10), Nikki Budzinski (District 13), Darin LaHood (District 16), Eric Sorensen (District 17) and Senator Tammy Duckworth.
"Given the abundance that exists in this country and the fundamental dignity inherent to all humanity, every person in this nation has the right to demand dignified jobs and living wages, housing, education, health care and welfare," said the Rev. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign. But the truth is that millions of Americans are denied those fundamental rights, and thousands are dying as a result."
Following the blitz, impacted people and faith leaders will hold a funeral procession leading up to the steps of the Capitol, complete with caskets, where participants will speak out about loved ones lost to poverty. Others will discuss how poverty, racism, ecological devastation, religious nationalism, the war economy, a lack of healthcare and our nation's distorted moral narrative have impacted themselves and their families.
Jessica Motsinger, an Illinois Poor People's Campaign Quad Chair and Congress participant, says why she is fighting alongside the Poor People's Campaign to end policy violence, "Our grandmothers, mothers, and family members are dying due to poverty. My family and myself, three generations, are victims of Camp Lejeune toxic water; yours may be in Flint, MI; Jackson, MS; Parkersburg, WV; or a thousand other communities. The government treats people experiencing poverty, including their military families, with disdainful, deliberate, and malicious neglect. They allow corporations to poison us, deny us life-preserving healthcare, thus denying us life, liberty, and the opportunity to pursue happiness."
On Wednesday, Reps. Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal will introduce a resolution calling for a Third Reconstruction, a large-scale federal effort to end poverty and dismantle racist policies and structures. The resolution will outline a comprehensive package of 20-plus policies that address interlocking systemic injustices in our country.
The three days will also be spent strategizing a new season of intensification around the moral fusion movement to end poverty across the nation. Participants will announce plans for future, coordinated mobilizations through the end of year, followed by a massive voter engagement operation heading into the 2024 election.
This year's Congress builds off a major mobilization in Washington last June, in which thousands of poor and low-wealth people marched and rallied ahead of a massive voter mobilization drive for the midterm elections.
*For questions, RSVPs or to coordinate interviews, please email steph.derstine@berlinrosen.com or phoebe.rogers@berlinrosen.com*
