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The Oklahoma United Methodist Contact
February 14, 2024
Poverty: An Indictment on the Poor or Humanity? of poverty by many of the lawmakers was perceived for the most part as a Black people’s problem. Remember, this was 1968. The gains of the Civil Rights Movement were taking hold with all deliberate speed. Before the demands of the Poor People’s Campaign were delivered at the Poor People’s March on Washington, Dr. King was assassinated. Without skipping a beat, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy picked up the mantle and continued the effort. The March presented six demands to Congress on behalf of all persons impacted by poverty. These demands included: fair, livable wages; cease all budget cuts from public education; insure livable housing to name a few. Roughly
3,000 people set up an encampment protesting for six-weeks on the Washington Mall. Though Dr. King For you always have the poor was not with them, one thing he put with you, and you can show in motion was the importance of kindness to them whenever you showing the every day American the wish, but you will not always have actual faces of persons affected by me. (Mark 14:7, CEB) injustice. Congress would have to see In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, the many faces of persons— all skin Jr. and the Southern Christian colors, ages, ability, etc.— suffering Leadership Conference created due to poverty in the U.S. and so what was called the Poor People’s would any one watching or reading Campaign. At the time, the U.S. the daily news. government, under President While Methodists were uniting Lyndon B. Johnson, had much of in 1968, it was also a presidential their attention focused on the war election year. The Poor People’s in Vietnam. Although President March on Washington was a talking Johnson had begun a war on poverty point for those running for president. with the goal of eradicating poverty, Presidential candidate Richard Nixon it did not get much traction in spoke out against Congress yielding Congress. Unfortunately, the issue to the demands of the Poor People’s Campaign. News outlets cast a negative spin on the Poor People’s Campaign and its efforts. Even with real, impacted persons desperately pleading their cases, the protest would be squashed. Afterwards, some change did occur very slowly in its implementation. Yet, even 55 years later, poverty still exists and has grown. In 2017, the Rev. Dr. William Barber, III, resurrected the cause for giving voice to those suffering under the Rev. Valerie Steele and others from the Oklahoma Poor People’s Campaign at last interlocking injustices of year’s trip to Washington, D.C. Submitted photos. our day. Now called the Poor BY REV. VALERIE STEELE
