The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poor People’s Campaign Still Alive

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poor People’s Campaign Still Alive and Inspiring New Levels of Commitment to The Homeless in Detroit

By Rev. Aaron McCarthy, SCLC Detroit President

As the country continues to feel the increasing deadly effects of COVID-19, the level of poverty and homelessness has risen to epic proportions. That is also while the morbid effects of Michigan’s deadly winter weather have raised the death rate along the mile and a half stretch of city blocks in Detroit now known as Resurrection City Detroit.

It is named after the historic 1968 City of Hope, where 3,000 poor people from all over the country lived in tents for 42 days to address and bring attention to poverty through housing, and economic injustice. That is the same as the unrelenting four-year boots on the ground efforts of SCLC-Detroit to bring relief to the homeless who continue to look to the original Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poor People’s Campaign.

Their dedicated efforts have been responsible for the opening of a privately owned homeless warming center, and a mental health facility moving into Resurrection City Detroit to help the poor and homeless access benefits and resources that they do not know that they are qualified to receive. It will give them access to the services provided by two doctor offices, and a pharmacy, that have also located their businesses into the area called Resurrection City Detroit. In addition, there is a new service station wanting to benefit from the increase in traffic that the Poor People’s Campaign’s boots efforts have brought to the community, giving it a newfound economic rebirthing. A regular voice in meetings, convened by, community organizations, neighborhood organizations, city government, county government, and state government officials, SCLC-Detroit and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poor People’s Campaign has become the foremost organization when the homeless and impoverished community is the topic of discussion. This year because of the accidental freezing death of one of Resurrection City Detroit’s most faithful homeless encampment residents, SCLC-Detroit and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poor People’s Campaign was called to another level of commitment to its homeless community. Because there was no money or family to recover Ramones body from the morgue and properly lay his remains to rest, I successfully, appealed to the powers that be; raising enough money to recover Ramones body from the morgue, cremate him, and have a remarkable celebration of life, and memorial service officiated by SCLC-Detroit.

State Senator Coleman A. Young II, the son of former Detroit Mayor: Coleman Alexander Young, gave a powerful presentation focusing on the importance and purpose of the Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. Poor People’s Campaign and how it continues to be lifeline and resource for the homeless walking the streets of Resurrection City Detroit.

Every year the Detroit’s SCLC Chapter continues to evolve and find itself advocating for justice for the poor and homeless in different areas, and on different levels of activism. In June of 2020 after documenting its history and the purpose of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poor People’s Campaign, and with the approval of SCLC National

President, Dr. Charles Steele Jr, I submitted a proposal to Regent Universities School of Divinity’s Pastoral and Practical Theology Masters Internship Programs for seminary students wishing to go into ministries serving the poor and homeless after graduation.

It’s an exciting eight-week pilot internship program outlining, demonstrating, and recording Poor People Campaign activities, and events. The program is designed to provide insight to those that will one day be ministering to the poor and homeless, while being supervised, monitored, and graded weekly by Regent University professors and SCLC. In my view, it is a viable and legitimate platform for seminary students wishing to minister to the poor and homeless after graduation, and was permanently placed on Regent University’s list of accredited graduate Internship Programs, which keeps the Dr. Martin Luther King Poor People’s Campaign alive and bringing attention to the poverty and economic injustice that continues to haunt African Americans more than anybody else in America.