The sixth and final week of rallies in North Carolina and around the country for Poor People’s Campaign has come to a close and has led to thousands of arrests of protesters at state capitol buildings.
The campaign, which has lasted 40 days, is a call for “moral revival” and action from legislators to confront poverty, discrimination, environmental damage and the amount of government money spent on warfare.
Former president of the North Carolina NAACP Rev. Dr. William Barber left that position to “revive” the Poor People’s Campaign, a movement started by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
Fifty years later, Barber is co-chair of the national campaign whose recent demonstrations stem from his widely known “Moral Monday” protests here in North Carolina, according to President of the Chapel Hill Carrboro NAACP Anna Richards.
“If you want to start at the heart of it, here in North Carolina, [it is] with the Moral Monday movement, led by Reverend Barber. This is really a continuation of both the Poor People’s Campaign of 50 years ago as well as this moral outcry that says, ‘Look at what we’re doing. Is this who we are? Is this who we want to be as a nation?,’” said Richards.
The next phase of the campaign is a Stand Against Poverty, Mass Rally & Moral Revival event in Washington D.C. this Saturday at 10 a.m. where Richards said she hopes the turnout will speak real “truth to power.”
“Over the last five weeks, I think we’re up to 2,000 people having been arrested, and it’s really trying to challenge this systemic racism, poverty, the war economy and also the ecological devastation as epitomized by a lot of the rollbacks that are taking place against mother earth,” Richards said.
According to Richards, the Durham NAACP along with other organizations are sponsoring buses to travel from Durham to Washington D.C. for the rally for residents who want to ride share and attend.
For more information on catching a ride to the Stand Against Poverty, Mass Rally & Moral Revival tomorrow click here.
