Last Saturday, I watched in awe as at least 10,000 people from all over the US packed the National Mall in Washington D.C. as part of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
For weeks, members of the campaign have marched and rallied with poor people, clergy, and advocates in state capitals across the country to demand an end to systemic racism, poverty, ecological destruction, and the war economy.
On September 8th, we continue that fight with Rise for Climate, Jobs & Justice – a global day of action to get all state and local governments to commit to a Fossil Free world. Can you join or host an event on September 8th?
It’s been fifty years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the first Poor People’s Campaign – and this country is more unequal than ever before with 60% more people living under the poverty line than in 1968. In 2015, fossil fuels contributed to 9 million premature deaths. The death toll from climate change will only rise with each passing year, with poor people of color being most impacted.
We’ve gotten to this point because our elected officials continue to support a system that sacrifices people and the planet for the profits of a few. Right now, members of the Poor People’s Campaign are back in their communities registering people to vote and preparing to mobilize them to the polls. We need to follow their example and continue to work together in our own cities and towns.
If we rise as one and demand elected officials change course and commit to a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy, we can catalyze a sea change in this nation’s climate policies and in the process, save millions of lives in the decades to come.