Poor People’s Campaign Co-Chairs the Revs. Barber and Theoharis to Provide Campaign Update, Detail Next Steps

WASHINGTON—The Revs. Dr. William Barber II and Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, will host a press call Friday at 11 am EDT to provide an update on the campaign and outline its next steps.

The call comes as thousands of participants in the Poor People’s Campaign prepare for a major march on the U.S. Capitol Saturday to kick off the next phase in the groundbreaking movement.

Who: The Revs. Dr. William Barber II and Dr. Liz Theoharis

What: Poor People’s Campaign Media Call

When: Friday, June 22, 2018 at 11 am EDT

How: 1 (888) 466-9863 Audience US Toll Free

1 (847) 413-3768 Audience US Toll

Confirmation Code: 5287 763#

Please RSVP to: Michelle.Morris@berlinrosen.com

Background

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is co-organized by Repairers of the Breach, a social justice organization founded by the Rev. Barber; the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary; and hundreds of local and national grassroots groups across the country.

On May 14, campaign co-chairs the Revs. William Barber and Liz Theoharis kicked off a six-week season of nonviolent direct action demanding new programs to fight systemic poverty and racism, immediate attention to ecological devastation and measures to curb militarism and the war economy. For six consecutive weeks, protesters have taken to state capitols across the country and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., engaging in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, teach-ins, mass meetings, political education and cultural events, and religious services, resulting in thousands of arrests.

Last Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings responded to the protests by convening a two-hour hearing on Capitol Hill to examine poverty and hear testimony from people organizing with the Poor People’s Campaign around the country.  They heard firsthand accounts from an undocumented California woman struggling to raise a family; an Alabama woman whose daughter died in her arms because the state refused to expand Medicaid; and a Flint woman who is fighting for clean water in her community. Watch the hearing here.

The protests from coast to coast are reigniting the Poor People’s Campaign, the 1968 movement started by Dr. King and so many others to challenge racism, poverty and militarism. The Campaign is expected to be a multi-year effort, but over the first 40 days, poor and disenfranchised people, moral leaders and advocates have engaged in nonviolent direct action-- with thousands arrested nationwide—that will culminate in Saturday’s march.