PHOTO BY LIZ MAUGANS

2022 Poor People’s Campaign march in Cleveland. Plans are underway to hold another Poor People’s Campaign March in Columbus, Ohio, on March 2, 2024.

by Bruce Checefsky

(Plain Press January 2024) The Poor People’s Campaign was created in 1967 when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., at a staff retreat for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), announced a campaign to reach a middle ground between riots and ‘timid supplications for justice’. His plan included descending upon Washington, DC, to demand jobs, unemployment insurance, a fair minimum wage, and education for poor adults and children designed to improve their self-image and self-esteem.

     In December 1967, just four months before his assassination, King announced to the press that the Poor People’s Campaign was coming to Washington, D.C. and over 2,000 people were expected to rally in support. The SCLC moved forward with the campaign following King’s death on April 4, 1968. Ralph Abernathy, the new president, stood in for King. More than 50,000 people showed up and participated in the initial protests, and between 5,000 and 7,000 remained in Resurrection City under the supervision of Rev. Jesse Jackson.

     Rosa Parks was one of the speakers at a rally near the Washington Monument on June 19, 1968, as part of the Poor People’s Campaign. Bobby Kennedy, who had suggested that King bring the campaign to the capital, was assassinated two weeks earlier in Los Angeles. The campaign ended on June 24, when a 36-day permit terminated the legal right to assembly. Police used tear gas to disperse the remaining crowd of 500 protestors. Abernathy, along with over 100 others, was arrested.

     The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) helped poor people by dramatizing their needs, uniting all races under the commonality of hardship, and presenting a plan to start a solution. Over 200 counties qualified for free surplus food distribution and promises from federal agencies to hire poor people to help run programs. Abernathy felt that these concessions were insufficient.

     The fundamental principles of the Poor People’s Campaign are rooted in a moral analysis based on religious and constitutional values that demand justice for all. A moral revival is necessary to save the heart and soul of our democracy. The campaign is committed to lifting and deepening the leadership of those most affected by systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, and ecological devastation and to building unity across lines of division. Equal protection under the law is non-negotiable.

     The campaign calls for the dismantling of unjust criminalization systems that exploit poor communities and communities of color and the transformation of the “War Economy” into a “Peace Economy” that values all humanity. The campaign insists that economic oppression must be named, detailed, and exposed empirically, morally, and spiritually. Other principles include building up the power of people and state-based movements to serve as a vehicle for a powerful moral movement in the country and to transform political and economic structures. The campaign and all its participants and endorsers embrace nonviolence.

     There are 140 million poor and low-income people in this country. An estimated 800 people die each day from poverty and low income, according to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

     Detroit and Cleveland were the worst and second worst among large cities in terms of overall poverty rate, child poverty rate, and working age (ages 18–64) poverty rate, said The Center for Community Solutions in a report released last September. East Cleveland, which has the lowest median income in the state, has 50.3% of children living in poverty. Cleveland has topped, or been near the top, of the poorest cities in the country for at least the last twenty years, at 31% in 2004, 36.9% in 2014, and the poverty rate in Cleveland in 2021 was 29.3%, compared to 12% of Americans living in poverty according to 2022 data from the United States Census. Almost 37% of households in Cleveland live on less than $25,000 a year.

     In March 2022, The Poor People’s Campaign marched through Downtown Cleveland Monday as part of a 10-state tour leading up to a national march in Washington, D.C., to support policies that benefit poor and low-income Americans. The protest attracted hundreds of supporters carrying signs and banners as they walked from a rally at US Bank Plaza to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

     The Northeast Ohio Regional Poor People’s Campaign held a meeting on December 6, 2023, to discuss an upcoming Columbus, Ohio, rally on March 2, 2024, and a mass assembly planned for June 15, 2024. The rally in Columbus is part of a national attempt to deliver PPC demands to every elected official in their corresponding statehouse.

     Lawrence Bresler, executive director at the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, reported on upcoming events and efforts to reach out to various groups in support of the rally in March. He expects over 10,000 people to rally at the statehouse.

     Mark Weber, president of Cleveland Peace Action, a convergence of people committed to ending violence and promoting justice through education, advocacy, and action, said he was meeting with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Ohio Senator J.D.Vance, asking them to work toward the Israel and Hamas cease-fire.

     “From our view, there is a genocide going on and 16,000 dead, including 5,500 children in Palestine,” said Weber. “We condemn Hamas for the attacks. We know that a 75-year occupation and a 26-year siege put people in desperate positions. Let’s work for justice.”

     Bresler indicated that when the Poor People’s Campaign rallied in Columbus previously, notwithstanding the distance between Cleveland and the state capital, more people from Northeast Ohio showed up than anywhere else in the state.

     “We want to be reaching out to groups and constituencies in Northeast Ohio and working out the transportation,” he said. “Among groups include the United Church of Christ, the Ohio Council of Churches, Greater Cleveland Congregations, Antioch Baptist and Affinity Baptist Churches, the Council on American Islamic Relations, and others.”

     Bresler wants both faith-based and community groups at the rally. Organized labor is also a key player and an important ally. He is looking for extensive participation from them.

     Gail Cox, Cheryl Pritchard, and Sharnell Woods added to the list of community groups they would like to see at the rally. They would like to see Moms Demand Action, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, the NEO Black Health Coalition, and the League of Women Voters as participants.

     Donald Nichols suggested reaching out to professional sports figures, including LeBron James. “Sometimes, athletes from the Guardians or Browns enjoy working in the community,” said Nichols. “LeBron did a lot for young people with poor backgrounds. They might be able to talk to other athletes.”

     David Guran, Robert Crow, and Don Bryant suggested Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Collective Citizens Organized Against Lead, the National Action Network, and the Cleveland Teachers Union.

     Bresler closed the meeting by suggesting they meet again on the fourth Tuesday of January [01/23/2024], six weeks from the rally.

     “A horrible bill up at the state level will make Ohio a Second Amendment sanctuary state, which means they will treat as null and void any possible federal gun laws like gun registration. If you want to call your so-called representative or senators to tell them that the bill is a bad idea, at least they won’t say they never heard to the contrary,” said Crow. “It is callus and bat shit.”

The Poor People’s Campaign recognizes that most of the policies take place at the state level, according to Bresler, which includes Ohio. The rally is meant to bring these values to as many state capitals across the country as possible. 

“We want to get a minimum of 1,000 people to Columbus on March 2 to emphasize the need to address the issues that are important to low-income people across Ohio,” he said in a phone interview with the Plain Press. “In terms of people getting involved in the rally, they can find more information at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org or email me at lbresler@organizeohio.org.”