A Monday rally in Memphis was one of many across the country calling for a Third Reconstruction, which organizers say is a “revival of our constitutional commitment” for the justice and welfare of the nation’s 140 million poor people.
The Memphis event was slated for 11 a.m. Monday between Memphis City Hall and the Odell Horton Federal Building on Civic Plaza. The event was organized by the the Tennessee Poor People’s Campaign and was one of 50 simultaneous rallies happening across the U.S. These events were to publicize the national push for a Third Reconstruction and announce a new National Poor People’s Assembly on June 21st, 2021.
Dr. Martin Luther King and others formed the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968 for a “revolution of values” in America. They wanted to build a broad movement to unite poor communities across the country.
The Third Reconstruction movement draws “on the transformational history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggles of the 20th century,” according to the group. Details of the Third Reconstruction are outlined in a proposed resolution sent to lawmakers in the U.S. Congress.
The resolution describes a country in which ”the injustice of poverty and low wealth is deeply entwined with the injustices of systemic racism, the denial of health care, and ecological devastation, militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism that seeks to blame the poor instead of addressing systems that cause poverty.”
It claims that 250,000 die each year from poverty and inequality. The resolution describes how poor communities of color were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, how they’ll be the hardest hit by new voter suppression laws, how millions face homelessness and food insecurity, and how those in poor communities are more likely to face incarceration.
To fix these issues (and more), Third Reconstruction organizers want Congress to admit that the federal ”budget is a moral document that exposes the priorities and values of our nation, however, addressing poverty has not been a top legislative or budget priority.”
The group wants direct budget action to permanently expand welfare benefits, provide cash assistance programs, raise the minimum wage, and guarantee “safe and quality housing for all by ending all evictions, cancelling past due rent and mortgage payments, and expanding the stock of affordable and public housing.”
The group also wants Congress to guarantee quality education, a universal, single-payer health care system, establishing “a fair redistricting process that eliminates all forms of racist and political gerrymandering, allows public input, and guarantees that every vote counts the same.”
Read the 19-page resolution here for further details.
Monday’s rallies were also a run-up to the National Poor People’s Assembly. The Raleigh, North Carolina event is slated for June 21st and will be streamed live at the group’s website.
