by Lisa Raisner, Chair, Racial Justice & Equity (RJE) Committee
Join the St. John’s Racial Justice and Equity Committee and the Maryland Poor People’s Campaign (MD PPC) on Saturday, March 2 at the Maryland State House in Annapolis to advocate for critical anti-poverty legislative priorities.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival is an American antipoverty campaign led by Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. The campaign takes its name from the original 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, which was an effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States, organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King’s assassination. The Poor People’s Campaign has developed a moral agenda based on deep engagement with communities across this nation:
- Did you know that there are fewer voting rights now than there were 50 years ago when the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were passed?
- Did you know that while the U.S. economy has grown 18-fold in the past 50 years, wealth inequality has expanded, the costs of living have increased, and social programs have been restructured and cut dramatically?
- Did you know there are 140 million people who are poor or low-income in the United States today?
- Did you know that we imprison and detain more people, especially poor people, than any country in the world?
- Did you know 13.8 million U.S. households cannot afford water?
- Did you know that currently 53 cents of every federal discretionary dollar goes to military spending and only 15 cents is spent on anti-poverty programs?
- Did you know that thousands of people die every year from anti-poor policies, while an extremist religious and Christian nationalist agenda deliberately diverts attention from the key issues and challenges facing the majority of Americans?
Join us on March 2 as we advocate at the Maryland State House in Annapolis in support of the following legislative priorities this session:
- Establish quality, affordable, stable housing for all: fund emergency rental assistance, eviction prevention, & rent stabilization;
- End Maryland child poverty: raise the income eligibility level for the Maryland Extended Child Tax Credit (ECTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which help all low-wealth children and working people;
- Fund healthcare for EVERY person: stop the unraveling of Medicaid benefits in Maryland;
- Set a living wage in Maryland: raise the Maryland minimum hourly wage to $20, including an annual cost-of-living adjustment; and,
- Ensure food security for EVERY person: fully fund essential food programs.
More details on the Maryland PPC’s 2024 legislative priorities are available at mdppc.blogspot.com/2023/09.
Sign up here to let us know you are coming and whether you need transportation! Please also sign up with the MD PPC. Then watch this space throughout 2024 for more opportunities to make a difference. For more information contact, parishioner Tom Kennedy at kennedymedia@gmail.com.