Mobilizing Kansas For The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival

The Moral Movement and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, before a packed audience at First United Methodist Church, Topeka, KS.

On August 21, the campaign went to Topeka, Kansas. At every mass meeting, people impacted by issues of systemic racism, poverty, militarism and ecological devastation testify about their own experiences. Mary Ackerstrom spoke about poverty and the plight of the working poor. She urged those in the audience to push against the feelings of isolation and fear that poverty can create. The counter to these feelings of hopelessness is the realization that there is an interconnectedness of all of us. We are only trapped if we think that no one else understands what problems we face, if we believe that our problems are unique.

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Mary Ackerstrom speaks about poverty
Mary Ackerstrom speaks about poverty

Mary Ackerstrom speaks about poverty[/caption]

Mary works with the Kansas People’s Agenda, a group that seeks to tie disparate social justice, environmental, LGBT, healthcare, and education groups together to create synergies of involvement. Mary’s advice to others drawn to organizing is to “dive in, don’t hold back, don’t hesitate. We are all in the same boat. You are NOT alone. No one is perfect — we all struggle — but there is strength in interconnectedness. No one can succeed in a void. Take a chance. Get involved. It is okay to learn as you go: you do not have to know every answer at the start. Simply take the time to sit and talk, listen and learn — take the time to get to know others. The shared needs and avenues to action will become self-evident. Together, we discover each other’s strengths. That awareness and interconnectedness can move the mountain of doubt, uncertainty, and inertia.”

The Moral Revival Mass Meeting is a part of a 15-state public event tour, which includes stops in Los Angeles, California (Sept. 19), Chicago, Illinois (Oct. 12), Binghamton, New York (Oct. 17), Boston, Massachusetts (Oct. 19), El Paso, Texas (Oct. 22), Seattle, Washington (Nov. 6), Jackson, Mississippi (Nov. 13), and the District of Columbia (Dec. 4).

WATCH THE MORAL REVIVAL MASS MEETING LIVESTREAM RECORDING

Join the Poor People’s Campaign

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival aims to build a broad and deep national moral fusion movement — rooted in the leadership of the poor, marginalized and moral agents and reflecting the great moral teachings — to unite our country from the bottom up.

The call for a Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has emerged from more than a decade of work by grassroots community and religious leaders, organizations and movements fighting to end systemic racism, poverty, militarism, environmental destruction & related injustices and to build a just, sustainable and participatory society. We draw on the history, vision and unfinished work of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.

We need a new Poor People’s Campaign for a Moral Revival in America. It is time to become a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life.

Answer The Call

Building A Moral Movement

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