WEBVTT - How Do Cats and Dogs Perceive Time?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff Lauren bogebam here. Originally organized by Martin

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<v Speaker 1>Luther King, Jr. And the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or SCLC,

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<v Speaker 1>the Poor People's Campaign was born from a push for

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<v Speaker 1>economic justice in the Civil Rights era and is now

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<v Speaker 1>impacting policies and elections at every level of government. We

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<v Speaker 1>spoke by email Jonathan Wilson heart Grove, a Poor People's

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<v Speaker 1>Campaign steering committee member. He explained the original Poor People's

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<v Speaker 1>Campaign was a fusion movement for economic justice that grew

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<v Speaker 1>out of the Civil Rights movement. Natives Chicano's, poor whites

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<v Speaker 1>from Appalachia, and welfare rights organizations from northern cities joined

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<v Speaker 1>black folks from the South to demand an economy that

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<v Speaker 1>works for everyone. That coalition won some real gains with

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<v Speaker 1>the War on Poverty, the Fair Housing Act, and the

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<v Speaker 1>legislative advocacy of the Children's Defense Fund. President Lyndon Johnson

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<v Speaker 1>declared the War on Poverty in nineteen sixty four, year

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<v Speaker 1>in which nineteen percent of Americans about thirty five million

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<v Speaker 1>people at the time, lived below the poverty level. King

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<v Speaker 1>was motivated to call for representatives from various geographic and

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<v Speaker 1>racial groups to help gain federal funding for a number

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<v Speaker 1>of social programs, including a form of universal basic income,

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<v Speaker 1>plus housing for the poor, and other anti poverty programs.

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<v Speaker 1>In November of nineteen sixty seven, King and the staff

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<v Speaker 1>of the SCLC met and decided to launch the Poor

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<v Speaker 1>People's Campaign to highlight and find solutions to many of

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<v Speaker 1>the problems facing poverty stricken people in the United States.

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<v Speaker 1>The initial objective was to address rampant economic inequalities with

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<v Speaker 1>non violent direct action in a widespread form of civil

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<v Speaker 1>disobedience known as the Poor People's March. King, however, was

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<v Speaker 1>assassinated before the culmination of the organization's efforts took place.

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<v Speaker 1>Following his death, King's longtime friend Ralph Abernathy led the march,

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<v Speaker 1>which included an estimated fifty thou demonstrators walking from the

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<v Speaker 1>Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, as well as speeches

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<v Speaker 1>from Abernathy, then Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Democratic presidential candidate

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<v Speaker 1>Eugene McCarthy, and King's widow, Coretta Scott King. While the

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<v Speaker 1>original movement led to some major societal wins, it was

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<v Speaker 1>also met with a fair amount of opposition. Five days

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<v Speaker 1>after the march, authorities closed the temporary camp the demonstrators

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<v Speaker 1>had erected, known as Resurrection City, that stood on the

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<v Speaker 1>National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. Over a hundred residents

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<v Speaker 1>were arrested when they refused to leave the site, and

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<v Speaker 1>others like Abernathy, were arrested during a demonstration at the U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Capital Building. Wilson Hartgrove says that the aftermath of the

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<v Speaker 1>initial event was disheartening. He said poor people's demands were

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<v Speaker 1>silenced by public narrative that blamed poor people for their problems.

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<v Speaker 1>While the blowback could have stopped the organizers in their tracks,

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<v Speaker 1>those at the core of the poor People's campaign were unfazed.

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<v Speaker 1>Wilson hart Grove said. Over the past decades, many grassroots

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<v Speaker 1>organizations have intensified their efforts to expose the fundamental lie

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<v Speaker 1>that the world's largest economy cannot afford to meet the

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<v Speaker 1>basic needs of all of its people. Several of those

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<v Speaker 1>efforts began to gain national attention in when Moral Mondays,

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<v Speaker 1>The Fight for Fifteen, and Black Lives Matter all emerged

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<v Speaker 1>during the same summer as grassroots coalitions of people taking

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<v Speaker 1>direct action to reclaim democracy for the common good. They

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<v Speaker 1>were challenging the same entrenched powers as movements that were

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<v Speaker 1>building to address immigrant justice, environmental justice, native land rights, homelessness,

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<v Speaker 1>and public education. Originally known as the Poor People's Campaign,

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<v Speaker 1>the modern incarnation of the movement is officially known as

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<v Speaker 1>Poor People's Campaign. A National Call for Moral Revival. Wilson

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<v Speaker 1>Heartgrove explains that the addendum is significant to today's continued

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<v Speaker 1>struggles for justice and equality. He said, revival is an

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<v Speaker 1>alternative to reform. One of the things that our current

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<v Speaker 1>moment has revealed is that various efforts to reform our

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<v Speaker 1>system haven't worked. It's still killing us. It's killed two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and thirty eight thousand people through failed response to COVID.

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<v Speaker 1>It's killing more African Americans through police murders than were

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<v Speaker 1>lynched the height of Jim Crow's terrorism in the South,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's killing still more people from poverty. For too long,

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<v Speaker 1>America has been comfortable with this level of death, and

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<v Speaker 1>it has killed something inside of us. It has hardened

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<v Speaker 1>our collective heart. Our call for revival is a call

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<v Speaker 1>to choose life, to refuse to be comfortable with the

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<v Speaker 1>level of death our current system tolerates. It's a call

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<v Speaker 1>to reconstruct the system, to remake the world we are

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<v Speaker 1>living in to reflect love, justice and mercy. Several modern

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<v Speaker 1>leaders have been credited with the continuation of the efforts

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<v Speaker 1>put forth by the Poor People's Campaign, including Reverend William J.

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<v Speaker 1>Barber the Second and Reverend Doctor Liz the o'haris, who

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<v Speaker 1>serve as co chairs for the Poor People's Campaign. Wilson

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<v Speaker 1>hart Grove says that the organization began to invite the

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<v Speaker 1>emerging grassroots movements into a quote national moral Fusion coalition

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<v Speaker 1>to connect the visionary work of our elders in the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixties with the leaderful moments of today. The overarching

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<v Speaker 1>goal of the organization, he says, has always been to

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<v Speaker 1>win justice for poor people by shifting quote the more

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<v Speaker 1>a narrative in the country from the distortions of the

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<v Speaker 1>culture War and the politics of left versus right to

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<v Speaker 1>the moral fundamental question of whether we are living up

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<v Speaker 1>toward deepest constitutional and moral commitments. In Sparked by the

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<v Speaker 1>murders of black men and women like George Floyd and

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<v Speaker 1>Brianna Taylor, the Black Lives Matter movement has gained massive momentum,

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<v Speaker 1>a phenomenon that Wilson Heartgrove explains ties directly to the

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<v Speaker 1>Poor People's Campaign. He said, people who have witnessed police

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<v Speaker 1>brutality and amass incarcerations disproportionate impact on African Americans cry

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<v Speaker 1>Black Lives Matter as a way of naming systemic racism

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<v Speaker 1>as a dehumanizing reality. They're organizing to demand change in

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<v Speaker 1>places like Ferguson has been exceptional and many people from

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<v Speaker 1>those grassroots movements have been part of the Poor People

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<v Speaker 1>Campaign's coalition buildings since we officially relaunched the campaign in

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<v Speaker 1>It's important to remember that Rosa Parks was organizing against

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<v Speaker 1>police brutality in Detroit, Michigan in nineteen sixty eight when

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<v Speaker 1>the original Poor People's Campaign came to Washington, so a

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<v Speaker 1>challenge to racist policing has always been a part of

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<v Speaker 1>this movement. While anti racism has historically been at the

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<v Speaker 1>root of the organization's mission, the magnitude of recent protests

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<v Speaker 1>indicates an unprecedented wake up call to many. Wilson Heartgrove said.

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<v Speaker 1>The protests have shown the effectiveness of mass, nonviolent demonstrations

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<v Speaker 1>to shift public opinion, and they have led many people

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<v Speaker 1>who have marched to ask the next question what changes

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<v Speaker 1>are needed in our public life to address systemic racism.

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<v Speaker 1>We have said all along that we can't address systemic

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<v Speaker 1>racism apart from poverty, environmental degradation, militarism, and the distorted

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<v Speaker 1>moral narrative of religious nationalism. So a lot of people

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<v Speaker 1>have come into the coalition grateful for an analysis that

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<v Speaker 1>can make the connections between issues, an agenda that makes

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<v Speaker 1>clear what's needed, and a budget that shows how we

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<v Speaker 1>could do it now if we had the political will.

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<v Speaker 1>During the election season, the organizers ramped up efforts to

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<v Speaker 1>inform the public about their right to vote and to

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<v Speaker 1>engage politicians at both the national and state level about

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<v Speaker 1>their campaign's issues. Wilson heart Grow said, We've done the

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<v Speaker 1>research and know that nationwide, poor and low income people

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<v Speaker 1>vote at rates much lower than high income groups. But

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<v Speaker 1>we also know of places where just a five to

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<v Speaker 1>ten percent increase in low income voters could shift the

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<v Speaker 1>political landscape, forcing politicians to listen to the needs of

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<v Speaker 1>everyday Americans. So we are inviting people to do that

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<v Speaker 1>work of educating and mobilizing their neighbors, and folks can

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<v Speaker 1>sign up to do that wherever they are. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Michelle Coknstantinovski and produced by Tyler Flang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more and that's in lots of other curious topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production

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