Mass Meeting for the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival - August 21 in Topeka

Join Co-convenors Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis for a Mass Meeting for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on Monday , August 21 at 7:00 pm at Topeka First United Methodist Church (600 SW Blvd, Topeka). You can hear about the inspiration,vision and strategy for the Campaign. Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. The Campaign 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.

There is a resounding call to save the very soul of this nation: 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.

Join us for the Mass Meeting for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on Monday, August 21 at 7pm at Topeka First United Methodist Church. Childcare is provided and pre-registration is required for those who need childcare. Doors open at 7pm. Please pre-register if you plan on attending. 
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RIDE THE BUS FROM MANHATTAN:
MAPJ is sponsoring a bus to this event.  50 seats are available on a first come, first served basis.  We are asking for a $10.00 free-will donation to help off-set the cost of chartering a bus.  

Register for the bus here. 

​Manhattan Ongoing Discussions:

Join us at First Congregational on Sunday, August 27 after worship for a Discussion & Reflection on the Poor People's Campaign. All are welcome to join us, even if you were unable to attend the mass meeting on August 21. We will meet in the basement of the church and you are invited to bring your own lunch. 

On September 21, Indivisible Manhattan will host a discussion of "Democracy in Chains: The Deep history of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America" by Nancy MacClean beginning at 7:00 PM in the Grosebeck Room. 

Nancy MacLean is the award-winning author of Behind the Mask of Chivalry  (a New York Times “noteworthy” book of the year) and Freedom is Not Enough, which was called by the Chicago Tribune “contemporary history at its best.” The William Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, she lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Copies of "Democracy in Chains" as well as Dr. Barber's books are available at Claflin Books in downtown Manhattan.

Summary: Reverend Wm. Barber’s 14-Point Fusion Political Movement

The Third Reconstruction and Reverend Wm. Barber’s 14 Point Fusion Movement Strategies.  The Third Reconstruction is a remarkable 135 page book that details Rev. Barber’s evolution from preacher to organizer (and preacher). It provides a summary of precisely how Rev. Barber developed his Fusion Movement approach to organizing, how he strategically formed alliances, how he used civil disobedience, how he used moral language to unify groups who previously had been splintered by the 1%, and how he organized, not around elections, but around issues, issues where people of all colors had common ground: the same force opposing justice. The last chapter of the book is a discussion of his 14 strategies.

# 1.  Organize Locally & Engage in indigenously led grassroots organizing across the State. A sustained movement for the “long haul” requires local people who know and trust one another and equip these volunteers with tools and resources to effectively raise their voice at a state and local level.

#2.  Use Moral Language.  Claim the higher ground and expand your base by embedding your advocacy in moral and constitutional values shared by the majority.

#3.  Incorporate Civil Disobedience.  Civil disobedience conveys a willingness to sacrifice and has been integral to the first and second reconstructions. We are working with SURJ to offer a series of trainings culminating in one on civil disobedience.

#4.  Use the Voices of Everyday People.  We do not speak for those who can speak for themselves. Make the pain of the majority human, immediate and real by providing a place for these people to raise their voices. Retake Our Democracy has a developing strategy unfolding for videotaping individuals who can put a human face on injustice.

#5.  Recognize the Centrality of Race. While both race and class are central to Barber’s approach, he asserts that class divisions cannot be understood apart from a society built on white supremacy.

#6. Build a Broad Diverse Coalition Including Moral & Religious Leaders. Retake has met with the Santa Fe Interfaith Leadership Alliance and will continue to develop relationships with religious leaders.

#7.  Diversify the Base by Seeking Unlikely Allies. Part of Retake Our Democracy’s emerging community conversations strategy is to have neighborhood level conversations across party lines and to find common moral ground. At the same time, Roxanne went to the GOP Annual Meeting on Saturday and was very well received. We will be presenting to their membership soon.

#8.  Build a Transformational Movement that doesn’t Measure Success Based upon Elections.  Fusion politics is about forging sustained relationships based on common moral ground. This is not about making “transactional” alliances where I will support your issue, if you support mine. It is about forging common moral ground that is transformational to all involved.

#9. Make a Serious Commitment to Academic and Empirical Analysis of Policy. Retake has assembled over 50 experienced researchers who have a well-developed Research Resource Inventory and Protocol for developing Research Action Kits on a wide variety of issues. These will be available beginning in Feb.

#10.  Coordinate Use of All Forms of Media and Social Media.  Retake has a Media Team that is in the process of developing plans for maximizing our use of media and training Retake supporters in how to maximize their use of social media.

#11. Engage in Voter Registration and Education. A major strand of Retake’s approach is to Engage, Educate and Activate. Education will come in many forms: panels, trainings, book clubs, and community conversations.

#12.  Pursue a Strong Legal Strategy. Here is an area where Retake is not strong. We need to recruit attorneys to explore ways in which we can go to the courts to seek redress and to confirm our constitutional grounds on specific issues.

#13.  Engage the Cultural Arts. We are just beginning this process and will be announcing a musical and cultural celebration very soon. We are also supporting events like Writes Resist which was held yesterday at Counter Culture. But this is an area where we could do more.

#14.  Resist the “One Moment” Mentality. This is a movement, not a campaign. No one victory will usher in justice and no single defeat can stop us. Justice is on our side.