Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
On Monday, June 10, I discussed my new book, White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
There’s a pernicious image we’ve all been given of American poverty – that of a Black woman on welfare. That picture both demeans Black people and it dismisses tens of millions of White people. The fact of the matter is that in raw numbers the majority of poor people are White people and White women.
There are 135 million poor and low-wage people in this country today – people who come from every race, creed and culture. As Martin King said, the fear of the racist oligarchy of this country was for the masses of poor Negros and the masses of poor Whites who would come together as a voting bloc and fundamentally change the economic architecture.
I hope this book can help expose the myths that divide poor people amongst themselves and contribute to the building of a moral movement that can abolish poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in this country.
We are just one week away from the June 29th “Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Polls.” We’re taking a moment to celebrate the powerful work of hundreds of impacted people and organizers who’ve helped build this movement and who are making the upcoming gathering a reality.
To RSVP for the assembly and moral march, visit the website: poorpeoplescampaign.org.
Forward together, not one step back!
Bishop William J. Barber, II is the national co-chairperson of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, president & senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, and the founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.
