Washington, DC – On the morning of Saturday, June 18, thousands of people poured into the streets in front of the United States Capitol to participate in the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) political action. They are demanding justice and redressal for millions of people in the United States facing poverty and deplorable living conditions under U.S. capitalism.

“54 years ago my father launched the Poor People’s Campaign to revolutionize the economic landscape of our nation. Unfortunately, Dr. King did not live long enough to see it come to fruition. However, on June 19, 1968, my mother Coretta Scott King was here in the nation’s capital to deliver a very powerful message on poverty,” said Reverend Dr. Bernice A. King, “She made the appeal that poverty is not only a longstanding evil of this nation, but an actual act of violence against the dignity, livelihood and humanity of its citizens.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands died from curable diseases each year, due to poor access to health care. The pandemic only exacerbated these conditions, especially for African-Americans, Native Americans, Chicanos, Mexicanos and Latinos and other oppressed nationalities. Over a million people have died. It is why so many people from different cross sections of society – those in health care, peace activists, socialist organizations, and labor organizers, joined in coalition with the PPC to denounce the conditions capitalism puts workers and their families in, especially during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Such is the time now for a mass moral meeting in the streets,” said Dr. Reverend Barber of the PPC. “We can’t be silent anymore.” He added, “This is a movement until children are protected, until sick folk are healed, until low-wage workers are paid, until immigrants are treated fairly, until affordable housing is provided, until the atmosphere, the land, and the water are protected.”

The PPC has also announced another mass mobilization in Washington, DC scheduled for September 2022. The PPC plans to join 5000 poor and working class people and religious leaders with 100 economists in a “nonviolent moral direction action.”

The rally took place commemorated the 50-plus years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. founded the PPC in 1967, shortly before his assassination in 1968.

#WashingtonDC #DC #PoorPeoplesMovements #PoorPeoplesCampaign

Los Angeles, CA – On Aug. 29, the strong and inspirational Gloria Arellanes spoke at the Centro CSO yearly Chicano Moratorium commemoration, held at Self Help Graphics. Arellanes, who is a proud Chicana and Tongva, spoke about her invaluable experiences while building the Chicano movement for self-determination and liberation.

“I grew up with parents who insisted I call myself ‘Chicana,’” said Arellanes. “But I’d later find out that I was both Chicana and that through my mother was also Tongva. Not many people grow up understanding and embracing their roots.”

When the East LA Chicano Student Blowouts/Walkouts of 1968 happened, Arellanes was already a full-fledged militant, serving as the first female Minister of Finance and Administration of the Brown Berets. During this time police, the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover and President Nixon saw the Brown Berets as a dangerous organization.

Arellanes would go on to participate in the Poor People’s Campaign during the summer of 1968, in Washington D.C., where she marched alongside New Mexico-based Crusade for Justice leader Corky Gonzales, as well as many East LA Chicano activists like Carlos Montes. Additionally, Arellanes helped build for the now famous Chicano Moratorium of August 29, 1970, after helping with the first one of December 1969.

“I had left the Brown Berets in 1970 around that time and joined the Chicano Moratorium Committee,” said Arellanes.

Arellanes then helped create the Las Adelitas de Aztlan – an all Chicana, women-led and organized group. Arellanes recounted that during the March 1970 protest the Las Adelitas created signs and posters, and marched in the pouring rain, stating “We carried white crosses to show the high number of deaths during the Vietnam War. I was carrying the cross with my cousin’s name on it.”

Remembering the August 29, 1970 moratorium, Arellanes said, “I was there when LAPD and the LA Sheriffs turned our peaceful and beautiful rally event into a horrifying and bloody one. I have PTSD from what they did to us. I was tear gassed and I couldn’t breathe. People were running and screaming. Corky Gonzales, the rest of the Crusade for Justice, and countless others were brutally arrested that day.”

Arellanes talked about the aftermath of the 1970 Moratorium. “I was attending the memorial service for Lyn Ward, and what did I see in the bushes? Detectives surveilling us. The complete disregard for our lives, the ones they themselves had taken, was too much for me. They killed Lyn and then they continued to spy on us to see how we would react. I took a long break from activism after that.”

After the Chicano Moratorium repressive measures would be taken by the government to violently destroy the Chicano movement with Infiltrators and agent provocateurs.

The Boyle Hight’s commemoration of the 48th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium included many of the original members of the Chicano Moratorium Committee.

Arellanes continues to organize, working with Centro CSO and Black Lives Matter: Los Angeles to demand Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey prosecute killer cops. Arellanes is proof that the fight for self-determination and liberation is never over. With a growing resurgence of the newest generations returning to Chicanismo, Chicano elders are encouraged to join in the fight once again.

#LosAngeles #LosAngelesFL #ChicanoLatino #ChicanoMoratorium #Antiracism #GloriaArellanes #EastLAChicanoStudentBlowouts #PoorPeoplesCampaign

Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Minnesota Poor People’s Campaign rallied, May 22, while 18 individuals blocked both traffic into the building and also the light rail outside of the Whipple Federal Building before being arrested. They were calling for an end to mass deportations and other anti-immigrant policies.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is housed in the Whipple Building. It’s the last stop for immigrants before being ripped away from their families and communities through deportation. There have been more than 3 million deportations in the last ten years, and the current administration’s dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions are rapidly worsening the human rights crisis for immigrants and their communities.

MIRAC member Erika Zurawski was one of the 18 people arrested today. After being released, she said, “Today there was no business as usual for ICE’s deportation machine in Minnesota. 18 of us put our bodies on the line to stand in solidarity with the immigrant families being torn apart every day by ICE. Today we declared ‘no more deportations’ in Minnesota, and we’ll keep fighting until there’s legalization and full equality for all.”

The 18 people who were arrested were taken to Hennepin County jail and all of them were released by around noon.

While the 18 people were stopping business as usual, around a hundred more rallied in solidarity with their immigrant friends, families, co-workers and neighbors to say ‘enough is enough!’ Spirits were high and the protesters chanted “No more deportations! Sanctuary for all!” and sang songs of resistance including songs from the original Poor People’s Campaign led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

The groups pledged to continue building the movement for racial justice and immigrant rights.

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAc #PoorPeoplesCampaign

Saint Paul, MN – On May 21 the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and Minnesota Poor Peoples Campaign held a rally outside the Minnesota State Capitol. The rally featured members of MIRAC speaking about their experience with immigration and fighting deportations and also featured local movement singer Jayanthi Kyle leading the group in powerful songs.

After the speakers in front of the capitol, the group of around 100 people marched to the east side of the capitol grounds where there is a statue of Christopher Columbus. Surrounding the statue, the group spoke out about colonialism and white supremacy, with people like Columbus lionized despite setting in motion genocide against the native peoples of the Americas.

A sign was placed in front of the statue to tell the truth about Columbus’ real legacy and the group read it out loud together. Then people wrote messages on cards and left them at the statue expressing their reasons for why the statue should be removed from the capitol grounds.

The May 21 rally was the second of a series of Monday rallies that the Poor People’s Campaign is organizing over 40 days in conjunction with different organizations fighting for economic, racial social and environmental justice.

MIRAC and the Poor People’s Campaign will also hold another rally on the morning on May 22 at the Whipple Federal Building, where ICE is headquartered, with the theme of “The People Put ICE on Trial.”

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAc #PoorPeoplesCampaign #ChristopherColumbus