Join United Methodist Women and United Methodists in a virtual
MASS POOR PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY & MORAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON
Register here: poorpeoplescampaign.org

The Poor People’s Campaign reminds us that “Everyone has a Right to Live.” The turmoil in our nation reveals long-term structural injustice and we cannot go back to an untenable “normal.” The Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the campaign, observes that:

Long before COVID-19 came to our shores, 140 million Americans were poor and low income. Seven hundred people were dying every day from poverty in this nation before we declared a national emergency. Eighty million people were uninsured or under-insured… The lethal violence of racist officers is only one manifestation of the systemic racism… George Floyd’s murder comes after the compounded death and deadliness of a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on poor and low-income communities across this nation. More than 100,000 people have said, “I can’t breathe,” as this disease choked them to death.

United Methodist Women is a national faith member of the Poor People’s Campaign, A National Call for Moral Revival, and serves on their Prophetic Council of faith leaders. You will also hear about Poor People’s Campaign demands for voting rights and a just economy and how you can connect to the campaign in your state for local faith and community responses.

Building on the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign of 50 years ago, the campaign addresses the intersecting realities of poverty, racism, environmental degradation and militarism, including State violence in communities of color in the U.S. It integrates United Methodist Women priorities of Economic Inequality, Racial Justice and Ending Mass Incarceration, Climate Justice and Maternal Health. It advocates for strengthening our democracy and voting rights in order to achieve the goals of an ambitious transformative agenda, see the full statement at poorpeoplescampaign.org/about/our-demands.

Get more information and learn about what United Methodist Women are doing to address economic inequality:

• UM engage in Poor Peoples Campaign  (on Facebook)
• UMW Economic Inequality Initiative (on Facebook)
• United Methodist Women resources related to economic inequality

The CA-NV Conference United Methodist Women Social Action Event, “Interrupting the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline, Part 2”, originally scheduled for April 25, 2020, has been postponed due to COVID-19 health concerns.

With the current statewide “shelter in place” order, which may be in force into May, the event team is considering other options, including hosting a “virtual event.”

The original plans for this event are on the CA-NV Conference UMW website.  Please check their site for updated information.