[act-ma] 5/21 Poor Peoples' Campaign - Mobilize Monday @ 2 PM

[Charlie Welch]

*Poor People's Campaign to Challenge Systemic Racism*

*as Protests at Massachusetts State House Intensify*

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*Nonviolent Direct Action Planned in Boston,*

* Part of Wave of Protests that has Hit 35 States, Washington, D.C.*

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*Poor People, Clergy, Advocates to Demand Immediate Restoration of the 
Voting Rights Act, End to Racist Gerrymandering, Reversal of State Laws 
that Prevent Municipalities from Raising Wages, Immigration Justice*

Linking Systemic Racism and Poverty: Voting Rights, Immigration, 
Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and the Mistreatment of Indigenous Communities

The Poor Peoples Campaign seeks to shift the moral narrative toward 
engagement with and commitment to the struggles of the poor and 
dispossessed.

Today we are living in a nation where systemic racism is used to deny 
the humanity of people to exclude them economically, politically, and 
socially. This effort relies on inflicting super-exploitation, violence, 
and mass incarceration on the effected communities. Since 2010, 23 
states have passed racist voter suppression laws, including racist 
gerrymandering and redistricting, laws that make it harder to register, 
reduced early voting days and hours, purging voter rolls, and more 
restrictive voter ID laws. In 2013 the US Supreme decided to gut the 
1965 Voting Rights Act.

These attacks follow a broader pattern of restricting and curtailing 
democratic processes by drawing on legacies of racism to undermine local 
efforts to organize for better conditions. As of July 2017, 25 states 
have passed laws that preempt cities from adopting their own local 
minimum wage laws. Most of these have been passed in response to city 
councils passing or wanting to pass minimum wage increases.

These continued attacks on democracy are connected to a growing 
scapegoating and assaults on undocumented migrants, xenophobia, and 
Islamophobia. In the years following the attacks of 9/11 and amid fears 
of economic insecurity, we have been led to believe that immigrants make 
our society and communities less safe, threaten our culture and 
democracy, and compete for our jobs and resources.

However, undocumented migrants contributed $5 trillion to the U.S. 
economy over the last 10 years. They have paid many billions into Social 
Security and federal taxes. They also pay eight percent of their income 
in state and local taxes, while the wealthiest one percent pay just 5.4 
percent. Undocumented migrants and legal residents are barred from 
receiving assistance under major public welfare programs, causing 
hardship for many poor immigrant families. These millions of decent 
hardworking Americans who strengthen our economy and communities must be 
treated with the dignity and respect due to all human beings. They 
should not be used as cover for the overall assault on our lives, 
rights, and living conditions.

Enough is enough! Join us for a rally on Monday at 2:00 PM.

*WHO: *Participants in Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign: A National 
Call for Moral Revival

*WHAT: *Protest at Massachusetts State House demanding immediate action 
to address

                              systemic racism and poverty

*WHERE: *William Gould Shaw / 54th Regiment Monument, Boston Common:

                              bottom of steps immediately across Beacon 
St. from the State House

*WHEN: *Monday, May 21 at 2PM

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