Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Poor people's summit and march on the capitol to end poverty

author : Pat Tassoni topic : poverty

by Pat Tassoni

“The existence of poverty in the US should not be accepted as a necessary evil or an insoluble problem, but should be considered a crisis requiring emergency measures. It is a matter of will and priorities, not a matter of resources.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ending poverty, creating opportunity

Everyone has the right to be safe and healthy but in Washington state many people are without the means to ensure the safety and security of themselves and their families. This places Washington residents at risk; it is dangerous to be forced to sleep on the streets, to go without food, or basic healthcare. Everyone in our state should have the means to secure their basic health and well-being. Everyone who works has the right to a job that allows them to support themselves and their families.

A growing network of churches, labor organizations and non-profits will again bring their members to march on the state Capitol on Jan. 21. Uniting under the above words of Martin Luther King, Jr. on his holiday, they will urge elected representatives to make ending poverty in Washington a priority. The legislative session will just have begun and your voice is needed to encourage the state government to play a leading role in ensuring that everyone in Washington is able to meet their basic needs. Bills and issues expected to come up this legislative session are geared toward creating more affordable housing and protecting tenants rights as well as solving homelessness; regulating payday lending and predatory mortgages; and expanding living wage and health care.

The day begins at 9 am with a morning of issue trainings and skill-building workshops on the legislative process and bills concerning poverty that are being, or should be, considered by our representatives. At 11 am there will be a march to the Capitol steps where we will rally; lunch will be provided. Participants are then encouraged to meet with their legislators to impart their messages about poverty. The summit is located at St. John’s Episcopal Church (on the corner of Capital Way and 20th Ave SE in Olympia).

Poor people’s movement

When MLK had just celebrated his fifth birthday, 1,000 unemployed Washingtonians marched on the capitol in Olympia in a Hunger March (Jan. 17, 1933) to call upon the legislature to address the conditions of hunger, homelessness, housing, poverty and unemployment. The state responded with stalling decisions but managed to pass a relief bill using federal money. Six weeks later, Franklin Roosevelt took office as President, implementing the New Deal policies that brought welfare, Medicare, unemployment, social security and public works programs.

Shortly after MLK celebrated his ninth birthday, FDR delivered his second inaugural speech (Jan. 20, 1937), the point of which was to wrestle society-controlling power from corporations and give it back to the people:

“But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens – a substantial part of its whole population – who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life.

“I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.

“I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago . . .

“I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”

Where are we now in the 21st century, on the 75th anniversary of Washington’s first Hunger March? One-third of our state is ill-housed and ill-nourished. (No doubt due at least in part to sweatshop labor, we are not ill-clad.) Across our state as many as 1.7 million people are struggling in poverty, many with low-wage jobs, unable to meet their basic needs.

A few years ago, Washington ranked as the second hungriest state in the union and Washington continues to have one of the highest rates of hunger in the nation. Nowhere in the state can anyone working a minimum-wage job or anyone on public benefits afford fair-market rental housing costs in the state. In Washington, there are not enough jobs for the unemployed as there are more people looking for work than there are job openings that pay a living wage. Today, minimum wage, a concept established in 1959, is further below the poverty line than it has ever been.

National poverty was the impetus for Martin Luther King to officially launch the Poor People’s Campaign shortly before his assassination:

“I think [a job] ought to be the first thing that we guarantee every person capable of working a job. And this can be done in many, many ways. There are many things that need to be done that could be done that’s not being done now. And this could provide the jobs.... And of course, there are definitely going to be people all along, people who are unemployable, as a result of age, as a result of something that failed to develop here or there, and as a result of physical disability. Now these are the people who just couldn’t work. Certainly they have a right to have an income. If one has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then he has a right to have an income. Now, this may mean a radical, in a sense, redefinition of work. Maybe we’ve got to come to see that a mother who’s at home as a housekeeper or as a housewife is working.”

Pat Tassoni is staff of the Thurston County Tenants Union and can be reached at (360) 943-3036 to resigter for the march or tctu@tenantsunion.org.