This week, on the final day of the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival did something historic. We confronted the House Budget Committee in an official, bipartisan congressional hearing on poverty in America.
At the hearing, Campaign leaders and moral witnesses spoke to members of Congress about the REAL national emergencies of poverty, systemic racism, militarism, ecological devastation, and the distorted moral narrative of Christian nationalism facing our communities.
Callie Greer (Alabama), Kenia Alcocer (California), Chris Overfelt (Kansas), and Savannah Kinsey (Pennsylvania) were joined in their testimony by Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II.
But many members of the House Budget Committee refused to listen, and instead repeated tired false narratives about poverty — that we are too lazy, crazy, or stupid to lift ourselves out of poverty.
Watch our director, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, respond to these modern day Caesars, and share this clip widely to let policy makers know we are getting into step in a moral fusion movement to end poverty forever.
As Rev. Dr. Theoharis said at the hearing, we need a real, serious conversation on poverty in this country, led by the impacted. Through our work at the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress this week, and for the long haul, the Kairos Center continues to organize the poor across all the lines that divide us.
Give to the Kairos Center today to help us continue to do this important work.
Fight poverty, not the poor!