The Cavalry is Arriving to Save the US From Fascism

Here comes the Poor People's Campaign

There are too many people who think that just writing posts on social media or a website or even Substack is all the activism you need to do. Given Donald Trump’s threat that he will rule as a dictator “only on Day 1” and making statements like “I will be your retribution” while the Heritage Foundation is hoping for a Trump win so it’ll implement its Project 2025 in the US, it’s gotten to the point where just writing online isn’t enough. There are times when you need to be in the streets making yourself heard.

The Poor People’s Campaign is launching a new initiative that’s designed to register more poor and low-wealth people to vote in order to vote out those who care more about an unfertilized egg than the fact that children go to bed hungry in the richest nation on Earth. The ultimate goal is to have a new reconstruction where we will have universal health care just like most other nations on earth, equal education opportunities for all children, having access to healthy food and clean drinking water, and making access to affordable housing a human right.

Yesterday there was a kickoff where people gathered in state capitals across the country to demand that state officials hear our demands for reforms. Most of the really nasty policies, such as the “Dont’s Say ‘Gay’” bill in Florida, are made at the state level. So I took a bus to Annapolis for the kickoff rally.

It rained like crazy throughout most of the day but the work was too important to delay due to inclement weather. We all brought either umbrellas or rain ponchos and just dealt with the rain.

The rally was held on Lawyers Mall, which is located just outside of the Statehouse. Lawyers Mall is especially symbolic since it’s dedicated to Thurgood Marshall, who was a civil rights lawyer who later became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.

Yes it was wet and cold but the rain didn’t do anything to dampen our spirits. One of the clergy who spoke at the rally mentioned that we should consider the rain to be a baptism, which I thought it was a pretty good way of dealing with the weather and the important work that’s ahead of us.

The rally included the DC Labor Chorus performing “We Shall Overcome.”

The DC Labor Chorus performed the song “Come On In This House” as people began doing a short march along the nearby shopping district of West Street to let others know that we were here.

More music was played as the marchers returned to the rally area from the short march.

For the rest of the rally various faith leaders spoke while those who are being impacted directly by poverty gave their speeches as well.

Towards the end of the rally everyone sang one of the Poor People’s Campaign songs “Somebody’s Hurting Our Brother/Sister.”

By the time the rally ended it had stopped raining. That figures! (LOL!) My pants were soaked from sitting on a wet chair for the entire time but at least I did it for a good cause. If sitting in the pouring rain for a couple of hours will lead to the ultimate defeat of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, it’ll be worth the discomfort of sitting in the cold and wet outdoors.

The rally itself is now available to view online. The Annapolis rally was covered in the local newspaper, The Capital Gazette. Annapolis was one of the many state capitals and the District of Columbia where the kickoff rallies were held simultaneously. Montgomery, Lincoln, Dover, Harrisburg, Austin, Atlanta, Springfield, Boston, Raleigh, Kansas City, Columbia, Montpelier, Richmond, Tallahassee, Indianapolis, Augusta, Trenton, and Madison were just a few of the places where these rallies were held.

However it’s not the end of what the Poor People’s campaign is doing. Tomorrow people are converging again on the state capitals to speak with state lawmakers to issue our demands to issue more humane and just laws so poverty will stop being the fourth major cause of death of Americans.

And from June 19-21 the Poor People’s Campaign will converge on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to demand that our federal legislators listen to us and help pass laws to reform the country. From there we will do everything possible to register new voters so they can participate in this year’s elections. Hopefully we can register enough people to vote out all those who are ignoring the plight of poor and low-income people while espousing Christian Nationalist beliefs and seek to turn the US into some kind of a cross between the old Confederate States of America and Russia under Vladimir Putin’s leadership. For more details, visit the Poor People’s Campaign’s website.

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