Poor People's Campaign recruits people in Spokane
Jonathan Hemphill and Bianca Davis-Lovelace
Leaders of the state Poor People's Campaign (PPC) visited Spokane recently for a Truth and Poverty Tour to learn about local social justice issues and help develop a local chapter.
Jonathan Hemphill of Tacoma and Bianca Davis-Lovelace of Seattle are two tri-chairs on the Washington State Coordinating Committee for the PPC. In January, Liz Moore, director of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, had stepped down as the third tri-chair.
Jonathan is legislative and administrative advocate for Mockingbird Society to transform foster care related to homeless teens. Bianca is executive director of the Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches REACH and a member of Bethany UCC. Devon Wilson of the NAACP Spokane helped schedule their tour in Spokane. They seek to build a chapter of the Poor People's Campaign in Spokane to do direct action.
"Through chapters in 40 states, we seek to highlight poverty across the nation to change the narrative that limits the face of poverty to the homeless man on the street," said Jonathan. "We want people to see children and families, too."
On April 6 at the WSU campus in Spokane they introduced the Poor People's Campaign through a panel on student-led movements in sync with values of the PPC. Social justice, racial justice, religious leaders and environmental activists are involved.
They are also recruiting people to go to a national Poor People's Moral Action Congress June 17 to 19 in Washington, D.C. The goal is to have 20 representatives from each state, including people impacted by poverty, clergy and advocates to decide where to go as a campaign, said Jonathan.
"Racism, poverty, ecological devastation and militarism are interconnected," Bianca said. "The main issue is that many who are poor are working two to three jobs."
For information, call 708-937-5711 or email bdavislovelace@gmail.com.
Copyright@ The Fig Tree,May, 2019
