claytoncubitt:

Martin Luther King’s Last Campaign:

One: “King called his crusade the Poor People’s Campaign. He planned to march on Washington with a multiracial army of poor people who would build shantytowns at the Lincoln Memorial — and paralyze the nation’s capital if they had to.

The campaign’s goal: force the federal government to withdraw funding for the Vietnam War and commit instead to abolishing poverty.”

Two: “What was the difficulty? The pain involved pulling together all of America’s poor: the Indians, the Puerto Ricans, the Mexican-Americans, the poor whites, the poor blacks – each of whom had been taught that the others were enemies. Historical circumstances forced each group apart and structured in each disrespect for the other. We had been so obsessed with competing with one another for the few jobs and privileges at the bottom of the economy that we dared not threaten our status with too much public or political identification. We thought competition was our most effective tool, when cooperation is our real challenge. Many of us had analyzed our problem to be simply race, when, in reality, race is only a part of the problem. Class is another part of the problem. There is an inherent contempt that the economic system holds for the suppressed at the bottom of the economy. Yet the economy of the nation rests upon the shoulders of the oppressed.”

Three: “After King’s assassination in April 1968, SCLC decided to go on with the campaign under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy, SCLC’s new president. On Mother’s Day, 12 May 1968, thousands of women, led by Coretta Scott King, formed the first wave of demonstrators. The following day, Resurrection City, a temporary settlement of tents and shacks, was built on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Braving rain, mud, and summer heat, protesters stayed for over a month. Demonstrators made daily pilgrimages to various federal agencies to protest and demand economic justice. Mid-way through the campaign, Robert Kennedy, whose wife had attended the Mother’s Day opening of Resurrection City, was assassinated. Out of respect for the campaign, his funeral procession passed through Resurrection City. The Department of the Interior forced Resurrection City to close on 24 June 1968, after the permit to use park land expired.”

See also: Laura Jones photographs of the Poor People’s Campaign, 1968

Far too few know this. For me, it is just one of the many reasons why King is one of my heroes.