Thread by @HellerJake

Oops I messed up that thread 🧵. Here’s a new one about the #PoorPeoplesCampaign as the first broadcast airs at June2020.org

Leaders from the @fightfor15 movement speak about their lives on wages less than $15/hour: home health aids making $10/hour, kids getting ready for school in the back of a minivan, where they lived

A certified nurse’s assistant says she is *smuggling* PPE to her coworkers

“Our jobs are connected to our healthcare...it’s a matter of life and death”

98% of hospitality workers have been laid off because of COVID-19. (98 percent!) - @unitehere

Riva, a care worker in Baltimore, says nursing home workers had to wear ponchos to try to protect themselves because they didn’t get PPE

72 million people can’t afford their medical bills

Natalia, in Wisconsin, lost her job at a chocolate factory when Covid hit and now says she’s one emergency away from “losing it all”

At the doctor’s office, “they do treat me different if they know that my insurance isn’t as high quality as others”

.@algore talks about how the climate crisis, if not addressed, will push another 100 million people worldwide into poverty

.@Janefonda: 1/3 of people in America cannot afford clean water

An activist in Dallas, Texas talks about superfund sites: “We are being killed by air...we are being killed by the water...our children are dying.”

“As long as we’re divided, they can conquer”

.@drjlastword on MLK discussing predatory capitalism: “what kind of society creates 40 million poor people?” Now the number is 140 million.

Lois Swimmer, who works for a property management company in Kansas City, makes $470 per month.

Now highlighting the stories of immigrants, including the 11 million who are undocumented: “we are not criminals, we are not animals, we are human beings” #PoorPeoplesCampaign

“This is not about left vs. right; this is about right vs. wrong”

“We need to vote this year like our lives depend on it—because they do.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

Voter suppression: Braxton, a college senior in North Carolina, says “I don’t see the difference between gerrymandering and the 3/5ths compromise” #PoorPeoplesCampaign

“Broken, busted, and disgusted—in one voice.”

Anu Yadav was working as an ally to advocate for housing rights. Then she lost her housing, her job, and her healthcare all at the same time: “no one gets left behind!”

Arkansas is the only state that doesn’t require landlords to make repairs—so they often refuse. #PoorPeoplesCampaign

23 families face eviction every day in Greensboro, NC. More than half then end up homeless.

“Mass homelessness is a society’s collective moral failure.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

Did you know that 1.5 million students were homeless in 2018?

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

Karla, the first in her family to go to college, explains how her father’s increase in income led to a decrease in her financial aid. “We’re trying time follow our dreams but they seem impossible without support.”

Wilburn, a teacher in Missouri, says that politicians looking to make cuts turn first to cut school budgets. Why? Because “a lot of their children are not in the schools that we’re teaching in” #PoorPeoplesCampaign

Now: mass incarceration.

Kaleem: "people in low income communities are not criminals. But a crime has been committed against them. And that crime is poverty."

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

💵 $1 of Congressional discretionary funds 💵

military spending: 54 cents
anti-poverty programs: 15 cents

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

“Living in America is living in a constant state of mourning.”

“With this amplified police presence, it’s terrifying.”

“The front that we present—it has to be an intersectional front.”

#BlackLivesMatter
#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@liztheo: “We must break through the lie that some lives are more precious than others...or that the rich and powerful are coming to save us.”

“The people demand justice.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@liztheo: “We reject the false narrative that poverty is inevitable.”

“We demand justice and will do so until we claim all of our rights.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@CornelWest: This #PoorPeoplesCampaign is a light in this moment of darkness.”

.@RevDrBarber: “We’ve heard the cries of America’s poor.”

“There are moments when the universe itself groans and declares: it’s time.”

“We’ve gathered together to say it’s time, America. It’s passed time.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber: “in this fateful hour, your time has finally come.”

“A new and better government can be instituted.”

“Now is the time, this is the place, and we are the people.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber quotes Dr. King: “In our society it is murder to deprive a person of a job or an income.”
#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber: “every regressive public policy has a death measurement on the downlow.”
#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber: “It’s time for a major transformation and reconstruction.”

“We are not asking for one thing; we are demanding that this nation reconstruct everything.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber: “the worst mistake we could make now...would be to demand too little.” #PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber: “if you like the 8-hour work day and the weekend, you owe it to labor organizers.” #PoorPeoplesCampaign

.@RevDrBarber: “It’s time to believe again... It’s time to come together and vote like never before... It’s time to rise up, it’s time to reconstruct... It’s time to show this world that is travelling wrong... It’s time to mobilize... The time is right now.”

#PoorPeoplesCampaign

The end!

The program will air again at 6pm EST and again tomorrow at 6pm EST at June2020.org