Rev. William Lamar, @MetropolitanAME Washington, D.C.; @fhunscripted@friendshipwest Baptist Church in Dallas, TX; and Rev. Dr. @alvjc, Co-Chair/Executive Director Mass Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington.
Pam Garrison @WestVirginiaPPC: “Senator Manchin, shame on you for looking down your nose at us! ... We didn’t create this poverty. This is the result of you and the Congress’ failure for decades.” #PoorPeoplesCampaign
Sen. Manchin, Republicans, & so-called moderates keep saying, “There is no room in our democracy for the uplift of poor & low-wealth people,” but the Christmas story shows us that God can work through poor people to bring good tidings of great joy for everyone,
even when those who think they’re in control and say that there’s no room.
During this Christmas season, too many people are being denied access to the basic building blocks for abundant life—living wages, voting rights, health care, a pathway to citizenship,
and protection from ecological devastation. The continued erosion of the #BuildBackBetter agenda and the dismantling of voting rights protections across the country this year have revealed a dangerous and immoral political philosophy that assumes there is no room in the democracy
“South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, had spent weeks trying to turn Manchin against the bill and said ‘I very much appreciate’ Manchin’s opposition.”
I’m just watching the clip of @VP Harris on @CThaGod’s show. I’m glad he asked the question, and glad she answered the way she did. Brother Charlamagne, keep raising the hard questions.
Dems need to be very clear who the President is! The President should go to West Virginia and Arizona and then to the well of the Congress, and be very clear that the fight for voting rights, Build Back Better, living wages, etc. is all connected.
And Madame @VP, that fire and firmness you showed toward Charlamagne is the very fire and firmness you should show towards Manchin and Sinema. How dare they keep you from casting the final votes on BBB and voting rights, key steps to saving this democracy!
Congress is choosing to spend more on guarding the world’s oil supply (at least $81 billion a year) than on the Build Back Better proposal for fighting climate change ($55 billion a year).
Congress is spending more on a single military contractor, Lockheed Martin ($75 billion last year), than on the Build Back Better proposal for preschool and child care ($40 billion a year).
Congress has authorized spending an extra $25 billion next year on weapons the Pentagon didn’t even ask for, rather than the $20 billion a year Build Back Better proposal for poverty-busting tax credits for families and workers.
Respectfully to @POTUS, @TheBlackCaucus, and others: voting rights is not the most important fight. When we say that we separate issues, that should never be. If you have voting rights but don’t have an agenda that takes us forward, it’s not enough.
If you have voting rights, but lose the planet? If you have voting rights, but poverty is destroying the lives of millions, you still have an impoverished democracy. If you look at voting rights only through the lens of race, it becomes a Black issue rather than a democracy one.
We have three fights we must see as non-negotiable and inseparable if we are going to address the issue of racism, poverty, militarism, etc.:
1) The infrastructure of our democracy, voting rights, redistricting, etc.