 Welcome to the third event of the Anabaptist Mennonite biblical seminary colloquium on active nonviolence titled understanding and engaging movements for movement for justice in 2020. Cosponsored by the Crock Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. We acknowledge that both AMBS and the University of Notre Dame are located on Pockegan and Potawatomi land. The Pockegan Potawatomi have been using this land for formation and education for thousands of years and continue to do so. My name is Janna Hunter Bowman. I'm an assistant professor of peace studies and Christian social ethics at AMBS, as well as a member of the advisory board of the Crock Institute. Please note that this session is being recorded. In this cosponsored series voices from different streams of nonviolence, including communal liberationist and strategic nonviolence are speaking as witnesses to the power of nonviolence in action. We're exploring urgent issues of racialized violence and high stakes election scenarios as strategic nonviolent responses. To start us off on the 23rd of September organizer and nonviolence trainer and AMBS graduate Sarah Nahar encouraged participants to find a core of five people to work with in alignment with the national campaign. Last week on October 1 Maria Stefan and David Courtwright spoke to the use of strategic nonviolent resistance to defend against illegal usurpations of executive power and help carry movements for justice through any November election surprises. Coordinate with movements of movements, including the poor people's campaign Maria said. My point is this in these trying and critical times voices from various streams of nonviolence are converging to encourage us to organize with our local communities and build power in coordination with national movements for justice that we know that we understand and that we trust. This brings us to our culminating guest speaker. Today we're asking, what can we and our communities do to organize for justice and build movements for justice. After hearing from our guest presenter today, we'll have the opportunity to discuss in breakout sessions, then we'll come back for question answer time as a full group. And you're welcome to send your questions throughout through the chat box. Now, Jason shank Quaker minister organizer and L card and co instructor of witness colloquium is going to introduce us to our guest presenter today. Jason. Thanks Jenna. So, it's my honor to introduce the Reverend Dr Liz Theo Harris who as you have heard is the co chair of the poor people's campaign with the Reverend Dr William J Barbara the second. This campaign organized the largest coordinated wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in the 21st century America, and has since emerged as one of the nation's leading social movement forces. I'm glad to virtually welcome you Liz to AMBS here the campus of which not quite three years ago hosted the kickoff for the Indiana organizing for this poor people's campaign. I myself have known Liz for nearly a decade and the approach to organizing that she and others have modeled at what is now the Cairo Center at Union Theological Seminary. The building of movement across color lines to end poverty led by the poor has become a guiding principle for my organizing and ministry here locally with the people's history of Elkhart project. Then just last fall in this colloquium. We together drew on Liz's applied research for Bible study of reading the Bible with the poor from her doctoral work, always with us, what Jesus really said about the poor. The leadership is increasingly recognized on a national level by sojourners or political or others. It's the way that Liz's work has informed my life, my faith, and this course that makes it such an honor to have her here today. So, thank you so much Liz, and I'll turn it over to you. Thanks so much it's great to be here with folks and it's an honor to be partnering in this conversation together. So I'll share a little bit about the poor people's campaign and this political moment that we're in and how we see it. And then look forward to some, some good conversation. The poor people's campaign is Jason was saying is organized all across the country and there are coordinating committees of poor people of moral leaders of activists in almost 45 states across the country. And right now we're engaged in a campaign called we must do more. It stands for mobilizing, organizing, registering and educating people for a movement, but a movement that votes there before this pandemic were 140 million poor and low income people in the United States. That was nearly half of the US population. And what we've seen over the past seven months on top of 200,000 plus dead has been tens of millions losing healthcare coverage, tens of millions at the risk of losing housing, millions losing jobs. And one in 10 Americans, this past month feeling depressed or suicidal because of the weight of injustice all around us. So we started the poor people's campaign, because we were following the call of the Reverend Dr. Martha King who said that there were these evils in the world and that you couldn't get rid of one without getting rid of them all. And so we approach this work with an intersectional analysis, we say that these five interlocking injustices of systemic racism and poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy and this distorted moral narrative of religious, especially Christian nationalism are five evils that you can't get rid of one without getting rid of them all. So we've come forward with a moral agenda and a policy platform that we launched this past June. That policy platform puts forth solutions and how to pay for them about everything from free higher education to universal healthcare to guaranteed adequate income to living wage jobs and and unionization rights. It includes shifting monies from police and the military into investing in education and the well being of everyone in the nation. And it has puts forth some pretty bold and visionary demands and policies around the mistreatment of indigenous and native peoples real immigration reform real police reform and sees that we can do it all together. And now this is a crazy political moment in our country. It's a time when we have fewer voting rights than we did 54 years ago, despite people fighting and dying for those rights. It's a and when we have a Senate that is willing to try to stack the court and rush an appointment of a Supreme Court judge. At the same time as they're not willing to pass the just stimulus bill, we can see that the nation's priorities and democracy is not right. And says woe to you who legislate evil and deprive the poor of their rights. Well, indeed, we are living in a time when we have those elected officials who are indeed depriving the poor of rights, and in fact, allowing for billionaires to make money off of profit off of a pandemic. What is really important about the work we're doing in this election is about shifting the narrative, getting our nation getting our elected officials getting our candidates to talk about and act about the solutions to the problems that are facing 140 million and growing people in this country. And, and, you know, part of what has happened over the past decades is that our politicians don't actually speak to the issues that are facing people and and folks aren't hearing their name or their condition. And with a study, not long ago, a study that shows that that if poor and low income eligible voters were to turn out in the election, vote around an agenda, not for particular, you know, we are a non partisan movement, but but to vote around living wages and health care that that in 15 states, just a small uptick of poor of eligible poor and low income voters voting together around an agenda could radically transform the entire political landscape. In 2016 election, there were 15 states were less than 20% Michigan 1% you know Pennsylvania 4% you know North Carolina 19% Florida about 7% of eligible non voting poor and low income voters were to actually show up and how do they show up well we have to, we have to organize against voter suppression. How do they show up well we have to make sure that there's transportation and childcare and we need to push forward election day should be a holiday. But then also how do how do they show up folks need to hear and see that we have candidates and politicians that are willing to put forward bold policies around the issues. And we know that that's possible, and that in those 15 states with just a small number of poor and low income voters, voting that it would have, it would have exceeded the margin of error. In the mid terms, it's actually 16 states, again, less than 20% of eligible poor and low income voters. So, so we're saying, and we're organizing those 140 million and in fact, you know, it was about 34 million poor and low income people who are eligible but did not vote. And so our campaign is all about organizing, reaching out to shifting narrative, speaking to the issues and demands of of poor and low income people, including having folks join a movement, but a movement that sees that saving the soul of our democracy matters. And so that's, that's a lot of the work we're doing right now. And it's, it's great to be here and to be able to be in conversation with you all today. Thanks Liz. I know you had shared a video we weren't sure if we would have time. Did you want to do the, the pain and poverty clip to give people a little sense of that'd be great. Great. So I'm going to share my screen here. So this gives a little bit of the context for this, this movement that Liz is talking about. I worked 41 years in the coal mines. I have black lung and it's just unfathomable what these poor coal miners have to go through in order to get what they have worked for and deserve. At one time, poverty was a temporary condition. You were on a down slope for a minute, but you could bounce back up. We can't bounce back up today. It's permanent. We're not going back to the factory and building cars and trucks like we once did. Good job working at McDonald's or the grocery store doesn't pay enough for one person to live. We work a 40 hour work week. Still not enough. Living from paycheck to paycheck rent at $600 a month. We got water bill, electricity. I do this for my kids and it hurts. I'm 46 years old. I've lived in poverty here in West Virginia every day of my life and I'm working. I am working poor with a bachelor's degree. I'm doing the best I can with what I have. We're in the height of mass water shutoffs. This entire neighborhood was shut off all at one time. I saw all my neighbors get shut off right in front of me. It was kind of terrifying. I'm 42 years old and I'm a cashier at McDonald's. I had lost my house. You're welcome to come inside. There's a lot of people that are living in their parts. You never notice until you're in the same situation. I want to have stuff to give my children. I'm paying all the bills and they need school clothes and stuff and they'll be asking me for I can't give them. Now I'm a Kansas farmer's wife. Kansas farmers are committing suicide. Why? They're usually in debt, up to their eyeballs. I see poverty in my own community. There's a 70% unemployment rate in the reservation right now. Here in New York City we're home to millionaires and billionaires and we have so many people living in the street and that's just not right. I've been a homeless veteran twice. I've lived in a shelter. I've been living down here since I was 17. My only chance of going to college was joining the Army. We are demanding that we stop the war on our poor. 700,000 people in this country are on the verge of losing their food stamps. This budget holds for shrinking the social safety net programs like Medicare. I just know that everything that's happening to us isn't right. I'm in stage five of kidney disease. I fell behind on my health care and they canceled my health insurance and they told me I have to wait until open enrollment. There's only five stages of kidney disease and I'm in a fifth stage. It's murder. If you ask me, it's murder. I lost a son to that violence. And I lost a daughter. No parent should have in America. She has to bury their parents. For lack of medical intervention. I'm well and because my children. My God. We often will show that video either at the beginning or kind of somewhere through one of these presentations because it's so important to get the faces, the stories and the figures of what's really going on and to also see these fighters who are organizing and mobilizing in communities all across the country. The goals of the campaign are to shift the narrative and to build power. Dr. King talked about the idea of building power in some of the last sermons and speeches of his life. He said power for poor people will mean having the ability, the aggressiveness, and togetherness to make the power structures of our nation say yes when they may be desirous of saying no. We have a lot of no going on right now. No stimulus. No post office. No future funding for education. No healthcare expansion. No hazard pay for essential workers who are really paid expendable wages. No real police reform. No accountability for state sponsored violence. No to peace. And so the idea of building up the power, the aggressiveness, the togetherness, the ability to be able to make power structures say yes. We may be desirous and are already coming forward saying no is really what building a movement building a campaign is all about. The issues of racism and poverty ecological devastation and militarism are far too grave, far too great for just one policy for one program for one protest for one feeding issue to be enough. What is needed in these times is a movement. And when we look at history movements are successful. When those that are most impacted are in the forefront in the words of Frederick Douglass those in pain must have must must strike. Those who would be free must strike the first blow those in pain know when their painters relieved. Right. And so this idea of of a movement that is led by those most impacted, but it's also a movement that is moving millions and moving people from all walks of life. What we have in the poor people's campaign and what we're seeing I think in this moment in history is unlikely alliances of people coming forward. We've been doing a lot of work in Kentucky, and folks there say, well we're organizing from the hood to the holler. We've been connecting folks through caravans. This past week we had ones, and we had folks from Mississippi and folks from Maine. We have four black folks in the Delta of Mississippi, and poor white folks in the, the abandoned warehouses and industrial factories of the Northeast, all coming together and saying, we want to be free. We can do better than this, it doesn't have to be this way. We cannot live in a world that doesn't have enough. In fact, we have five abandoned houses for every person without housing. In fact, even though tens of millions of more people said that they were went hungry in the past couple of months, we throw out more food than not just feeds this country, but feeds the world whole over. And we have some of the best medical equipment, some of the best medical advances that have ever happened. And yet, we have literally about 100 million people who have no health care, or inadequate health care that they can't afford to use. And we see these disparities, even this past week, as so many in Washington have gotten the COVID-19 virus, right? And you see these teams of dozens of folks and all of these resources going, and we should save everybody's lives. We should heal. You know, the Bible says when Jesus comes to a leper, the leper says, well, if you choose, you can heal me. And Jesus's response is, I do choose. Well, we have the medical technology. We have the food capacity. We have the educational resources to choose to actually eliminate these problems. And in fact, poverty and inequality costs more, costs more than what eradicating poverty would. So, for every dollar we invest in early childhood education programs is $7 saved in the future. If we were to, if we were to just turn one contract with Lockheed Martin for one building of one military set of planes, basically, we could expand Medicaid in 14 states for just the cost of one contract. So it's not that we can't do this. It's that we don't have the right political priorities at the moment to do it. And so it's not a scarcity of resources. It's a scarcity of political will. Well, when you have a scarcity of political will, when the power structures of the nation are saying, no, when you need them to be saying yes, then the solution is to organize, organize, organize. And in an election year, the solution is to mobilize and organize and register people, not just to vote, not just for one election, but for a movement, but a movement that engages in nonpartisan, but deeply political organizing. And that is prepared to push, to push forward an agenda, and to push whatever candidates, no matter what party they come from, to take up the needs and demands of poor and low income people when they're elected. And that's what our work is focused on. And that's why, despite the stories of pain, despite the hardship, I mean, there are people that are on that video that we just watched who are no longer with us. And it's been a short period of time since we made that video. Folks have, you know, there isn't a day that goes by in my, my life right now, where I'm not hearing about more loss more sickness more homelessness, and I'm sure that's the case with you all. And so, so the, the, the stakes are just too high for us to do anything less than organize everybody, like our lives depend on it and so that's exactly what we're, what we're doing, and we're doing it from deep moral and biblical and constitutional values and foundations. And we're doing it with a broad and diverse group of people who indeed hold the key to shifting the economic and political landscape in this country and across the world. And we must, we must push back against the narrative that blames poor people blames immigrants blames queer people blames women blames people of color for all of society's problems. We must stop believing the lie that that that if we just fight each other that that things will get better. We need to believe in the possibility of abundance, and that, and, and, and, and come against this lie that this is as good as it gets that we can't do any better than this. When we actually can and must. And in fact, it's what history reminds us is necessary, and what our biblical and, and constitutional foundations say we're obliged to. You know, I'm interested and excited to be here among you all for us to have more conversation for folks to, to have some time to talk in these breakout groups, I do want to have if people are interested. There is a lot of information about the poor people's campaign and about this we must do more campaign. There is this whole study that that is about unleashing the power of poor and low income voters that you know really runs against much of how pollsters have been talking about this election. There's been a lot of money being put poured into a, you know, trying to win a couple of undecided voters. But but very little time and resources towards trying to bring some of those eligible but but poor and low income voters of all races of all geographies together to be able to shift. I also want to encourage folks that to check out and read the moral policy platform to heal and transform this nation. We call it a Jubilee poor people's Jubilee platform because you know, many folks for many years have said well you can't ask for all of this, you know, you're, you're, you're asking for too much shouldn't we just focus on health care shouldn't we just talk about, you know, an earned income tax credit and our response to that is that we we need it all and we can have it all and and we will only be in a true for society that establishes justice and and and promotes the general welfare and and provides for the common defense. If, if we actually, you know, put the resources of this wealthy abundant nation and organize it around the needs and demands of those who are the most vulnerable the most marginalized. I have a saying in our work that when you lift from the bottom, everybody rises, and indeed, that's, that's not just morally a good idea. It's economically sound. So, indeed, that's that's the kind of organizing we're trying to do to organize from the ground up from the bottom up. We say in our work that the rejected are going to lead this revival and in fact folks are poor and low income people people undocumented folk folks that are being bruised and battered by the police folks who, you know, are losing family members to the lack of health care and to the lack of this nation being able to, to take real responsibility for the violence that's happening in this country and around the world. But, but who are coming together and building a movement and it's a very hopeful thing, hopeful and these very hard and difficult times. And so, I'm going to pass it back to Jenna and to Jason. Thank you so much Liz for those powerful words and for your introduction into your life work and into a movement. Just let's just recap a couple of key points here. One, Liz has talked to us about the way in which the poor people's campaign is working from some of the convictions articulated by Martin Luther King about the evils of systemic racism poverty ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism are interconnected. And this is what leads to that a particular kind of an intersectional approach that that is vital for thinking about what can allow for the a holistic movement that actually is meeting people's needs. She talked about the goals of changing a narrative and shifting power. And then that you interestingly Liz confronted one of the, one of the points that I suspect that you hear a lot is that, well, that's not realistic. And right away the response to that is, in part is twofold. One, drawing on Douglas to say, Well, we're working with a movement that is led by those who are most impacted. And it is in that ground up work that we can and we will work to do better and to do more. So thank you for that that powerful introduction, and we're now going to move into breakout groups. And we invite you to introduce yourselves, perhaps naming where you're coming from, and then speak to the question, if you so desire, what can we and what can our communities do to organize for justice and contribute to movements for justice. Of course, you're also welcome to articulate questions that you have from what Liz has said. And after you talk amongst yourselves about seven minutes, we'll come back together and we invite you to put your questions into the chat, and we'll have a time for Q&A together. Thanks. So Jason's putting us into breakout rooms now. When you see the invitation, please click join and that will take you to your breakout room. We'll see you in a few minutes. I'm going to pause the recording here. Welcome back everyone as you're coming back from your breakout rooms. People are coming in here so you can start to add your questions into the chat and I'll hand it over to Jana, who's going to be facilitating the Q&A. Welcome back everyone come back from your breakout sessions. As Jason mentioned, we welcome you to put your questions into the chat and we'll take it from there. Liz, one question that we have that has come in from even last week was, if people are indeed connected and create a small group of about five people or so. How can they get connected to the Poor People's Campaign? What's the best way to get connected to a local affiliate and to the national campaign? Yeah, so we are a movement that is really from the ground up and so the state coordinating committees are the center of gravity of our work, right? So if folks are in one particular town and are starting to organize, then the idea is to connect with the rest of the folks that are organizing in that state. And you can get information about the Poor People's Campaign and the states where people are active and some of the actions and activities that are taking place by going to our website. We also have web access, PoorPeople'sCampaign.org, and there's an interactive map. And from there you can both find out who else in your state, in your region are organizing and you can get connected to the chairs of the work and the coordinating committee in the state. I think in this moment when we're doing all of this work also around the larger election. There's also lots of stuff that people can do just in groups of twos and threes and fives in terms of texting and calling and making sure people are registered, making sure people are aware of the issues. You know, introducing the campaign, helping to sign up more people to do poll monitoring in some of the states that we're doing that kind of voter protection work. And so you can also find out that more general information at either vote.PoorPeopleCampaign.org or PoorPeopleCampaign.org slash voting. You can get there two ways, but you know, you can take this more pledge that we have right now where we're asking folks to say that they'll reach out to at least 100 people or 100 organizations or 100 communities, congregations. But then there's lots of ways I mean they're there, you know, we're doing every couple of days we're doing, you know, call ins and text ins and, you know, there's there's a lot of work that folks can do that's, you know, safe and from wherever you're kind of in place to make a difference in this election and also to register people for a movement, right. That isn't just about this election. Even while you're answering that question, several people posed a similar question so I know that is one that people are really feeling so thank you for that really concrete information. Another question here coming from a variety from a couple different people, but it has to do with power. A couple people are interested in hearing about power and why different Christian groups, Mennonites among them but not only Mennonites, who have an ambivalence about power, and so who might feel uncomfortable with this notion of building power. How, how you might speak to that theologically, and, and then also in practice. I have, I have a lot of favorite Bible passages, I'm a bit of a scholar. But, but one of my favorite ones. And, and a theme that I really love and appreciate from from the Bible is the agency and kind of power of, of impacted people of poor people. I've got a story for instance like the woman who is hemorrhaging blood, right, with the, and how she, you know, is in this crowd, and she approaches Jesus. And she can't really, she's not even sure she's worthy of getting his attention. But what she knows is that she needs to be healed. And she reaches out and she touches his cloak. And, and it says in the Greek that the power went out from him. Right. And that he then turns around and says who touched me. And it's because he realized that there was somebody that was there claiming her rights. And so I, I think when I think about power, I don't think about, you know, the ruling authorities, like I don't think about, I mean, I'm very aware that our, our, our Bible is doing polemics with, with those in power, whether those in principalities, whether they're the Caesar is a pharaoh, right. But, but, but it's very clear that by having Jesus is, you know, titles being God and Son of God and, and savior of the world, at the same time as Caesar's titles are God and Son of God and savior of the world. That there is a contestation for, for authority, for truth, for love and for justice. And that the Christian response to that is that the power is in people, especially in impacted folks and folks that that have nothing to lose but their chains and folks whose backs are against the wall and all we can do is push. All we can do is reach out and touch that cloak. And then from there, that's where transformation happens from, right. I mean, in, in, in John, the fact that that the first person who is resurrected is not Jesus, but it's actually a Lazarus, right. And that that's where Jesus becomes so much of a threat to the Roman Empire that they decide in John that that's when John when Jesus must be crucified. It's a crucifixion. It's, it's a punishment, not for your average murderer, not for your average robber, not for someone who's, you know, committing petty crimes around drug offenses, it's reserved for those that have been deemed revolutionary insurrectionists, a threat to state power, right. So, but but in John, what where Jesus becomes this revolutionary this insurrectionist this this threat to the powers and principalities is because Lazarus dies and is brought back. Again, we have story after story in our biblical texts of the power of people of the, of the, the truth and love and justice from below that comes up that is exactly what God is all about. You know, when we think about something like the Exodus, you know, the, this kind of mixed multitude of people, this apiru the that that becomes the Hebrew people, but who starts off as this ragtag band of people who have been marginalized and oppressed by the Pharaoh by empire, but who build an authority and a power amongst them that they're able to win justice, not just for, for them, but for for whole peoples and so, so again I, I love having conversation on this and we could talk about the Bible. And I think for many, many weeks, many days, many years to come but I think there's a lot of biblical foundations that talk about. And I think, in fact, and this is maybe a controversial or a challenging statement and, and, and take it as such if it feels that way. And, and also don't be offended. But I think it's often those in power, who say, you don't want power. And those in power, who say, well power corrupts and power absolute power absolutely corrupts. I don't think that that comes from a mom who's trying to figure out how to feed her kid. I don't think this I this this philosophical notion that power is a really bad thing. I don't think that power is used what you do with the authority or given what you do with the resources that you have at your disposal. That God cares a lot about, but, but the idea that you have power coming from people from within from below. I don't, I think that it's those in power who have tried to tell us that that's problematic. What you're saying to, or maybe implicit there is that we all are exercising power. It is being cognizant of that and then being deliberate about what we're going to do with the power that we are exercising in different ways. Another question. This particularly comes as we're thinking about how a seminary is partnering with the Crock Institute for International Peace, which of course is not a Christian organization. It's a God moral movement with leadership from two ministers. What do you see as the role of the Christian tradition in this interfaith pluralistic society, which were apart. This person writes I love how you draw wisdom from the civil rights movement and also acknowledge so much has changed since then. So I, I think this is a really important question because I think it's actually also a question about power. So yes, there are two Christian ministers who are the co chairs of this poor people's campaign. And yes, this poor people's campaign has faith leaders from more than a dozen faith traditions, and from about 20 of the largest kind of national bodies of different religions, whether it's a network of progressive Hindus, whether it's engaged Buddhists, whether it's the Union of Reform Judaism, whether it's folks that are indigenous and native peoples and various spiritualities and religions there, whether it's all different kind of stripes of Christianity and then other other faiths as well. And so what what what we know is going on, and has happened throughout history, is that there is always kind of a theological biblical bad battle that takes place. And it and, and that is that those in with with the wealth and resources of society and with the political power, always try to basically co-opt religion to make it stop them up right. Dr. Barber, the co chair of the campaign will often say, so often we have faith leaders and especially Christian ones who pray PR a why for leaders like Trump like different, you know, folks that are in in political authoritative roles, while at the same time that those political authoritative leaders pray PR a why on the poor on the marginalized on the vulnerable right and that that that that isn't true to traditions, and that is actually an that we need to talk about kind of a moral response to that. If people listen for instance to Pence's acceptance speech at the Republican convention, or if you really listen to almost any political rhetoric in these days right I mean Pence actually took two passages from the Bible, and replaced either the flag or America in the place of Jesus's name in what in his quote in his acceptance speech for for Vice President for the United, you know, for running for president on the Republican ticket that that kind of battle for the Bible right that that kind of co-opting of of religion to make it adhere to the status quo. It has to be pushed back against, you can't really build a movement. We don't take that kind of Christian nationalism on. And so, so I think that that, you know, we, we operate from from that place, but we also are very aware that it's people of many different faiths and people not a faith who who need to build a movement, but that the real moral issues in our day are not these kind of personal behavior issues it's not that Jesus was a card carrying member of the NRA it's not that that God cares about who is having sex with who, but that what our sacred texts and traditions that we watch and show is that how you care for the marginalized, like when you feed the hungry that this is what are, you know, this these are the real moral issues in our day and again if we look at our sacred traditions, if you, you know, if you, if you erase those 2500 in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Testament, you know, really the Bible falls apart and that, but you have to contend you have to be engaged in that, not that it's the only thing but but that if you're interested in taking on systemic racism and poverty ecological devastation and militarism that you have to see the role that Christian nationalism religious nationalism plays in in upholding that whole system. That's really important and I really thank you for for bringing that drawing that thread out in our in our work together. There's another question that dovetails with a thread that emerged in your last response and a couple people have asked this question I'll just read one articulation of it. I'm very involved in voter registration and in voter mobilization. One of the challenges I have in is in the communicating of the urgency of this election, while remaining non partisan. Do you have suggestions. Yeah, I think, I think that that's really important. I mean, the, the, the COVID crisis that we're in the world on fire to do with the wildfires and hurricanes and storms the, the kind of militarization of our communities have happened. Not just under Trump, not just under the current Senate. And, and, and by really a bipartisan consensus that has allowed for us to be in the place that this nation is in and we often will say in the poor people's campaign that talking about Democrats versus Republicans. It's just too puny of a narrative of a frame that to get at the real kind of emergency and crises and possibilities of this moment and so I think you don't have to talk about the, you know, who you're going to vote for, or, or what candidate or party stands where. I think you can talk about the issues that are impacting people. I think you can talk about the reality that that that it doesn't have to be this way, and that it's in people's power and ability to actually change it. And so I think that, that, that folks are very familiar with the fact that things are not well. But what, what folks aren't always familiar with is that they have the power to do something about it. And that's because of, you know, long history of voter suppression. That's because of, you know, both a political system and a media and communications kind of apparatus that that that really kind of sends a message that that people don't matter really, poor and marginalized people and our issues don't matter. But I think that part of how you excite people to be able to engage in this election and to be engaged for the long haul in a movement for justice is by by saying that that this is what has. This is how we have changed, not just voting. You know, again, we often will remind folks that, you know, some of the most important policies that have been passed have not passed been passed in election year. And some of the most radical things that have come have not come because the politicians that passed those policy policies were radical themselves. People pushed and it was able to be made possible. And so I think that I think a lot of this has to do with people feeling like, do, can they make a difference? And, and is there, are there options? Like, is there, is there something to be excited about in this moment when there's so much death and destruction around. And, and I think, again, this is part of why we register people for a movement. You know, I'm, I'm tired of being in communities where people will come in for a minute at an electoral season and, you know, hand out some socks to poor people and, and basically say and then never come back. You know, we've been in, in some of the hollers of Kentucky where where folks, you know, just haven't had a politician literally in decades come. And I think it's partially like, how do people see that they have, have the kind of power to change things. Yeah, you're on mute. And unfortunately, even though we have so many wonderful questions is generating wonderful conversation and people are just enlivened by what you're saying, we are going to have to formally draw this particular portion to a close, but this is only to say that this is the beginning of our work together in building a movement for justice in organizing ourselves locally and combining our efforts and working to build power regionally and nationally for what can be and for what we say must be. So thank you ever so much Liz for being. I trust that you're going to hear a lot more from the people and the communities that are represented on this call. So thank you very much. This has been the third of a four part series with the Crock Institute for international peace on understanding and engaging movements for justice in 2020. The final portion of the series is coming this Saturday, October 10. And this is a nonviolent and nonviolent direct action training. What you're seeing on your screen here is what is available on the witness colloquium homepage where the series is being promoted and the information is available. You are already registered for the nonviolence direct action training by virtue of being present on this call. We are asking that you take just a minute or two to fill out a check in form if you're planning to participate a little background about about you will help the session leaders in their final preparations. Jason has put that into the chat. And that has also come to you via email, if you are registered so far. So thank you once again for being with us. We hope this has been a resource to you I know that I have been nourished and encouraged by this time together, and we'll look forward to continue to working and struggling together. Thanks and we'll look forward to seeing you Saturday. And thanks again, Liz and Jenna just, I know people have asked the about the training being the fourth of a four part series do you want to speak to the rest of the semester Jenna. So, I guess indeed this is the fourth, the training is the fourth of a four part series. The foundation or the platform for hosting this at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary has been a witness colloquium that is free and open to the public. And since we all are on zoom, because of the pandemic, those who wish may continue to participate in those sessions will continue moving forward will gather with a guest speaker every other week. And then on the off weeks will gather to to debrief and discuss. So, feel free to continue to you can write to me if you're interested in learning more about what's coming up throughout the semester. Is there anything else Jason. I think that's it we'll send out a an email to follow up with resources that Liz shared as well as the link to the video I know people were asking for that. So for the look, watch your email for the recording and resources and information about sessions to come. All right. Thanks. We'll see you next time. Thank you. Thank you.