 let nobody turn us around because the people uniting will stand our ground because the people stand strong we're gonna stand strong stand strong we're gonna stand strong we can't keep us down so get on your feet the people are marching marching so get on your feet the people are ready so follow we're gonna let nobody turn us around we'll stand on our ground welcome to the poor people welcome to the poor people's campaign a national call for moral revival 50 years ago the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and many other leaders launched a poor people's campaign to tackle systemic racism poverty and militarism by many measures these interrelated problems are worse today than they were back in 1968 and if you add in climate change and ecological devastation the urgency is even greater it is time to break the silence about America's war on the poor 140 million people live in poverty today and it's not because people are lazy or unwilling to work hard but it's because politicians have blocked living wages and healthcare and undermine union rights and wage increases you can see the war on the poor all around us the richest one percent in our country own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined winners across the country including ours block raising the minimum wage while insisting on budgets that cut crucial safety net programs 38 percent of people in vermont are poor or low income that is a total of 237 thousand residents 46 percent are children in vermont from 1979 to 2012 the income for the top one percent grew by 163 percent during the same amount of time our income only increased by 21 percent last monday we showed our unity across the nation there are 37 actions like this held in 35 state capitals that was just the start and today we are going to do it again our theme for this week is linked systemic racism and poverty voting rights and immigration so let me begin by addressing immigration in the years following the attacks of 9 11 and among fears of economic insecurity we have been led to believe that immigrants make our communities less safe threaten our culture and democracy and compete for our jobs and resources however undocumented immigrants contributed five trillion dollars to the united states economy over the last 10 years they paid 13 billion dollars in social security in 2010 but only received one billion dollars in benefits they also pay eight percent of their income in state and local taxes while the wealthiest one percent pay just 5.4 percent these millions of hardworking americans who strengthen our economy and communities must be treated with dignity and respect due to all human beings they should not be used as cover for attacks on democracy and on that note now i want to introduce felma gomez from migra justice all right i'm part of justicia migrante y muchas gracias a todos por estar aquí all right i'm a gomez i'm part of migra justice and thank you very much i'm very excited to be here es tan importante hacer todo esto quiero contar un poco más de mi historia y soy una chica que emigró a los estados unidos teniendo 16 años i want to tell you about my story i want to talk a little bit about what is that i'm doing here i came as a girl 16 year old i so i came to improve the life of my family and myself i came with dreams i came to work because the system even in our countries thanks to this country it doesn't allow us to succeed it excludes for so many things so it forces to migrate y on migrando y aún llegando a un país lleno de muchas oportunidades es somos buscados y creados como criminales no puede ser que el que un ser humano sea buscado por simplemente querer mejorar o por buscar la vida de mejor de su familia y when we come here we learn about the reality that we are searched we are criminalized as immigrants it's not okay to leave us as criminals because we come to improve our lives that's not fair es el sistema nos a veces nos crea enemistades contra comunidades hace que nos dividamos y eso no tiene que ser tenemos que estar unidos para combatir mucho de eso nadie es criminal nosotros no damos el país por por tratarnos así odiamos el sistema que nos excluye de todo this system divide us it brings problem between us it doesn't want us get together but together we're gonna rise together we're gonna fight because nobody is a criminal when we want to improve we're not gonna let people call us criminals we're gonna come together to improve together just as a whole that's right siempre es importante más teneros en unión unidos siempre luchando para mí es muy importante estar aquí y dar mucho de lo que mi comunidad hace porque a pesar de los problemas y a pesar de que somos criminalizados seguimos luchando para que estos para que esto deje de existir so we're not angry with the country we're not angry to be here we're angry with the system that criminalizes and we're gonna steal here we're gonna steal fighting we're gonna steal in the struggle we're gonna keep together because together we can do more that's right muchas gracias those who make policies are returning to the state house this week they are returning to our house nothing would be more tragic than for us to turn back now that's right right we need them to know that right now we are standing together with our brothers and sisters from 35 other states as part of a nationwide protest demanding new programs to fight systemic racism and poverty immediate attention to the fact that we are destroying our environment and a call to curb militarism and the war economy that's right the poor people's campaign has six core demands for this week and they are the immediate restoration of the voting rights act to racist gerrymandering the reversal of state laws that prevent municipalities from raising wages a just immigration system a timely citizenship process that guarantees the right to vote yes and end the and end the mistreatment of indigenous communities so with that said our next speaker is reverend arnold thomas pasture and good shepherd lutheran church in jericho vermont in a small town in eastern alabama in 1904 he grew up in poverty but he managed to work his way up and out of alabama and into cleveland ohio as one of the first five black inspectors for what was then the pennsylvania railroad now despite this advancement he was still subject to a racist system that favored white inspectors over black inspectors and would often find himself laid off from work and during that time which were doing those times which were very frequent he would fall back on a vocation that taught him that when hard times come you go fishing see that was uh wasn't a living example of a chinese proverb that said if you teach a person if you give a person a fish then that person will be fed for a day but if you teach a person how to fish then that person will have the means of living for lifetime that's right yeah so dad went fishing and he had a favorite spot in on lake geary where he would catch a species of fish called sheep head sheep head now nowadays it is difficult to find a place in in our country especially where people of color and poor people live where the water is of the quality where you can be assured that the fish you catch catch are not tainted with some form of corruption we need brothers and sisters to go fishing you may have heard of a small town in eastern alabama actually it's not so small anymore it's called aniston alabama have you heard of that place where mon sandal built a pcb flat that has been that was working for 40 years 40 years they dumped pcb into the water where people bathed and quenched their thirst where people baptized their children and swam unknowing unknowing the poison that existed around them yet they did it yet mon sandal did it for 40 years knowing the the harmful effects it would have on the human body brothers and sisters that is but one of the many examples in which the message is brought home that if you're poor and a person of color living in the united states you are the target and victim of fat cats who will inflict all manner of environmental atrocities upon you knowing that you have the least resources and the least ability to exist to resist their corruption and it is only it is only by our united force rising up coalescing our energies that we can overcome these obstacles that we can move mountains it is time to go fishing but unlike my dad who fished for a sheep for for a fish called sheep heads it is time we fished for corporate heads need to fish and clean and gut out the corruption that is inflicting our society by their selfish greed and it is only by doing that that we can truly free ourselves from enslaving policies and conditions that tie us and chain us to an agenda of poverty wages and agenda of substandard living condition and agenda of of of inhuman living quality and life so it is now it is now time for us to coalesce our energies and to move toward developing a moral economy by which all people can be housed and closed and and and educated and live in an environment that is toxic free that is filled with all manner of hope and potential by which all of us can grow in the dignity of life that we deserve as I think of clean water and a clean environment I am reminded of the prophet Amos whose instruction we must all heed to let justice flow down like a cleansing water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream let's go fishing brothers and sisters and our bait is compassion our bait is forgiveness and our bait is love thank you thank you Reverend Arnold Thomas before we hear our next speaker I want to point out something it's obvious that I am a person of color but I want you to know that I am also a person with autism because of that one issue that hits home for me is knowing that a report from the Vermont legal aid in 2015 found that blacks and native american students were two to three times more likely than white students to be suspended from school other important statistics that clearly show racism in vermont are that 17 percent of black people own houses in comparison to 71 percent of whites who own houses 69 percent of black people in vermont earn less than 15 dollars an hour one in 14 african-american males are incarcerated in this state 11 percent of the prison population is black whereas we only make up one percent of the population and a use of force study conducted in 2017 in burlington revealed that 18 percent of all use of force was against african-americans where they represented less than four percent of the population so on that disturbing note I would like to turn it over to our next speaker and it is Katrina battle from black lives matter of greater burlington days ago i stood outside of our nation's capital along with poor people of varied gender identities sexual orientations religious affiliations racial and ethnic backgrounds and abilities doing what everyone told us could not be done yes we stood together united in solidarity with one another crying someone's hurting our people and we won't be silent anymore joined by people in over 30 states across the country including this one right here on state street we were a part of thousands across this nation participating in coordinated nonviolent direct action as we released our national call for a moral revival yes we gathered on stage before taking our united stands to the streets i was proud to stand there telling the world that my name was katrina and i am vermont too right as a child growing up in northern vermont i faced the all too normal burden of learning to properly handle being called the end word and accepting that my my peers accepting my intelligence as not just notable but surprising during my time here i learned to survive by any means necessary whether it was willingly speaking on behalf of all black people in the classroom during our unit on racism or not challenging friends that believed i carried an unfair advantage in poetry recitation competitions because i was a black woman reading langston hughes's mother to son upon graduating i did as many black vermonters do and left without looking back i would always say vermont is a wonderful place to visit but i could never live there let alone raise my children there i wouldn't wish that on any child that looked anything like me upon my return two and a half years ago i was only mild mildly surprised to find that little to nothing had actually changed with one exception many had apparently not received my warning and there were far more of us here than had been 10 years ago i have been living in this black body for enough years to become well acquainted with the cost associated with being in it and how to survive in it but what i cannot allow to settle in my spirit is the acceptance that our 10 year olds must continue to do exactly the same this is not a uniquely vermont problem nor is it even an individual problem but it is something that each verman ter has an individual responsibility to take on and do something to fix work to restore the humanity that has been systemically stripped away from those of us with black and brown bodies since the very first colonizers landed here and massacre those who were indigenous to these mountains since the first bodies were ripped from the shores of africa to fuel the economy of a nation of people seeking its own freedom from a european oppressive force we must commit without relent to self-education action and each other i've often been told that the rate at which reels turn is determined by how large they are i stand here today to shift that narrative because the rate at which a wheel turns is determined not only by its size but by how hard and how consistently it is pushed forward which is why today and over the next five years and beyond we must can maintain our you racial justice advocates got this our work can wait no it cannot that's right can i be real for a moment i'm tired i'm tired of people telling me it's all in my head as high schoolers continue to be suspended and disciplined at disparate rates i'm tired of being told everyone is being treated equally when black romaners are incarcerated at almost 11 times the rate of our white counterparts i'm tired of people telling me to calm down as elementary schools get notes stuffed in their bags calling them monkey and that they should hang themselves because they're monkeys i'm tired of people telling me there's nothing they can do when kkk recruitment films of a black and brown women in this state i'm tired of being told it's not an immediate problem when according to 2001 to 2015 data published this monday by jama pediatrics suicide rates for black children are twice that of their white counterparts i'm tired of people telling me it's no big deal when people chanting blood and soil appear outside of city halls i'm tired of the rhetoric that says those people should just go back to where they came from i'm tired of the twisted measuring sticks used to determine whose voice matters in this green mountain state i'm tired of fighting to remove slavery from the constitution that all elected officials of vermont swear to uphold even more i'm tired of folks admonishing me on how great the work is that i'm doing while doing nothing themselves i'm around talking about how important this work is who find themselves absent when it's time to do the work on days like today these issues with one interest group at a time of talking and talking and talking until my throat is raw while nothing gets done it's so busy i'm tired of choking on the lie that hate does not grow in the rocky soil of vermont hate ignorance and bigotry grow just fine and our soil is unnoticed by the white majority while those affected by its spores are screaming out that they cannot breathe yes i am tired but i won't be silent anymore logical devastation on the poor the war on the poor is immoral systemic racism is immoral environmental justice is what we need thanks for everything this banner could kind of get out of there open a little bit so this we were just we've been hearing this week and last week and we'll be hearing this whole 40 days about about the mean things that are happening in this land about the injustices that this can't go on any longer uh so this is a song that's also on the the word sheet that i passed out um just join in once you once you once you hear there are mean things happening in this land there are there's injustice there's injustice happening in this land they're growing strong there's injustice there is racism happening in this land they're growing strong there's a racism happening in this land they'll be good things they'll be good things happening in this land they'll they'll be justice they'll be justice happening in this land. They'll be justice. They'll be justice happening in this land. They'll be freedom. They'll be freedom. They'll be free is Madeline Sherrow showing up from racial justice central Vermont. Start with a quote from Ann Brayden. A new massive thrust toward racial justice will not alone solve all the problems that face us, but I am convinced that unless such a thrust develops, one that is global in its outlook, the other problems will not be solved. Because they're at the bottom of this society, when people of color move, the foundation shifts. In a sense, the battle is and always has been a battle for the hearts and minds of white people in this country. The fight against racism is not something we're called on to help people of color with. We need to become involved as if our very lives depended on it because in truth they do. Ann Brayden was a lifelong white anti-racist organizer in the South during the civil rights era until her death in 2006. Her legacy sets an important precedent for those of us who are white. And there are a lot of white people in Vermont. Imagine if every single white person in the state was deeply engaged in the struggle for racial justice. Imagine if every single one of us was talking to our families, our friends, our coworkers about racism and showing up to fight for racial justice. This is the kind of movement we need to build. Remember what Mark said last week about Vermont locking up more black men proportionately than any other state? We've got to change that ethnic studies bill. Justice and dignity for all immigrants. We demand and said this is not about charity. It's about solidarity because we know that all liberation and survival is deeply tied to each other's. I grew up in central Vermont and I love my home. I love it enough to know that white Vermonters have the strength and the integrity to look white supremacy in the eye and choose justice. So plug into the poor people's campaign. Support migrant justice. Organize with justice for all. And get connected to showing up. So this is the poor people's campaign, a call for a moral revival. A true moral agenda seeks to fulfill the democratic promise in the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence reminding the nation of the truth we hold to be self-evident and the values we hold dear. In 2016 presidential election there were 25 debates. Not one of these debates focused on voter suppression, poverty, environmental devastation or the war economy. All of which are central issues that impact most of us living in the United States. For too long the accepted moral narrative in America has blamed poor people for their poverty, pitted people against each other, separated systemic racism from poverty and the war economy and spread the lie of scarcity, the idea that there is not enough to go around. We demand a new moral discourse in this nation. One that says being poor is not a sin but poverty is. Every choice is a moral choice especially when it deals with poor people, children and healthcare and so we need a moral revival in this country. When there is an emergency an ambulance doesn't need to stop for a red light. Dr. King once said the country needs ambulance drivers who will ignore the red lights of the system. I am ready to break the silence and speak out for the change we need. That's why I'm joining tens of thousands of people for 40 days of nonviolent direct action as part of a new poor people's campaign. We are taking our demand for a moral revival to politicians at the capitol here in Montpelier and in 40 states across the country. So the next speaker is Reverend Abigail Stockman, developmental minister, First Church, a very youth-thrin and universalist. So I first want to say amen for all your quint, but I think back to a time when I was just a small child and I heard the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King say the words free at last, free at last. Thank God. I was a small white child of privilege so I didn't think he was talking about me. I thought he was talking about all the people who look different from me. And it took me many decades to begin to understand that I am not free if I think there's a separation and a difference because our skin isn't the same color, because our cultures are different, because our religions are different, because one of us has some funds in the bank and one of us doesn't, because I get health care and you don't. Those are not things that make anyone more or less human than anyone else. I am deeply ashamed to know that I thought that way once, that I was taught to think like that without even knowing that like a fish I was living in that water. It's time to pull that fish out of the water. It's time to go fishing to understand our own whiteness if you are white so that you can know what it is that comes to you because of your whiteness that makes you think or respond or act in some way as though there were a difference in the way our hearts beat, in the way we know love, in the way we suffer, in the violence that we experience. So last night as I went to this training I learned this wonderful song which said, I know why I was made and understanding my own internal and place in the systemic racism helped me to remember why I was made for the love that we need to go fishing for as we work to end all the injustices as we work for the morality that says health care for everyone. System of immigration that is humane and fair and rapid that we end the kinds of incarceration that just keeps slavery and racism going in new ways. It is more wrong. Let's not continue participating in that. We know why we were made. I am not a fabrication because I just wanted to remind everyone that we are in a season right now and this is a season of nonviolent moral fusion, direct action and this is a 40-day period and what we're doing is we are rolling week after week in these activities. This is the second week. What generally happens is at the top of the week on Sunday there is a meeting called the gathering that meets in DC that is live streamed that you can go to poor people's campaign, poor people's campaign.org and you can tune into that video and where else you can come down to the Episcopal church to show you the good shepherd or you can set up your own meetings but that's happening every Sunday every Tuesday is truthful Tuesday where there's a recap on the activities for the week. You know what's going on on Monday because we're already here. On Thursdays what's happening is Justice Jam and what we're doing is we're hosting here at the Unitarian Church but again it's live streamed so you can also do it in your own homes or you can set up your own venues. The Justice Jam is our pack of just justice music, testimony, lots of talking, lots of singing and just having a good time so I want to encourage everybody to get out. This is the second week so this is the second week of a six-week period culminating where we're all going to convert to Washington DC and we're going to march on DC and we're going to let them know what it is that Vermont has to bring to the table. How many believe that? The other thing is next week we're not going to meet here on Monday it's going to be on Tuesday. Monday's Memorial Day. So next week we're going to meet here on Tuesday and I think that final day down in DC is of is it June 23rd? June 23rd. So my sisters and brothers in just a few minutes we're going to march. We're going to march into the state house and Michelle's going to tell us about state house. Who is house? Our witnesses. Those moral witnesses that we have come up here and line up. What we're going to do is led by some of the clergy and our moral witnesses. We're going to go around this west door over to the accessible door coming into the accessible door down the corridor right into the main hallway on the first floor. Get on my moral witnesses up here. Victoria all the moral witnesses stand up here. These people are going to sit there. These people are going to tell their stories that poverty is immoral systemic racism is immoral ecological devastation is immoral the war economy and poor people's campaign a national call since they're going to lead us. So give it up for these moral witnesses. As you enter the state capital if you have a sign with a stick please put it down by the door just take in the fabric signs and the cardboard signs and come join us inside our house.