Greetings from Bishop Barber and Rev. Liz and the teams at Repairers of the Breach and the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice.
We write to you just as the nation finishes “Thanksgiving” observances and heads in Christmas, and if there is gratitude it is that each of you are still able to be engaged in speaking the truth and working for a more just society. For the 140 million poor and low-income people and growing, holiday traditions don’t mark for a day off or a week off, the glaring realities of inequality that we must still confront because too many families have been separated and divided because of racism immigration status, poverty and low-wages, lack of health care, gender and sexuality, without the means to celebrate (or to even enjoy a meal).
Nevertheless, we are EXTREMELY grateful for each and every one of you and all you are doing to build a society where everyone is in, nobody is out!
While there are deep challenges that have persisted, there is hope. Even as millions lose their SNAP, health care, quality education voting rights at the same time as ICE agents and the national guard is being deployed across the country, you refuse to lose heart, or give up, but rather move forward together, not one step back.
Your coordinated work to push back against the big ugly bill not only exposes the depths of its policy violence and ugliness, it helps to wake up more and more people to the need for state-based movements, as we have trained for and been building for all these years. We will be sending out a time for a National Coordinating Committee call in the coming weeks. It is so clear in this moment of authoritarianism and neo-fascism what we have always emphasized: the critical work is fusion organizing and mobilizing from state up. Because the center of gravity of the work is always from the states up, in this session touching your Congresspersons and policy makers at the state level, is the work we need to do! We encourage you to continue to organize in your communities and to continue to pressure your congressional and state representatives to hold Congress responsible for the hurt and pain of this moment.
P.S. We are in a critical fight around healthcare in Congress, as the Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire on December 31st. We encourage each of you and your state campaigns to call your Congresspersons all week, share your personal truth of how you and your families have been impacted by healthcare struggles, and demand that Congress take action.
More is coming soon. Somebody’s hurting our people and we won’t be silent anymore!
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
Co-Chair, Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
Co-Chair, Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
