Food & Water Watch Endorses the Poor People's Campaign

Washington, D.C. — Today, Food & Water Watch endorsed and calls for participation in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Six weeks of nonviolent, moral-fusion direct action begins today with protests at over 30 statehouses and the U.S. Capitol with a variety of demands including a massive overhaul of the nation’s voting rights laws, new programs to lift up the 140 million Americans living in poverty and immediate attention to ecological devastation.

“Food & Water Watch commits to the vision and action of the Poor People’s Campaign because we must build a movement of engaged community members to lift millions of Americans out of poverty, stop systemic racism, protect our planet and ensure that every person can live a life with dignity,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch. “The Poor People’s Campaign recognizes an integral part of the mission of Food & Water Watch: all people have a fundamental right to safe water and a healthy environment. It calls for fully funded and publicly controlled water systems, a just transition to a renewable economy and a ban on dangerous fossil fuel extraction, pipelines and infrastructure.”

Led by the Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, the Poor People’s Campaign has gathered testimonies from hundreds of poor people and listened to their demands for a better society to outline a Poor People’s Campaign Moral Agenda. The Moral Agenda will guide the 40 days of actions and calls for major changes to address systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and our distorted moral narrative, including repeal of the 2017 federal tax law, implementation of federal and state living wage laws, universal single-payer health care, and clean water for all.

At the conclusion of the 40 days, on June 23, poor people, clergy and advocates from coast to coast will join together for a mass mobilization at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. They’ll then return to their states to continue building the campaign.

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is co-organized by Repairers of the Breach, a social justice organization founded by the Rev. Barber; the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary; and hundreds of local and national grassroots groups across the country.

Food & Water Watch champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people’s lives and protects our environment.

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