OPINION: The Poor Peoples’ March on Washington and the interaction of ethnicity, wealth, and power

By Ivory Phillips

JA Contributing Editor

This weekend marks the 58th anniversary of the launching of the Poor Peoples’ March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He concluded the unmerciful nature of American capitalism was damaging not just Black people, but many others who are red, yellow, brown, and white; that the ongoing civil rights efforts needed amending. He chose to dramatize the problem of America’s crushing poverty by leading a mule train of poor people from Marks, Mississippi, in what was then America’s poorest county, to Washington, D.C. 

From prior times and even to this day, poor people have suffered from the lack of decent, adequate, and equitable healthcare, food, housing, wages, and neighborhood services, although the country can afford them all. Many poor people are so discouraged they give up on voting and other forms of electoral politics for relief. Consequently, very few people who are poor or familiar with the plight of the poor ever occupy positions of political power, leaving them without both political and economic power.

Despite the fact that the Poor People’s Campaign is now and the March was open then to white Americans, the wealth gap between Black and white people continues to exist and to widen. This is due in no small part to the ongoing existence of systemic racism and its escalation under the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) campaign

It brings one directly to the matter of race or ethnicity. Although African Americans have been under fire the longest and to a deeper extent than any other non-Native group, Arabs, Latinos, Asians, Indians, Jews, and others also experience degrees of discriminatory characterizations and treatment. Increasingly, Republican labor and immigration policies and practices have made their lives less possible and more difficult in America. This, in turn, hampers their development of economic power. Republican voter restriction laws target them in ways that limit their ability to elect representatives who come from their group or who at least are dedicated to helping them improve their status and standing in America. 

In short, what this means is that, because of their history and cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups that are non-European have had to live under laws that hamper them and advantage those who have European historical and cultural backgrounds. This condition of racism has created and perpetuated greater degrees of economic and political oppression, enslavement, and powerlessness on the part of non-white people in America.

The Poor People’s March on Washington was one of the earliest national movements to underscore the intertwining nature of ethnicity, wealth, and power nearly 60 years ago. Rather than leave it up to history or even to those who are office holders to work it out, however, informed, compassionate, and wise citizens can detect and move forward in several ways. It is a matter of having the will and often the courage to do so. 

Thus, it is imperative people learn to strike out against all poverty and bad economic policies; that they understand how to use the political system to protect their economic condition; that they leave no stone unturned at any level if it will assist their cause; and that they seek out and join with groups of other ethnicities in the political arena when they have common economic goals.

It is clearly already time to amend and improve upon the traditional civil rights movement. Frederick Douglass saw the need for public exposure. A. Philip Randolph saw the need for mass, organized marches. Thurgood Marshall saw the need for lawsuits. Martin Luther King Jr. saw the need for uniting the poor. Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) saw the need for organized Black Power. Marcus Garvey saw the need for Pan-Africanism. Imari Obadele saw the need for an independent African American country. The list could go on and on. 

The point, however, is that the movement can and should be amended periodically to accommodate new ideas and new circumstances. We should remember to retain all that may be traditional but is still working while supporting that which is new when it offers promise for achieving the goal of decreasing the political and economic oppression of all people, especially non-white people in America.