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In 2011, Venus Colley-Mims found a lump in her breast. Unemployed, Colley-Mims didn鈥檛 have health insurance, so she went to the Baptist Health Center emergency room in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama.

as a form of health care for pain and complications from the lump, only to be sent home undiagnosed and with medicines that proved useless. Her condition had become so bad that on her last visit to the ER, the attending physician, noticing an odor in the room, asked, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 that smell in here?鈥� 

Colley-Mims鈥� breast had become The physician recommended Colley-Mims for treatment at a local cancer center, where she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and immediately scheduled for surgery and chemo.

Greer鈥檚 daughter passed away in February 2013, shortly after the pair had become involved in the fight to expand Medicaid in Alabama. The previous summer, they had attended the Saving OurSelves (SOS): A Movement for Justice and Democracy rally, as part of the effort to get Alabama鈥檚 then-Governor Robert Bentley to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid in the state. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, around 137,000 Alabama residents are still without insurance. Other sources, such as the and HealthInsurance.org, put that number much higher, at more than 200,000. Those residents would be eligible if the state expanded Medicaid. Such a change in policy would provide health care that could have saved Colley-Mims鈥� life鈥攁nd the lives of so many others like her.

鈥淰enus should be here with us,鈥� says Greer, who is now an Alabama-based organizer with the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign, which was revived in 2017 by Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a North Carolina minister well-known for his Moral Mondays protests. 鈥淰enus didn鈥檛 have health care, so she went to the emergency room, 鈥檆ause that鈥檚 what Black people do here in our community. That鈥檚 our doctor: the emergency room.鈥�

The original Poor People鈥檚 Campaign was started in 1968 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Campaign鈥檚 focus and goal, then and now, is to gain economic justice for all poor people in the United States. When Dr. King was assassinated, Ralph Abernathy, his friend and mentor, carried on the efforts of the campaign, organizing thousands of poor people from diverse racial backgrounds in Washington, D.C., for the Poor People鈥檚 March on Washington, where they presented a list of demands to Congress. The demonstration lasted six weeks. 

The new Poor People鈥檚 Campaign, called the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and led by Rev. Barber and co-chair Rev. Dr. Liz聽Theoharis, is made up of 300-plus partners and 22,000 people of all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds across 47 states.

By sharing her testimony often about her daughter鈥檚 health battle, Greer continues the fight for Medicaid expansion in Alabama鈥攁nd national health care for all. 

The Third Reconstruction

In May 2020, Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), introduced the 鈥淭hird Reconstruction鈥� resolution, H.R. 438, written in cooperation with Revs. Barber and Theoharis. The resolution aims to address poverty in its entirety, from its root causes鈥攃apitalism and racism鈥攖o its systemic manifestations, like Colley-Mims鈥� story, and to create a more equitable society. 

The moment we鈥檙e in 鈥渄emands a third Reconstruction to revive our political commitment to implement moral laws and policies that can heal and transform the Nation.鈥� 

Using 鈥� report 鈥淧oor People鈥檚 Moral Budget: Everybody Has the Right to Live鈥� and the , the resolution states that there are more than 140 million poor and low-wealth people in the United States today, 87 million people without health care or who are underinsured, 25鈥�50 million people facing food insecurity, and 30鈥�40 million people at risk of homelessness. The Population Reference Bureau estimates the actual number of

Titled 鈥淭hird Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low Wages from the Bottom Up,鈥� the comprehensive legislation has been years in the making, says Rep. Lee. It began with the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity, which she co-chairs and helped to with current House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD). In 2019, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which Lee also co-chairs, with people who live in poverty and representatives from the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign.

鈥淭he people spoke to what should be included in this resolution,鈥� Rep. Lee says. Following the hearing, she and Rep. Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, formed an alliance between the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign and the Progressive Caucus. So far, 41 of their colleagues in the House have signed on. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 building,鈥� Rep. Lee adds. 

鈥淚t really speaks to the issues that will protect our democracy and prioritize [the people鈥檚] needs,鈥� Rep. Lee explains. 鈥淚t 鈥� really provides a lot of hope and dignity for people who have not been listened to.鈥�

The resolution is built on the premise that the moral authority for a third Reconstruction is within the nation鈥檚 founding values. It states: 鈥淭his country is founded on the moral commitment to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.鈥� 

The Third Reconstruction resolution provides not just stopgap measures until the next major crisis occurs but also a pathway to building a better quality of life for the long haul. From housing and jobs, to mass incarceration and state violence, to immigration and land rights, to defunding the military, to education and health care, to climate and environmental justice, The Third Reconstruction resolution is all-encompassing and more timely than ever. Some of the legislation it proposes is new, and some is already in the works. 鈥淲hen you look at the resolution, we鈥檝e included [some] legislation that鈥檚 already been introduced, like the $15 minimum wage, like the health care provisions,鈥� says Rep. Lee. 鈥淎 lot of it is in motion right now. Making permanent, for example, the child tax credit鈥攖hat鈥檚 part of this.鈥�

Converging crises in the form of a global pandemic, economic downturn, and the escalating impact of white supremacy have raised fundamental considerations about how the nation should respond. And there鈥檚 a growing movement of people who argue that it is time for the federal government to adopt a new values alignment at the core of its decision-making.

According to Rev. Theoharis, doing so is a priority of the current president鈥檚 administration.

鈥淲hen President Biden was still a candidate, he had come to a candidate forum that the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign held, and had spoken to how he was committed to bringing up issues of poverty and on all of these injustices,鈥� explains Rev. Theoharis. 鈥淗e joined [us] again, when he was still running 鈥� and made this pledge that if he was elected that ending poverty would be more than an aspiration, but a theory of change.鈥� 

The Poor People鈥檚 Campaign is still trying to work with the administration to meet with more poor and low-income leaders, economists, and clergy, Rev. Theoharis adds, to make sure that the campaign鈥檚 agenda, and many of the things that are included in the resolution, are priorities for the administration. 

Leading up to its scheduled June 2022 action in Washington, the Poor People’s Campaign is planning to reach, engage, and inform 30,000 people per state through social media, its Moral Monday assemblies, and other avenues to put pressure on the administration and Congress. 

鈥淚f COVID had not hit [we] would be having a conversation about the mass Poor People鈥檚 Assembly Moral March on Washington that happened June 20, 2020, when hundreds of thousands of people descended on D.C. to demand action,鈥� says Rev. Barber. 鈥淏ecause you know, in America, public sentiment and putting a face on the problem is what drives action.鈥� 

But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign held a virtual action. 

鈥淏ecause poor and low-wealth people demanded it,鈥� Rev. Barber says. 鈥淎nd 2.4 million people showed up online for just the first showing, which showed us that there is a great hunger in this country for an intersectional moral movement that brings together people of all races, colors, creeds, and sexualities to deal with these five interlocking injustices.鈥� These are systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the false narrative of religious nationalism.

People are tired of the silos, left vs. right and liberal vs. conservative, says Barber, posing the question, 鈥淲hat about right vs. wrong?鈥� Moreover, he adds, 鈥淧eople are tired of [hearing] a moral agenda is not an economically sound agenda.鈥�

The economists the campaign has worked with have told the organizers that 鈥渢he moral agenda is the only way to have an economically sound agenda,鈥� Rev. Barber says.

And the people are 鈥渉ungry for it.鈥�

The People

It鈥檚 often said that the people closest to a problem should be a part of the solution. And yet, individuals in power spend a lot of time putting their ideas before the lived experience and testimony of people like Greer in Alabama and Pam Garrison, a West Virginia-based organizer with the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign.

A self-described coal miner鈥檚 daughter, Garrison grew up in a West Virginia coal camp and worked as a cashier most her life. The mines have taken a toll on the health of many in her family, as well as the neighborhoods and communities where she lives. Her husband, who worked for years in the mines, suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Both her parents died of cancer. 

Garrison says that corporate agendas and preferential treatment get in the way of real change, with health care, for example. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we can鈥檛 have universal health care,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got this patchwork here and there; that is not working.鈥�

But things changed for her when she heard Rev. Barber preaching on television. 

Never before have I heard鈥攗ntil the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign, until our Moral Mondays started with the Third Reconstruction鈥攁ny language even addressing poverty or us poor people,鈥� she says.

Referring to studies from the Collaborative of Poverty Centers and the Institute for Policy Studies, Garrison says the resolution is supported by extensive research and data: 鈥淭his has been done by facts, by studies. This ain鈥檛 something we just threw together. This is real, actual solutions.鈥�

If one could find a sliver of promise in the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the clear case being made for massive investments in supporting workers like Greer and Garrison, and their families. The Third Reconstruction resolution is more than a realignment or a course correction. It is a fundamental change in how people are valued in the economy and in the creation of capital itself. 

鈥淚f we put people first in defining the economy, then we would have to consider metrics around how well-resourced people are in terms of income, in terms of their health,鈥� explains Darrick Hamilton, a professor of economics and urban policy at The New School in New York. 鈥淎nytime you define an economy, it is values-based. What we鈥檙e talking about when we say a moral economy or an inclusive economy is values-based. But everything is values-based. It鈥檚 just owning up to the value you set out in a more honest way. And in a way that鈥檚 also centered on people as being the most important entity in our society.鈥�

As the founding director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Stratification, and Political Economy, Hamilton asserts that the government鈥檚 鈥渇iduciary responsibility is to its people,鈥� supporting a framework of economic rights.

鈥淚f we want people to have authentic agency, authentic freedom, it goes well beyond political and civil rights,鈥� Hamilton says. There needs to be a recognition of economic rights, he says, whereby the powers that be acknowledge that people entering transactions without any resources or economic power are vulnerable to the whims of others, including others鈥� charity.

Exploring the ways in which different people and entities engage in the economy can break through barriers that prevent transformative policies from being developed. Accepting a new economic framework could open the door to lawmakers passing direct relief to alleviate the intersecting challenges of hospital closures, housing access, and lack of affordable health care and child care.

There is a lot the federal government can do to address economic inequality, Hamilton says, beginning with the tax code鈥攆or example, the recent monthly Child Tax Credit payments going directly to families.

鈥淎merica鈥檚 greatest fiscal tool is its tax code, and the concept of a tax subsidy or a tax deduction, as opposed to a refundable tax credit,鈥� Hamilton says. He argues that the existing system values tax cuts, while a properly directed refundable tax credit 鈥渃ould promote a better society without [impacting] our federal spending.鈥� 

Lessons From the Past

Rev. Billy Michael Honor, a Georgia-based faith organizer, says the important part of the first Reconstruction was a fusion coalition. 鈥淭hese are whites and Blacks that came together, like multiracial abolitionist movements, as well as sharecroppers, as well as people who 鈥� had a vested interest in restructuring society based upon more economic advantages for those who are disadvantaged.鈥�

The diverse movement-building that happened in the past is a vital lesson for the present, Rev. Honor says. At the core of fusion coalition-building, he adds, is the moral value proposition of committing to uplift people without regard to partisan considerations. He sees the first two reconstruction periods as having significant moral turning points, and that is also true for the third. It鈥檚 clear that the tipping point has been the confluence of a global pandemic, racial justice uprisings, attacks on democracy and ballot access, and economic struggle.

But even if the current Congress cannot be compelled to act in the moral best interest of the country, Rev. Honor says, it鈥檚 still worth fighting for, which is the message of the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign. 

鈥淔rom the empirical work we鈥檝e done to identify systemic poverty, systemic racism, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, the war economy, the false narrative of religious nationalism鈥攖hey all exist because of policy, which means we created them, which means they can be uncreated,鈥� says Rev. Barber. 鈥淣one of these disparities come as a part of creation, they are created because of us. So as James Baldwin said, if we did it, we can undo it.鈥�

To make these policy changes, there has to be a clear agenda. And for the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign that agenda is threefold, says Rev. Barber:

1. Change the narrative: For too long, the narrative has simply been about 鈥渕iddle class, middle class, middle class,鈥� Rev. Barber says, which leaves 140 million people in this country not talked about. And that is a recipe for social and political depression.

2. Build and understand power: 鈥淣ot only at the ballot box, but when you can bring white folk from the hollers of the mountains in Appalachia, together with Black folk from the hood, and maybe people on federal lands and Latinos鈥攖hat fusion coalition of poor and low-wealth, Black, Brown, Asian, Native, and white people is really the only power that can fundamentally shift the politics of this nation. Dr. King said that, and that鈥檚 why they killed him. But that power is available to us. It just needs organizing.鈥� 

3. Make the Third Reconstruction law: 鈥淓nding poverty and building power from the bottom up are the policy solutions and the empirical data-driven answers to addressing the five interlocking injustices. If we don鈥檛 do this, the issue is not whether or not the Republican Party will survive or the Democratic Party will survive, but whether America will survive.鈥� 

Rep. Lee acknowledges that the resolution is aspirational and visionary. 鈥淏ut we also have to be practical,鈥� she says. 鈥淣ot everyone鈥檚 going to agree on every part of the resolution, but where we find common ground, we鈥檙e gonna get this done.鈥�

Revs. Barber and Theoharis, Greer and Garrison, and the other tens of thousands of organizers with the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign now have their sights set on June 18, 2022, when a mass of poor and low-wealth people, along with others in solidarity, will assemble in Washington, D.C. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a march,鈥� Rev. Barber says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 designed to be a statement of commitment, where poor and low-wealth and religious leaders and advocates鈥� will come together to urge Congress to pass the resolution.

鈥淎 hundred years ago, all the things today we take for granted, were seen as impossible. And they weren鈥檛 won because of one action,鈥� says Rev. Barber. 鈥淭hey were won because side-by-side in America, there will always exist, and has always existed, those who want to deconstruct, downplay, and disempower the promises of the Constitution, and those who want to ensure, engage, and enliven the promises of the Constitution. And that duality is always going to be there. And more often than not, the side of enlivening, and engaging, and empowering the Constitution wins!鈥�