Dear Michigan PPC Family,
Thank you for pledging your support for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. We have had five very successful days of action so far. Our sixth action, which will be held in DETROIT, promises to be very profound and impactful! We are also excited about plans for a trip to Washington D.C. for the Global Day of Solidarity Mass Rally on Saturday, June 23. For information on how to reserve a space on the bus to Washington, please see the end of this email.
This week’s action will be in Detroit on Monday, June 18th.
The theme is: A NEW AND UNSETTLING FORCE: Confronting the Distorted Moral Narrative.
If you plan to participate with us this Monday, please register on this form (even if you have before), so that we can know how many to expect, and can confirm you are aware of this week’s particulars.
Also, we want to make sure that we know how many people are planning to participate in the Non-Violent Direct Action this week. If you have already done a Direct Action training (Part 1) and plan to participate in Direct Action this week, please respond to this form to confirm your Direct Action participation plans.
The schedule for Monday, June 18th is as follows:
10:30 DA training, part 2: only for people who’ve completed part 1. Direct Action participants will gather at Central United Methodist Church, 23 E. Adams St., Detroit MI with their support people for further training and action planning from 11:00-12:30. Registration is at 10:30 am.[SEE PARKING INFORMATION BELOW]
11:30 am Registration, gathering and light lunch for rally participants (those who will be witnessing but will not otherwise be involved in the Direct Action). This will also be at Central United Methodist Church, 23 E. Adams St., Detroit MI. [SEE PARKING INFORMATION BELOW].
12:30 pm All participants: Pre-rally and program at Central United Methodist.
1:30 pm March to Rally Site and Rally (specifics to be announced at the church)
3:00 pm Non-Violent Moral Fusion Direct Action at a location that will be announced at the rally. [Again, only those who have been trained will participate in the Direct Action. The rest of us will stand in support and witness with our brothers and sisters while they take Direct Action.]
If you have questions, please reply to this email.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
TRANSPORTATION: At this point, the only organized transportation to Detroit is from Washtenaw County. If you are in need of a ride from Washtenaw County to Detroit, please click here. Please check our website to see if other transportation options are organized before Monday.
PARKING: NOTE — PARKING IN THE LOT AT CENTRAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND MOBILITY CHALLENGES.
- Paid parking lots are available in the surrounding area for $10-15. (Find lot information at https://en.parkopedia.com/
parking/detroit/) - Free parking will be available at:
- Metropolitan United Methodist Church, located at 8000 Woodward Ave, gated and guarded; a shuttle van will travel between this church lot and Central United Methodist (23 E. Adams) starting at 10 am.
- Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MoCAD), located at 4454 Woodward Ave.
- Ecumenical Theological Seminary (ETS), located at 2930 Woodward Ave.
- Buses and light rail are available along Woodward Ave.
- We strongly encourage carpooling. Be aware that Detroit parking violation tickets are $40.
NOTE: Persons planning to participate in Direct Action and their supporters should park at Metropolitan United Methodist Church, where cars can be left overnight if necessary. A shuttle van will travel between this lot and Central United Methodist (23 E. Adams) starting at 10 am.
LUNCH – Bring a bag lunch if you can; light lunch food will also be provided. Please bring monetary donations and ready-to-eat food to share – boxes of single serve bags of chips, granola bars or other snacks, bags of apples, oranges or bananas.
WATER– Please bring a refillable water bottle with you. We will have water coolers for you to refill your bottle onsite. A limited number of disposable cups will be available. In solidarity with those that do not have access to clean, safe water, please do not bring any commercially bottled water with you, regardless of brand or source.
ACCESSIBILITY– Central United Methodist Church is an old building that has been made relatively accessible. Please bring a folding/bag chair if possible for yourself or to share at the outside rally. The march will be in downtown Detroit and promises to be fairly long–shuttle vans will be available for people who need them.
WEATHER– The weather prediction for Monday is for very hot and humid weather with a chance of rain in the evening. Please prepare with sunscreen, hats, water bottles, umbrellas and raincoats. We are looking for volunteer medics or nurses. If you can help, please reply to this email.
DONATIONS – There are many ways to show your financial support for the campaign:
1) There will be donation buckets at our events.
2) Checks can be written payable to People’s Water Board – In the memo line, be sure to write MI PPC. Checks can be mailed to People’s Water Board c/o EMEAC, 4605 Cass Ave Detroit, MI 48201 or given in person at the Registration Table.
3) Online donations can be made at MI PPC Online Donations – Please be sure to designate the donation is for MI-PPC.
AND, FOR LATER NEXT WEEK….
Saturday, June 23, Washington, D.C., 10 am
Click HERE to get on the bus for the Poor People’s Campaign Global Day of Solidarity Mass Rally!
The bus will leave Detroit for Washington DC on Friday, 6/22 at approximately 8pm, and will return to Detroit on Sunday, 6/24 at approximately 6am. This is a turn-around trip which means no overnight stay in DC. All riders must pay $25. (A toddler or baby who can sit on your lap is free.) Please take your own spending money for food and other purchases. SIGN-UPS ARE FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.
We are grateful for your support and look forward to Moving Together with You – Not One Step Back!
Yours in Justice,
Michigan Poor People’s Campaign Coordinating Committee
PS. Please help us mobilize for this and future Poor People’s Campaign actions, by sharing this email and our Website and Facebook page. If you organize Poor People’s Campaign events in your own community, please share those with our Facebook page as well.
Information and List of Demands for Week 6
THEME: A NEW AND UNSETTLING FORCE:
Confronting the Distorted Moral Narrative.
National Morality
Did you know that thousands of people die every year from anti-poor policies, while an extremist religious and Christian nationalist agenda deliberately diverts attention from the key issues and challenges facing the majority of Americans?
In the history of this country, moral justifications have been offered for the genocide and forced removal of indigenous people from their lands, slavery, resisting the Brown v. Board of Education school segregation case and opposing the Roe v. Wade abortion case. Today, religious extremists focus on issues like prayer in school, abortion, and gun rights that distort the national moral narrative.
This distorted narrative became integral to the well-funded libertarian movement to redefine “liberty” as freedom from government. In 2016, Franklin Graham invested $10 million of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s money in his 2016 Decision America Tour to each state house in the country. Billed as “nonpartisan” prayer rallies, these gatherings framed the “moral crisis” as a decision between progressive atheist values and God. After the election, Graham called Trump’s victory an answer to prayer.
Today these influences — the Christian and religious nationalist organizations, religious capitalist and prosperity gospel movements, and independent charismatics — have access to the current administration in the form of its “court evangelicals.” The Values Voter Summit has become an important focus point for this coalition and its narrative. Through federal contracts and student aid, Liberty University has become the largest private Christian university in the country.
These influences have also ignored the moral commitments enshrined in the U.S. Constitution to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and Posterity.” These commitments should help ensure that this country moves toward the more perfect Union aspired to in our founding documents.
Indeed, there are profound consequences to a moral narrative that ignores poverty, healthcare, decent jobs, and other crises facing the poor today. An estimated 10,000 people will die every year from the provision in the new federal tax bill that will take away the healthcare of 13 million people. Thousands have died every year because of some states’ decision to deny Medicaid expansion benefits. Overall, more than 250,000 people die in the United States from poverty and related issues every year.
The truth is that a morality that claims to care for the souls of people while destroying their bodies and communities is deeply immoral.
We have the right to ground our public policies and budget allocations in a moral narrative that prioritizes and follows our deepest religious and Constitutional moral commitments to justice.
- We demand that all policies and budgets are based on the five key principles of the U.S. Constitution: Establishing Justice, Ensuring Domestic Tranquility, Providing for the Common Defense, Promoting the General Welfare and Securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.