On Monday, June 8th, two weeks after the the murder of George Floyd, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is calling for a Moral Monday National Day of Fasting and Focus, which will culminate at 5:00 PM ET when we are asking people to stop where you are for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in silence in honor of the time George Floyd had the literal knee of the state on his neck.
Whether in your homes, at work, or in the streets, we are calling for people of conscience to stop wherever they are to join us for a live-streamed moment of silence, litany and a message of support for the uprisings across the country and a call for organizing a movement in this moment from Bishop William J. Barber, II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
- Click here for our Litany for Monday’s action.
- Click here for our Demands on Systemic Racism.
- Click here for our Press Release for Monday.
- Click here to amplify our action on Facebook.
You can tune in on Monday here or at FB.com/ANewPPC. Pledge to join us:
The violence we confront today from the police, from the economy and from our political leaders represents a system that is far too comfortable with the suffering and deaths of poor, black and brown people. George Floyd died from the knee on his neck, he had contracted the coronavirus, and he was among the 40 million people who are unemployed right now. We still do not have justice for Breonna Taylor or the thousands and millions of others who have been killed from systemic racism, police violence, mass incarceration, health inequities and our distorted national priorities. This is the time to make economic and structural demands on our government to end the multiple pandemics of systemic racism and poverty and the militarized force that is used against us.
We are not not merely fasting from food, but calling for a national fasting from systemic racism, systemic poverty, the denial of health care and from other death-dealing policies. We must dedicate ourselves to breathing life into our Constitution and its promises and refuse to accept a civility that covers up injustice. The very life of our democracy is at stake. Not the democracy that is, but the democracy that could be.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
The upheaval in the country has shown the power of social justice movements. People across race, across geography, across age have seen that we cannot be silent anymore. It is only when the people organize in radical and bold ways that we can build a society that actually takes care of the needs of the people. On Monday, fast and focus with us on this bold new way forward.
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
Demands on Systemic Racism
Our movement must push for political and economic transformation to end police violence and all violence against black, brown and poor people. In honor of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others who have been brutally murdered, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival calls for an end to systemic racism and a comprehensive reconstruction of our society.