A Letter to Faith Communities-PPA March

Dear Friends,

Many of you will agree with me that the Faith Communities in our country have come to a crossroads. When Martin Luther King penned his brilliant letter from a Birmingham jail in August of 1963, he addressed the moral ambivalence of many of the nation’s religious institutions and leaders.

Sixty years later we are reminded that the prophetic voice speaks to generations beyond the immediate era. His advocacy for non-violent civil disobedience as a means for change was tested then and today it will be tested again.

This summer the unfinished business of human liberation will be non-violently, but urgently brought to the doors of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in Milwaukee and Chicago respectively. An organization called "The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign" (aka “Poor People’s Army”), that includes secular and religious leaders from across the country, will lead marches and rallies from one convention to the other. Why? What is the moral imperative and why is it the business of the Faith Community?

Can you doubt that both parties have become parties of war, pledging their wholehearted support to Israel as it carries out genocide of the Palestinian people. We in the faith community cannot morally stand by claiming to be neutral when our nation’s wealth is funding such horror as the suffering and death, we witness in Gaza. Surely, for their sake we must march!

Both parties are failing to exercise the power that the constitution has given to them to relieve the suffering here at home. Our cities are filling up with economic refugees both foreign and domestic who live in subhuman conditions. They are hungry, cold, and abandoned. They die by the thousands from lack of health care. Surely, for their sake we must march!

Both parties are allowing huge numbers of families to be evicted from their homes as property developers drive a violent gentrification process that increases the cost of shelter to impossibly high rates. Surely, for their sake we must march!

Both parties vote for tax cuts for the wealthy, while they cut programs that have helped to feed and house the poor. Both parties have left the safety net in shreds leaving the poor to deal with their suffering the best they can. Millions of confused and hurting people have turned to drugs and alcohol for solace, only to die in misery. Surely, for their sake we must march!

Both parties have stood by and allowed the new marvelous technologies to be used to create billionaires, ignoring those whose jobs have been lost. They have refused to regulate corporations and municipalities leading to polluted air, poison water and land. Thousands if not millions of children have been permanently affected by lead in our water and chemicals in our air and land. Surely, for their sake we must march!

Both parties have done nothing to stop the reign of terror that police and military forces have inflicted on the innocent, here at home and abroad. They have turned a blind eye to the most horrific crimes perpetrated by police, giving meager rhetoric as solace to the victims’ families. Surely, for their sake we must march

Yes, the Faith Communities must play their time-honored role of standing in the breach, standing for righteousness and justice, morality and mercy. Are we not the descendants of the abolitionists? We learned from Martin Luther King to reject the counsel of the status quo including those urging us to stay in our sanctuaries and wait, removing ourselves from the world. When the spiritual leaders hesitate to stand for and with the exploited and oppressed, they lose their moral authority. It is certainly tragic and shameful that sections of the Faith Community in the US have reconciled themselves to and are even espousing a twisted fascistic theology in the name of their God.

It's time for the Faith Communities to display their beliefs in unmistakable terms. The arch that bends towards justice forms a bridge for us to cross. In the words of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," written over 120 years ago by James Weldon Johnson - we declare:

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

Let the churches and all people of faith rise! We will march in the Light of God!

Signed,

Rev. Eardley Mendis, Ph.D. - Chicago, IL

Rabbi Brant Rosen - Evanston, IL

Pastor Keith Collins - Trainer, PA

Rev Edward Pinkney-Benton Harbor Michigan

There will be a Rally and March in Chicago on August 19, 2024. After rallying we will march to the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. The March is organized by the Poor People’s EconomicHuman Rights Campaign. A smaller group is also marching at the RNC July 15, and then marching 100 miles from Milwaukee to Chicago Aug 3 - Aug 17. I encourage you to open your sanctuaries and houses to them for places to stay, eat, and rest.

For more information about the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Poor People’s Army go to their website: www.poorpeoplesarmy.org.

We invite other faith leaders to sign this letter for circulation in places of worship across the country. Contact us at PPEHRCorg@gmail.com and/or chicagoneighborhoodnews@gmail.com, local organizers working with Poor People's Army, if you wish to have your name added to this letter.