"...There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life..." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign calls for a national Poor People's March for Economic Human Rights.

This year marks the 35th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's historic Poor People's Campaign, for which he gave his life. As our economic human rights continue to be violated, we know that the work of Martin Luther King is not finished. Through this summer's march, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is continuing the struggle to make King's vision of true equality and peace a reality in this nation and around the world. Today, 35 years later, the situation of poor Americans has only deteriorated and it is time to march on Washington again.

We are marching now because more and more American families are being forced into poverty everyday. We are marching because the growing healthcare crisis has left 71 million Americans without healthcare this year. We are marching because the majority of the 80 million poor people in America are our children. We are marching because, after decades of downsizing and free trade agreements, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, homes, farms and livelihoods. We are marching because we live in the richest country in the world, yet our people die poor in the streets everyday.

Our government and corporations have denied everyday Americans the rights to the most basic necessities of life -- food, clothing, housing, healthcare, living wage jobs and education. These rights were guaranteed to all of us by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over 50 years ago, yet we still suffer without them. We have been left out of the electoral process and left behind by our elected leaders. And now, we all suffer from the terror of economic human rights violations – the fear and pain of living with no health coverage, of living in indecent housing, of being unable to find employment.

The Poor People's March will bring together poor whites, blacks, latinos and those of all races to demand an end to poverty and economic human rights violations. As we march, we will strengthen our relationships, develop new leaders and share our strategies, struggles and stories. We will educate those we meet and those we march with about the legacy of Martin Luther King, about economic human rights, about democracy and voting, about the FTAA and about the vision, strategies and tactics of building a movement, led by the poor, to end poverty. As we are determined to create a broad-based movement for economic human rights we will work in coordination with labor unions, social workers, educators, students, musicians, artists, congregations and all those who are concerned with economic justice.

All we have left is our voice. Please join us this August in making it heard. We will kickoff the Poor People's March for Economic Human Rights on August 2, 2003 in Marks Mississippi. From there, we will march and caravan through the region until we arrive in Washington DC on August 23rd, when we hold a historic march on our nation's capital. The poor of the United States have been "disappeared" for too long. All we have left is our voice and we can no longer afford to suffer in silence. Please join us this August in making our call for economic human rights heard!