Forbes: Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 Overlooked Crusade And 鈥楶oor People鈥檚 Art鈥�
When America remembers Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 legacy on the federal holiday honoring him January 16, 2023, much will be made鈥搑ightly so鈥搊f his work dragging the nation kicking and screaming toward a place of greater racial equality. Largely ignored鈥揳s usual鈥搘ill be his efforts seeking to uplift the poor and narrow the nation鈥檚 class divide. A divide it could be argued is than in King鈥檚 time.
When King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, he was there . Garbage men. Poor people.
King delivered his historic 鈥淚 Have a Dream Speech鈥� in 1963 at the March on Washington, which included this line: 鈥渢he Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.鈥�
The formal name for that monumental gathering was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Jobs. Poor people. . As much as it鈥檚 aims were greater freedom, liberty and justice for minorities, they were also improved housing, fair labor standards and a national minimum wage for all people鈥揻or poor people鈥揳s spelled out in .鈥�
Surprisingly, it was not racial equality which consumed King鈥檚 time in the months before his death, it was class equality and his Poor People鈥檚 Campaign seeking jobs, unemployment insurance, a fair minimum wage, and education for poor adults and children.
鈥淭he Poor People鈥檚 Campaign was seen by King as the next chapter in the struggle for genuine equality. Desegregation and the right to vote were essential, but King believed that African Americans and other minorities would never enter full citizenship until they had economic security,鈥� according to . After his success in bringing ongoing racial discrimination to light in America, he next hoped to focus the nation鈥檚 attention on economic inequality and poverty.
His life was taken before he could see that effort through, an effort of his now mostly forgotten, an effort continuing today. Prominent among contemporary efforts linking with the nation鈥檚 moral imperative to support 鈥渓ife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness鈥� is Reverend William Barber II鈥檚 and Reverend Liz Theoharis鈥� Poor People鈥檚 Campaign which carries on King鈥檚 vision of the interconnectedness of voting rights and equality with wages, housing, education and health care.
Calling attention to King鈥檚 overlooked legacy as an advocate for the poor and ongoing efforts to achieve in the United States are artists included in the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum鈥檚 exhibition 鈥淧oor People鈥檚 Art: A (Short) Visual History of Poverty in the United States鈥� (January 13鈥揗arch 4, 2023). Conceived in a declared opposition to poverty, racism, militarism, environmental destruction, health inequities, and other interlocking injustices, 鈥淧oor People鈥檚 Art鈥� shows how artists in the U.S. have visualized poverty and its effects since 1968.
View or listen to the full article on , by Chadd Scott.