Remembering Dr. King's Legacy on Poverty

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Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in Memphis in 1968. And while plenty can be said about what more could have been accomplished had his life not been cut so tragically short, the legacy he left to us is one that we can rightfully celebrate and strive to uphold.

One of the most enduring (and, in my opinion, under-appreciated) aspects of Dr. King's legacy concerns his fight against poverty. From launching the Poor People's Campaign to speaking out against the Vietnam War's negative impact on the poor in America, his vision of a world without poverty is a vision I try to fight for every day. (I founded One Voice PAC in large part to bring more attention to reducing poverty and increasing opportunity in our country.)

We saw success in the fight against poverty this past January, when the House of Representatives unanimously supported a resolution I authored declaring it a national goal to reduce poverty in America by half in the next 10 years.

But to turn this priority into reality, we need to make systematic changes in the way we address poverty in America; addressing poverty should be one of our first priorities, not the last. And one of the first steps we should take is to end our generation's version of the Vietnam War, our occupation of Iraq.

When reflecting on his turn against the Vietnam War -- in large part because it was diverting badly needed resources away from places it was desperately needed here at home -- Dr. King noted, "I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such."

We are witnessing a similar situation develop today. While funding for the occupation is appropriated with seemingly no limits -- hundreds of billions of dollars have already been spent on the occupation, with the total rising over $12 billion each month -- we are constantly being told that we simply "can't afford" to spend money to address the challenges that we face here at home. And all too often, it is those who live in poverty who bear the brunt of these cutbacks.

Last year, when the Democratic Congress passed legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) -- a program that provides vital health coverage for millions of children who live in poverty and otherwise wouldn't have access to care -- by just $7 billion per year, the president vetoed the bill, claiming it was unacceptable since it represented an incremental step towards federalizing health care.

It is this sort of thinking -- focusing on maintaining ideological purity, rather than addressing the real problems that real people face -- that represents one of our greatest roadblocks to moving the 37 million Americans who live in poverty (and the 60 million more who are just over the poverty line) toward freedom from want for the basic necessities of life.

Thankfully, the tide is turning as the American people witness the lack of resources we have to address problems here at home, and acknowledge that the occupation of Iraq has not been worth the costs. As states are forced to cut vital programs that help those in poverty in order to balance their budgets in this worsening economic climate, the lack of action from the federal government becomes all the more glaring.

It is in this trade-off that we see yet more proof of the folly of our invasion of Iraq, which is why I recently introduced the "Iraq Recession" resolution tying the occupation to our current economic challenges.

Forty years after his passing, it is clear that we still have work to do to finish the job of ending poverty that Dr. King started. But if we make clear that domestic priorities are more important than simply sustaining a failed occupation, that a portion of our limited resources need to be directed to those living in poverty here at home, and that the worst-off among us shouldn't be the first punished in an economic downturn, I have little doubt that we can succeed.

Comments

[NDNlady]

I was an Indian kid in the sixties, growing up away from Cherokee community in a redneck Texas town. The words of Dr. King changed my life. But I never once heard him say that lies transform into truth because a black person speaks them. So, Rep Lee, why are you and other members of the CBC lying to your colleagues and the American public in order to conduct a racist attack on an Indian nation? Why are you ignoring both federal and international law that protects Indian rights?

Just two of the distortions of truth from the Congressional Black Caucus

1.The Cherokee Nation is breaking a Treaty.

We are not. Congress abrogated all treaty entitlements to enrollment over a hundred years ago. In the same legislation that destroyed our country and paralyzed our government for seventy years.

2. The Cherokee Nation disenrolled their black citizens.

There are thousands of Black Cherokees who are citizens because they can document Indian ancestry. Just as there are thousands of Cherokees with Asian, Hispanic, European and other heritage. But they all have Cherokee ancestry.

Did Dr. King mean equal rights are equal rights to oppress? Learn the truth. After all, that's your job.

"If central governments wish to perpetuate Indigenous poverty, its attendant ills and bitterness, and its high costs, the best way to do so is to undermine tribal sovereignty and self-determination."

Stephen Cornell, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, JOPNA No. 2006-2, 2006, p. 28.

[fedupnburnin]

I just read of 83,000 jobs lost in March. I found a web site that listed all the American Companies that moved there operations out of the U.S.. The list went on and on. I was amazed at just how much had been here at one time. A good deal of poverty can only come from this transition to a service-based economy. You never really hear any stories from the homeowners who lose their homes to foreclosure. Anyway.

[liveandlearn]

the link is:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/clinton-calls-for-poverty-czar/

[FreedomsRoad]

If this weren't so obviously Hillary's desperate attempt to get Elizabeth Edwards to convince John to endorse her I'd think it was something special. She didn't think of it until the last 10 states are voting? C'mon! How real do you think she intends to make that post?

[1849]

Rep. Lee, I want to thank you so much for standing up to say NO! to the War. You are my heroine! Thank you, Thank you!

[MadeinAmericaProud]

Thank you very nice article.
We have carried the title united. I would truly like to live long enough to see them stop playing the divide and conquer trick on the American people so we can be with pride and smiles on our faces we are the United States of America.

That includes the hard work of removing the bones from under the rugs and in the closets and lay them to rest. Let GO Let GOD. bless the bones and the people who put them there.

[NDNlady]

The first racist language heard on this continent was the doctrine of discovery divesting the original peoples of legal rights to their own land. Because they were "savages". That same racist language was furthered in the principles of the Founding Fathers, advanced in the Supreme Court and crystalized in the so-called "plenary powers" of Congress. It is still very much alive today.

Rep Lee and the CBC are engaged in a racist attack on an Indian nation, couched in the language of "civil rights". The CBC is prepared to destroy the second largest Indian tribe in the country because 145 years ago, 296 Cherokee Indians, out of a population of 22,000, owned slaves. The legislation, introduced by Rep Diane Waters, is full of errors, omissions and distortions of Cherokee history and federal law. Congress statutorily abrogated all Cherokee treaty obligations regarding citizenship over a hundred years ago!

Under international human rights law, indigenous rights and minority rights are DIFFERENT. Indigeous nations have a right to exist as a distinct people. We fought against forced assimilation for over a hundred years. Forced integration is the other side of the same coin. It is cultural genocide and a grave violation of human rights. Rep Lee, read the International Convention to End ALL FORMS of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendations 23 as regards Indigenous peoples!

Divide and Conquer is getting very old.
.

[MadeinAmericaProud]

Every election cycle since Nixon has us fighting point finger at each other, while they back-door our jobs.
One side told them it's OK, We are changing to Services Industry from Manufacturing Industry. Now those jobs have gone to India, Philippine and other places. The only jobs left are local and federal government
jobs, private jobs paid by taxpayers, prison, military equipment jobs. We are fighting over the few left. Over 9+millions jobs outsourced.

We cannot allow our elected officials to continue the divide and conquer trick. We the People need to pull ourselves our of this mess and forever more keep our eyes on our government as well. We allow ourselves to believe the government we elected to care and protect all the people.

We need to demand term limits for all of them. The longer they stay, greed and power sets in. Our taxes are used without our voice. We need to have a national standardized voting with paper trail. We need popular vote.Do away with the electoral system having the final say. Each state only having one style as with the national system. Texas so corrupt the daytime vote overridden by the nighttime vote. 2 votes same day in one state. What is wrong with us? How can we be united with each state running a muck,

[SteveClements]

Quick question, I just saw on CNN that Hillary claimed to have marched in the Poor People's March in 1968. Any evidence of this? How'd she have time when she was working on Nelson Rockefeller's campaign for Republican nomination according to Carl Bernstein?

[SteveClements]

One of the best ways we can fight poverty is by fighting for labor. Where is the support for unionizing lower-income women, the fight against union-busting tactics that prey on the fears of lower income women, the indignation at exploitation of women and children in sweatshops in places like China. I can't understand how any feminist, any progressive, can support Hillary. She may be a woman candidate, she is NOT THE woman candidate, nor is she the candidate fighting for issues of real world concern to women. I could point to her back room sellouts of workers when she was on Board of Directors at Wal-mart, which mostly hurt lower income women; she and Bill still profiting off their connections with Wal-Mart, a company facing the largest sex discrimination suit ever. Or her support for Most Favored Nation Status for China that has profited greatly Wal-Mart. Or the extreme degradation of workers at sweatshops providing cheap gods and high profits to Wal-Mart. I could point to her strategist, Mark Penn, being a union buster. Where is the feminist indignation over all that? Or is this a case, as some argue, that first wave feminists are still ignoring lower income and minority women's issues? Some of this has been posted before.