IN SUPPORT OF AFT PARTICIPATION IN THE POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN: A NATIONAL CALL FOR MORAL REVIVAL

WHEREAS, the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign led by Martin Luther King Jr. was a courageous effort to address systemic racism and poverty in our country but was cut short by his murder; and

WHEREAS, the issues of systemic racial and economic inequality continue to plague our nation; and

WHEREAS, the current leader of the effort to build on the 1968 campaign, the Rev. William J. Barber II, is a friend of the American Federation of Teachers and is the architect of the successful Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, there is tremendous new energy and mobilization for social justice in our country, particularly since the election of President Trump, but much of it takes place within silos; and

WHEREAS, the tactics of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience have a storied history in the struggle for racial and economic justice; and

WHEREAS, today’s Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is a multiyear undertaking to unite movements and organizations to fight systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation and the war economy, and to shift the nation’s distorted moral narrative; and

WHEREAS, the campaign will lead 40 days of moral action across the nation over a six-week period, from May 13 to June 23, 2018, in at least 30 states and the District of Columbia, by engaging in highly publicized, nonviolent moral fusion direct action; and

WHEREAS, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is closely aligned with the five values that have guided the AFT’s work since the 2016 election:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers and its affiliates fully support the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT and its affiliates will participate in the 40 days of moral action across the country by providing leadership and presence on social media, by mobilizing members to attend events and by encouraging members to volunteer their time to support events.