SCLC revives Poor People’s effort of MLK

The SCLC has relaunched the Poor People’s Campaign begun four decades ago by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and is pushing to keep poverty on the agenda in Washington.

Byron Clay, interim president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Thursday that the organization has asked U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) to host congressional hearings on the issue and is calling for President Barack Obama to create a commission on poverty.

The SCLC, co-founded by King in 1957, is planning a march in Jackson, Miss., on June 20 to bring attention to the plight of the poor in America, following King’s example of compassion, love and understanding for others.

When he was killed in 1968, King was working on a similar initiative to reduce poverty in targeted areas across the country. Clay, who took office in February, said continuing King’s mission was a priority for him as head of the SCLC.

The civil rights icon’s campaign was to culminate in a march in the nation’s capital, but the modern-day movement will stay in the Mississippi Delta, Clay said.

“We thought it would be more fitting,” Clay said, adding that the country should see families in homes with dirt floors instead of the marble monuments of Washington.

Such images struck King four decades ago when he visited the soil-rich, resource-poor Delta region, which remains among the poorest places in the nation, said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), who worked alongside King in the SCLC.

“We were determined to carry through with this project,” Brooks said. “It is certainly fitting and proper that the SCLC continue the Poor People’s Campaign.”

The SCLC is also reaching out to other civil and human rights organizations, including the Realizing the Dream Foundation — led by Martin Luther King III — the NAACP, the National Urban League and other members of the clergy. Clay stressed the issue is not one of race, but of class.