Poor People's Campaign

Bishop Barber, Rev. Theoharis, religious leaders & low-wage workers bring direct action back to DC for a National Moral Monday

Contact: Martha Waggoner, [email protected] | 919-295-0802

Bishop William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, with religious leaders and low-wage workers from 40 states, along with Rev. Jim Winkler of the National Council of Churches, will engage in nonviolent moral direct action on Monday, Aug. 2, in Washington, D.C. 

They are among hundreds of faith leaders who will join as the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival returns to DC for direct action. 

If their demands aren’t met, beginning with ending the racist and retrogressive filibuster so the government can govern, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, will take protests back to state capitals of U.S. senators. 

This National Moral Monday is part of the Season of Nonviolent Moral Direct Action that the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival launched in July. It will begin at 10:45 a.m. EST on Monday at Union Plaza and proceed to Capitol Hill. 

It will be live streamed here. 

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is demanding that Congress approve the following actions by Aug. 6, the 56th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act: 

  • Restoration of the full Voting Rights Act 
  • Passage of the For the People’s Act
  • An end to the filibuster 
  • An increase in the federal minimum wage to $15/hour
  • Fair and respectful treatment of the nation’s 11 million immigrants 

“We are witnessing a political insurrection to achieve what domestic terrorists failed to do on Jan. 6,” said BIshop Barber and Rev. Theoharis, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. “We are demanding an end to the filibuster to protect democracy and enactment of policies that the vast majority of Americans support.

“We are living in a moment when 49 states have filed over 400 voter suppression bills; 17 states have passed voter restrictions since 2020. And we see the connection between this attack on voting rights and all of the other issues that impact the 140 million poor and low-income people in this country.”

This National Moral Monday is backed by 25 coalition members, including the National Council of Churches, which represents 38 member communions and over 40 million individuals –100,000 congregations from Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African-American, and Living Peace traditions.

It follows a 27-mile, four-day National Moral March for Democracy and Moral Resurrection from Georgetown, Texas, to Austin, Texas. The march began July 28 and concluded July 31 with a rally of thousands of faith leaders and low-wage workers at the state Capitol in Austin,

Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, will be a special guest for the National Moral Monday. President Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which has since been gutted. 

Almost 30 states also held direct actions at the state offices of U.S. senators of both parties on July 16. On that same day, Rev. Barber, along with low-wage workers and religious leaders from Arizona, was arrested during a sit-in at the Phoenix office of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to demand that she support an end to the filibuster and the other demands of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. 

The season began with a news conference and national call-in to U.S. senators, followed by a Women’s Moral March where nearly 100 women were arrested during a protest. 

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Subject line: Moral Monday returns to DC, intensifies demands to save democracy