>> today, we are here to announce that on march 2, 2024, and 32+ states that you will hear more about later, we will be holding a massport peoples

low-wage workers moral march to statehouse assemblies, part of 42 weeks organizing mass mobilization of poor and low-wage voters across the usa that touch more than 15 million infrequent voters. between now and november. and to announce that in june, june 15, we will also be marching on the united states congress to launch our summer initiative to continue to push to mobilize the 15.4 and the income voters in low income, low-wage workers. it is time for a resurrection and not an insurrection. and we, this year, or in the 60th anniversary of freedom summer your freedom and jus

that which one must continue, continue to fight for. i'm going to sail a bit more but we want to introduce this first by way of our promo video of whole nation might see an might join in with us. so at this time the promo video. [inaudible] >> is it up?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ..

♪♪ ♪♪ >> i have been struggling to pay my bills since i've been working at 16 years old. full-time 64 hours a week, seven days a week. i am exhausted. >> our government finds it necessary to ban abortion, to say that they are saving our

children, but more children die as a result of poverty in this country. >> we should not be forced to do one necessity over another. >> this is the consequences that we face. so what our people say is that we are fighting the oldest evil. no matter how you call the holy, all of our sacred texts, compel us to create a world in which there is enough for us all. >> in the face of a distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism, we declare that silence is betrayal. >> we gather on these streets in the spirit of the profit emma who declared hate evil and love good and establish justice. >> we lead the charge from the holy cross, yeah, you have-- all of you who believe the

persistence standing firm in justice. >> from nevada from those most directly impacted by the profound evils of america. >> our votes are not a show of support, they are demands. >> we will raise our cry and we will call for change because nothing less would be a betrayal of our sacred commitment. >> we are the dear, we are the poor of this and we are dear. >> until our children are protected, working the pain and the houses are providing and until saving the world and diplomacy and living in peace is more important than blowing up the world, we won't be

silenced anymore. if we've got to march, we are going to march. if we've got to engage, nonviolent, direct action, we'll engage. if we have to ask workers to make election day a day, we'll do it, but until then, we won't be silenced or unseen or unheard anymore. [cheers] ♪♪ ♪♪ >> altogether.

we must engage poor and low wealth people to change the political landscape. i want to talk about the power of poor and low wage people in this country. for too long they've blamed poor and low wage people for their flight and ignored instead of appealing to the so-called middle class. and poor and low wage people have become nearly half of this country and we're here to make one thing clear, poor and low wage brothers and sisters have the power to determine and decide the 2024 elections and elections beyond. during the 2016 election, there were 34 million poor and low wealth people who were eligible to vote, but didn't. these voters make up more than a quarter of entire electorate and in our study that was done unleashing the power of poor and low income americans at

columbia university along with barnes we found a mange reason poor and low income people aren't voting is because political campaigns do not talk to them, do not speak to their issues. we found out that in our election cycles, sometimes we have 15, 20, debates for president and not one of those debates, not 15 minutes, not 30 minutes, not 10 minutes is even given to raising questions about how the policies of that particular party or political politician will impact nearly 50% of the electorate in this country and of the citizens. most americans recognize we need a third reconstruction and the only way we're going to do is by changing the political landscape and the only way we're going to do it is by mobilizing poor and low income and low wage voters. poverty is now the fourth leading cause of death in america, a moral crisis.

taking the lives of 800 people every day and this is before covid and after covid. we can no longer accept that over 135 million of our neighbors are poor and low wealth in this country. and while they are disproportionally percentage-wise black, of the people the fact that the group -- a large majority, nearly 60 million are our white brothers and sisters as well. we must address these issues. these are not marginal issues. these are issues that must be at the center of the narrative of a democracy in our country if we're serious about saving democracy. saving the democracy cannot just be some philosophical term. saving the democracy must be a third reconstruction where people are paid a living wage, where people have health care, where public education is fully funded and where voting rights are protected and expanded.

the hard truth is, in 2021, eight so-called moderate democratic u.s. senators, tom tester, joe manchin, kyrsten sinema, chris coons and voted with the extremists in the senate republicans against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. $15 an hour which was called for in 1963 at the march on washington when they wanted to increase the minimum wage by 75% to $2. we're 60 years behind and the minimum wage has not been raised since 2009. workers are working hard and producing more, many of them were essential workers, but they feel like they are being treated as though they are expendable so these poor and low wage workers are saying it's time for us to mobilize, that's why we are launching this campaign on march the 2nd.

42 weeks to mobilize 15 million poor and low wage workers who have been infrequent voters. we are saying it's time to be infrequent no more. according to the exit polls, 72% of americans say they would prefer a government-run health care plan, over 70% of americans support raising the minimum wage, including 62% of republicans. in florida, the $15 an hour minimum wage referendum got more votes than either presidential candidates. we declare today, that poor and low wage voters coming together with religious leaders and moral advocates to say our votes are demands, not merely votes for personalities, but votes for policy, votes are demands, and if persons want these votes, then talk to this block of voters, like you have never talked to them before. we must wake up this sleeping

giant. our campaign about educate, mobilize and organize and we've been building a moment in 42 states and march the 2nd, 30 states, alabama, arizona, california, delaware, florida, georgia, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, massachusetts, maryland, maine, michigan, missouri, mississippi, north carolina, nebraska, new jersey, new york, ohio, oklahoma, pennsylvania, rhode island, south carolina, tennessee, texas, vermont, virginia, washington state, west virginia, washington d.c., wisconsin we'll be mobilizing for 42 straight weeks and then on washington d.c. june the 15th, we are not an insurrection, but you better believe we are a resurrection. a resurrection of justice and love and righteousness and it's time for us to come together and if you want to know even more, those of you that are listening, what the power really is, for instance, when

the margin of victory was near or less than 3%, low income voters accounted for 34 to 45% of the voting population. in arizona 39%. in georgia 37%, in michigan 37%. in nevada 36%, north carolina 43%. in pennsylvania 34%. in wisconsin where liz is from, 39%. it is political suicide not to care about this block of voters. [applause] >> when you look at the fact that across this country, poor and low wealth voters, there's not a state where low income, low wage poor, low wage voters do not make up at least 20% of the electorate. finally, here are these numbers. in michigan, in 2016 the margin of victory in the presidential election was 10,000 votes. in 2016, 980,000 poor and low

wage eligible voters did not vote. it would only take 1.1% of that percentage of low wage voters, non-wage voters to overcome that in 2016. in k north carolina margin victory. and did not vote. it would take the percentage for poor or low wage voters to match or succeed the voters in that state, we have power, we've got to use it and the time is now to build a third reconstruction and be a resurrection of power in this moment. there is no turning back. march the 2nd we mobilize for 42 straight weeks to shift the political electorate in this

country. [applause] >> at this time i want to invite the co-chair of the poor people's campaign, a national call for more revival, liz harris to come and following her one of our great posters in this country, linda lake will come and talk as well and make it clear why this year is a critical issue people seeking elected office people cannot, cannot and must not ignore. [applause] >> we know from the experience of leaders in this poor people's campaign, a national call for more revival, that economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply

connected. in this rich nation that has the wherewithal to end poverty tomorrow, where there's a political will, we must not overlook the voices and votes of poor and low income people. and as we have said and will continue to say, we are mobilizing and organizing, registering and educating people for a movement that votes, votes for health care, and debt cancellation. votes for living wages and strong anti-poverty programs. votes for fair taxes and the demilitarization of our communities and worlds. votes for immigrant rights and more. since the last presidential election, there have been at least 1,000 voter suppression bills introduced across this country. this attack on our democracy and on our voting rights impact

people the most, those whose votes are most suppressed and what happens when extremists get into office and pass policies that hurt the poor and the vulnerable the most. i know this connection between the attack on our democracy and poverty from my home state in wisconsin. a battle ground state in this election, home to 1.9 million poor and low income eligible voters. or as we heard, 39% of the electorate. but between 2020 and 2023, wisconsin lawmakers have introduced 46 voter restricted bills and at that same time, 1.1 million children received the expanded child tax credit. 320,000 low wage workers received an earned income tax credit, but since these pandemic programs expired, poverty is on the rise and it

doesn't have to be this way. or in pennsylvania where i personally experienced homelessness and got involved in organizing, where pennsylvania is home to 3.3 million poor and low income eligible voters who are 30% of the electorate. where between 2020 and 2023, pennsylvania state lawmakers introduced 41 voter restricted bills and now, 679,500 people, almost 700,000 people are expected to have lost medicaid by next month due to the end of these pandemic policies. if we are going to be serious about addressing the problems of low wages, the lack of health care, inadequate housing, a tax cut in this

improverished democracy, we as a nation must listen to the demands of the poor who are dying, who are dying from -- who are calling for the expansion of voting rights, not the suppression of our votes and our voices and who are pushing and will continue to push political candidates and elected leaders to lift from the bottom so that everybody can rise. people are dying, but we know it doesn't have to be this way. and so we are calling on everyone to join us in this poor people's campaign and national call for more revival and join us in these 42 weeks of mobilizing and organizing because we're going to get it done. [applause] >> it is so critical in this moment that we disspell so many

distortions, vote against their own interests, poor and low wealth, low wage folks don't have power, the margins, they really can't take a difference. people are not voting because of voter suppression, people aren't voting because they're not talking -- we can't change this? yes, we can. one jobs report means you should just be quiet because everything is getting better. a job report is a snapshot in time, it is not talking about the systemic change that must take place. even if you have wages that go up a little bit in a period of time, that still does not change the law that makes the minimum wage 7.25. and for people who are in the restaurant industry, 2.13 plus tips. it does not change the fact that folk are dying at 800 people a day from poverty.

350,000 people died during covid from theacf health care. now it's important you should know when we march on these state capitals, why are we marching on state capitols? because that's where so much of the current political current day insurrection is going on and as we watch on state capitols, it includes meeting with both sides of the aisle and taking our demands to every politician at the state assemblies to do what they can do. they have something to stay when it comes to voting rights in that state. when it comes to living wages in that state. when it comes to funding public education in that state. when it comes to health care in that state. and so, our issues on the flyer are very specific to what state assemblies can do. when we come on june 15th to the congress we'll be focused on what state -- what the congress can do, but we're

focused now on what state assemblies can do and in a little bit i'm going to introduce you who is going to be our co-chair for strategy and mobilization for june 15th. right now we want to focus and we talked the other day and you said this is right. as a major pollster who does this work all the time, come and talk to the american people and our constituents about why this group, this powerful block of voters, over 80 million people now, cannot, cannot, must not, should not be ignored. [applause] >> well, it is a great honor and very humbling to be here and i took the sign which speaks to my expertise, which is voters. you know, it's not the polling data that should drive this

campaign, it's obviously the moral authority and the need. but in this case, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do. in 2024, the election is going to be about mobilization, there's no question that the biggest contest between the two parties is going to be who can get their voters out to vote. democrats have an enthusiasm gap today and we have progressive alliance has fissures that makes it more important, and by far low wage income voters. and minuscule percentages, both of the ministers before me have been very good pollsters and giving good numbers, minuscule changes could be game changing in terms of the margins. it is a massive voter engagement that's unprecedented

as it's being started here today and what i say as a practitioner it combines the essential elements of getting out earlier. we're not coming in on october 31st and saying, oh, god save the nation. we're grass roots engagement. charismatic national leaders which you see and powerful local leaders which you see on the board and a powerful agenda and this is an agenda, again, that is not controversial with the public. democrats, independents and republicans support in agenda, whether it's child tax credit, raising the wages, one fair wage, again, medicaid expansion, medicaid expansion is wildly popular to voters, they don't know they're supposed to be against it. they're widely in favor of it. let's go to politics here and you've heard the numbers. share a couple with you, where the margin of victory was less than 3%, projected to be less than 3% in 2024, 30 to 45% of

the voters are low wage voters or low income families. reverend barber gave you the numbers already, but just a couple, in arizona, 40% of the voters low wage, the percentage of victory .03%. georgia, 38% of the voters. 0.2%, michigan 39, and the numbers could go on and on. the turnout among low wage workers today and low income voters is on average, and dr. hartley has done a magnificent report here, 20 to 22% below the average turnout. this is an age block of voters and it's a block of voters that votes 58 to 60% at minimum for progressive no matter how conservative the state. whether you're talking, arizona, wisconsin, pennsylvania, north carolina, you're talking about a huge number, game-changing number of

voters. so the question is, what i love about polling is that conventional wisdom is about 95% wrong plus or minus 5% and beltway conventionalism is wrong about 100% of the time plus or minus 5%. as reverend barber said, this can't be done. in georgia 39,000 nonvoters gotten out to vote in 2020 three times the margin of victory. to end on a note of a little of the difference here, you don't have to be very good at math to realize these numbers are astounding. a lot of america is not too good at math and even everyone gets this ratio. in arizona there are more than 280,000 projected nonvoters in low income households. the margin of victory was 10,000 votes. in georgia, 500,000, even with all the mobilization, the margin of victory was under

12,000 votes. in north carolina we lost like 74,000 votes, 480,000 low income families projected not to vote in 2024. and finally wisconsin in honor of your own state, 240,000 low income families projected not to vote, the margin of victory was 21,000. again, this campaign is a vote honor to be a part of it because it's the right thing to do, but you have to be a moron not to participate in this and most elected are not complete mo morons, thank you for your time and your leadership. >> thank you so much. [applause] >> that's exactly right. these are serious numbers. we've been spending a retreat in my home state in tier one the poorest of counties and so tired of people writing off the counties. i've been poor all of my life, born in it, but people are

writing it off, the very place where just a little bit of change could fundamentally shift the power of the state. let me recognize ross, a senior advisor to the poor people's campaign and a national call for revival is in the room. let me recognize miss dorothy jackson going to be working with us as the executive director in strategy as we move towards june 15th. [applause] >> these numbers are serious and so we don't have to just die poor and low wage folk, we can come alive. we can come alive and shift this democracy. and for those listening, we're not just starting this year, we've already tested this in 2016, 2020, we've touched-- we took about 400 people and trained and touched over 2 million voters in seven states and we have the metrics. if you pull out, for instance, the number of people we touched in georgia, and helped get to the polls, our touch was-- and going to talk a little about this. i want to ask the attorney and

reverend who is an economist and policy each take about a minute and a half on a particular piece and then we are going straight to the power brokers, really, of this moment which are poor and low wage and they don't mind me saying that, because if you don't say it, nobody will ever pay attention to you. you've got to say it to make them pay attention. reverend cass and attorney -- >> good morning. so i wanted to share a few more numbers about georgia which we've heard already as an example of kind of power poor and low income voters have unleashed and will unleash towards the election this year. there are about 2.4 million people and low income voters in georgia and in 2020 just half of them, a little more than half cost their votes and they

still accounted for nearly one quarter of all the votes cast in that election, okay, that's a huge segment of the vote share and it was still just half, less, you know, it was just half of that block of voters. and yet, most voting drives don't pay attention to most poor and low income voters conventional wisdom, which is not very wise, is that poor and low income people don't care about politics, elections or voting, which just isn't true. so in 2020, the poor people's campaign, a national call for moral revival deliberately targeted the segment of voters in several states and in georgia, as we've heard, our outreach helped bring 39,000 of those eligible nonvoters who hadn't participated in 2016, but chose to participate in 2020. they brought them our reach was part of the effort that brought them into the voting electorate and that was three times, three times greater than the margin of victory in that state.

and we went back in 2020, reaching out to every low income voter in georgia, who we know. we know, we've seen it in 2020. we saw it in 2022 and we'll see it again in 2024, not only in georgia, but across the country that these voters can be organized to take the action together around an agenda that speaks to their needs and that agenda must not only be pro poor. it has to confront systemic poverty, ecological devastation and denial the health care and militarism in a war economy, all of which harm the poor first and worst. along 2.4 million people in georgia, those 2.4 million low income vote,there are another 80 million, 80 million of those voters across the country who are part of a population of 140 million people who need to see this agenda carried forward. it is time our political system

started taking these voters and these people seriously. [applause] >> we've been hearing a lot about the facts and the figures. but let's be very clear, we are in a moral crisis right now. we're in a moral crisis in this country that has been festering because of the systemic injustices that we have heard do not have to be this way, it is a policy choice. we are in a moral crisis when we have poverty being the fourth leading cause of death in this country. we're in a moral crisis when we have 52 million people earning less than $15 an hour. we are in a moral crisis when we have 46 million people who don't even have access to safe drinking water. we are in a moral crisis, but we have the power. we have the power across this country to turn every election

around. we have power in this country because in 2016 we saw that over a third of the states, the margin of victory over a third of the state were less than 100,000 voters. we have the power and we're going to show them our power not just on march 2nd, on june 15th and definitely at the polls. we have the power and we are going to be making it known that these elections, they're going to be one step, but we know that it's the first step on a long road to change every single one of those policies so all can move forward together. [applause] >> not one step back. >> i think it's very clear why our politicians running need to talk to these voters. our votes are not about personality, about demands, your conventions need to talk to these voters while we're

doing this before the convention. if you want these voters, talk to them because they have the power when we keep talking about saving democracy. here is the power, so to talk about that, we have some people coming now who represent that power. i asked them to stand together. matt rosen, keep me on time, i know we have-- veronica burton from wisconsin, matt rosen from pennsylvania, guzman from massachusetts. mike from maryland. linda burns from alabama and we also have on zoom out of north carolina, zondria armstrong out of-- >> georgia, you come up to the podium at this time.

>> hey, everyone. my name is matthew rosen, i'm in lancaster, pennsylvania. i'm part of the poor people's campaign and currently on ssi and it started because of mental health issues. i was denied treatment for years. i was looked at as a criminal not with someone with health care needs. it took 20 years of not fitting into society to receive the mental health care that i needed. i'm a convicted felon. i served nine years in prison. i was told by correction officers i was not allowed to vote. i assumed they were right. i never looked into it. i was 40 years old when my wife finally told me that i actually did have the right to vote. i'm tired of companies and billionaires buying these politicians and drives workers deeper into poverty and debt. the daily toll of thankless

minimum wage retail jobs and back breaking jobs i've worked in pennsylvania 19 billionaires that have a 92 billion dollars altogether, and under our flat tax, they pay the same taxes that i do. right now because of my criminal record and the amount of money we have to fork out for a car that still won't run my wife and i are struggling to find a place to call home. we're currently living with a friend and we want a roof over our head, a basic right to human housing. there are many like us, like my wife crying out in the wilderness, we must come across the lines of division and put people first. people over profits and gains. life over death and that our voices be heard by our state representatives, do the job that they were elected to do.

[applause] >> and i heard, i heard that you're going to be mobilized. >> oh, yeah, oh, yeah. >> i heard it. >> you all come over together and stand around together, come on, that's right. there you go. >> hello, everyone, my name is linda burns from birmingham, alabama. i've been on this road a long time. i am one in 1.9 million americans living in or emergency property. for three years i worked the assembly line at amazon in bessemer, alabama. the work was grueling. we were expected to work like robots. moving like a thousand pieces an hour. you get-- you was risked getting wrote up or fired. i got badly injured. my left arm, i had two

surgeries, i had to get a third surgery, but i didn't have no more insurance. amazon, they cut my insurance off an hour-- i mean, a year after. they let me go last monday october during covid. i was there from the beginning, from 2020 up until last year in october. i couldn't afford to get the necessary third surgery because no insurance. they cut my hours. i was only making $180 a week. $180 a week. i couldn't afford to take my kids out for a decent meal. it was very heartbreaking. amazon let me go because i was

helping organize a union. we didn't get the union in alabama, but i'm going to do everything in my power, i'm going to stand in solidarity. organizing the union showed me how many people were in the same situation i was. not just in alabama, but all over the world. the minimum wage in alabama is all-time low of $7.25. now i work 16 hours a day, six days a week as a caregiver. i work too hard to have nothing. 47% of the voters are poor or low wage. getting that vote in is very important. >> that's right. >> we cannot settle for less. we've got to stand up for our rights.

we are forward together, not one step back. >> and i heard you're going to be organizing? >> i am, yes. >> (applause) >> we're proud to stand with you in that fight in bessemer. >> we're going to win. >> we are going to win. >> thank you so much, come on over, you all. come on over. >> in the state of maryland between 2018 and 2020 there were 2.2 million poor and low income people. my name is michael, and i count myself amongst those low income mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. while i'm extremely grateful for the job and benefits it provides i'm only able to just get by. i have health issues that purchase medical, and medical bills. in the richest nation ever, there's no reason that anyone should not be able to afford to live comfortably and not have to worry about the next emergency that could break us.

i am fortunate, you have a residence provided to me, but after essentially 17 years i'm still not earning enough to afford housing on my own. especially given that i live in montgomery county, which is a high cost of living. i am single with no children, but i want to have children and doing so at my current income doesn't feel possible. my heart goes out to families with children that are struggling because there are many. and poor people's campaign for five years and i'm now tri-share. i believe in this movement because no one should earn less than necessary and no child should suffer in montgomery county or baltimore, or annapolis or the eastern shore. we won't be silent anymore, we won't be muted anymore. forward together. >> not one step back. >> love to everyone. >> mike, i hear you're going to be organizing. >> most definitely. >> all right, all right. [applause] >> my name is jenny gusman, i

live in worcester, massachusetts. one of the 1.1 million of poor and low income in our state. i take care of people with disability and who are sick and who need help with their daily activities, but i do not have health insurance myself. i have been called an essential worker, sure, and the worst of the pandemic in massachusetts, there are 165,600 without health insurance. again, 165,600 without health insurance. i am an essential worker living paycheck to paycheck and i have to make decisions every day. do i put gas in my car? or do my pay my bills? or do i put food on my table?

i am a proud member union of 1199sciu and we have been organizing and want a pathway towards 25 an hour with three-year contract with the state of massachusetts. governor healy says she supports pca's, but in her new state budget she's cutting pca's who work fewer than 10 hours, that means my brothers and sisters who do less than 10 hours will be having no jobs and those people who need care won't have anybody. there is -- this is why i am organizing with the massachusetts poor people's campaign. we have got to get our power as people -- we're taking back the mic, raising our voices and we're registering our voters as the demand, forward together. >> not one step back. >> (applause)

>> as you can see, as you all have your seats, as you can see from all around the country, and this is just a few, we've got 32 states online right now, they're there. have a seat, you all. have a seat, everybody. they're there online all over the country and now we've got someone from georgia. come on in if she's online. >> how are you, reverend barber? >> hey. >> hey. hey, y'all. my name is-- i come from the state of the georgia and i'm a 38-year-old single mom of two. i have actually been homeless up until two years ago with my children. recently i have been doing a part-time work and thankfully, having a connection with a friend to even get into that job. i've been applying and applying and applying to have a better job regardless of going to

college, regardless of doing everything the right way. you know, that promise from the counselor that said that even if you go to college for four years i could at least, you know, look to have a middle class wage. now, unfortunately that was not the case for me. it has been 15 years since they have raised the minimum wage, the other day a few mom friends were at the park and talking about finances, of course, and one of the moms said 7.15 an hour, you have to really understand, that's really 4.15 an hour after they take the taxes that's what we have to deal with. it's going straight to child care, going to pay the bills, and without financial help from edp, without financial help, i'm on section 8, not quite sure where i would be. so it's time to raise our voices, it's time for us to get out and vote, because this needs to change. mothers, single mothers, most importantly, are exhausted.

we're exhausted and we're looking to always ask for help when we want to work and provide for our children. >> we hear you down in georgia. >> (laughter) >> so you're going to be mobilizing, right? >> am mobilizing currently, right. >> that's right, already at it. thank you so much. >> already at it. >> thank you, sister. veronica, come on up from wisconsin. [applause] >> short on time, i wish i had more time because i was part of the -- okay, my name is veronica burton, i live in wisconsin right around the corner from one of the billionaires, a family service worker, sometimes i'm a attendant on a bus. i only get paid for one position because of the low wages with no raises, our center staff are short across the country.

plus, employees use the personal funds to help families in our program in the community. minimum wage 7.25. i found out the other day with the basis i had work two hours to get a gallon of oj, oj is $9 now. i call it shrink-flatio -- during covid, i pay $1500 a month for child care, two rent increases during covid. being a family service workers the pains and concerns i'm heartbroken with the families i'm supposed to be helping in the program, and it's shameful that a couple of our kids in there had to unenroll because the mom couldn't pay, heart breaking. so, i'm going to cut this short. i am not alone. the families i work with also struggle to get child -- health

care, child care and jobs. and that's why i'm here, organizing a march to the state house and families are hurting, i am hurting, once again i wish i had more time. mobilize we're here. one step back-- >> forward together. >> and so, america, this is real, real people, real faces, real communities, rell states, as long as we have so-called moderates and extremists who will joan together and vote to deny 52 million people a living page of $15 an hour, we must mobilize, we must take back the mic and we must cast our votes and make change. as long as you can hear these stories, we must mobilize, take back the mic, cast our votes for fundamental change and people recognize our vote, our demands, not just for a party,

but for demands, as long as 800 people are dying a day from poverty, nearly a quarter million people a year, we must mobilize, we must take back the mic and we must cast our votes in a way that is transformative toward a third reconstruction. as long as the poor are one third of the electorate, 85 million people are poor and/or low income. as long as 58 million people in this group cast ballots making up 34% of the electorate in 2020, we will not be denied. we must mobilize, we must take back the mic and we must cast our votes. as long as 87 million people are still uninsured or underinsured, we must mobilize, take back the mic and cast our ballots in a way that is transformative and can shake the foundations and the political plans and polls of

this nation. as long as, as long as millions of people can't afford to pay our doggone energy bill. we must mobilize, take back the mic and cast our votes in the way that shakes up all the political calculations and demands that we will not be-- that we will be heard. we must say to politicians if, you want these votes start talking to the people and tell them what you're going to do not with the first 100 days of the new administration, the first 50 days. tell them what's going to happen if, in fact, you have power this is what power will look like. here we are in this country, in this moment, in this time where so many people have cried, we've heard them all during covid, they said we've got treated as essential workers,

but the policies treated us like we were expendable. essential workers, but we didn't get living wages. essential workers, but we didn't get paid family leave. 58 senators said no to 52 million people. all republicans and two democrats said no to restoring voting rights and we cannot have that. and so, folks have decided that two things you can do, you can sit down, not be engaged and say things are just going be like that. or you can do like freedom fighters before us and decide that there comes a time that you can't be silent anymore. this study says it clearly. it's time to wake up the sleeping giant in this nation and flex our power like never

before. are y'all ready? are we going to do this together? [applause] >> forward together. >> no step back. >> are there any questions from the media? yes? >> with the who? thank you. >> i wanted to ask you you talk about marching on state's capitols and want to go reach out to people on both sides of the political aisle. i wanted you to expand more on that and talk about your plans for bipartisanship. >> the march 2nd is not just a day, it's a launching. we've been organizing since the moral poverty act in congress since june of last year and we committed ourselves to do two things, four things and one was to have the simultaneous gathering, the media to know they're simultaneous at the same time and 32 states plus

the district of columbia. in a few weeks, delegations of poor and low wage workers and religious leaders and advocates will go visit both sides of the aisle, the speaker and the majority leaders and minority leaders on both sides of the aisle taking these fact sheets and these demands around living wages, around health care, around voting rights, because so much insurrection, political insurrection is going on right in our state capitol. then they will come back on march the 2nd for this launching. this is a launching, not an end, and they will gather together the key speakers will be poor and low wage people who-- and who represent these powerful voters, many of them who have not voted, but we are committed to touch and touching 15 million is not even all of them, but we're targeting 15 million infrequent voters, many of them who tended to vote when they did progressive, to say it's time for you to move your power. then on march the 4th,

delegations are going back to those state houses and visit each member of that state assembly. we're saying because this is a moral issue, nobody's let off the hook. because the polls tell us that most of the stuff we're demanding, upwards of 70% of americans want it. not just republicans or democrats, black or white, really, people are focusing on what's right versus what's wrong, moral versus what's immoral and then we will be mobilizing, i won't tell all of the strategy, but we have it down to a formula. and let me just say this, if you have-- if you organize 200 people in a state who are taught how to deep dive with technology and old-fashioned door knocking and calls, and you get 6,000 people in 30 states, if each one of those persons reaches about 50 people a day in a five-day week, they can reach upwards of 15 million people in 40 days, 40 to 50 days.

we're very serious about this, very serious about this, about this mobilization, it's not just a one-day, one-off screaming outside and it's over. this is a mobilization, the third reconstruction, this is a resurrection, not an insurrection. this is people deciding that no longer will you discount me. that's what this is. yes, ma'am. >> (inaudible) leaders and low income and poor people, can you give an example how that will be different for dealing with this enthusiasm gap that people talk about for 2024 mobilization? >> well, both of us are pastors and come out of tradition that understands that jesus' first word about evangelicalism are good news to the poor and provts prophets are about

mobilizing and every has to have a low wage leader, and constituency and an advocate. and they're coming together and saying this is the moral issue of our time, but it just can't be about feeling good, it has to be about transformation, so, congregations, whether they be jewish, muslims, christians, are coming together with poor and low wage people and engaging in this moment, they're signing up people to be among their 2, 300 people trained in how to mobilize and we're doing this from the center out, from the states up because it's not about helicopter leadership coming in from ohio, it's about building power and the way we're building it, this power is not just for this election cycle, it will be there for years and years and years to come, but more and more people are becoming tired of the heresy of christian nationalism or

religious nationalism and deciding that the prophetic moral voices can no longer stay quiet, reserved, calm. we must engage, a scripture that we use, isaiah chapter 10, woe unto those who legislate thee and rob the poor of their rights and make women and children their prey. it says and another scripture, amos chapter 5, that says when injustice is like this, god says i'm looking for a remnant that will shut down the streets and shut down the stores and shut down and will mobilize and will organize and will wail and say not now, not on our watch, no, we're not having this. and we'll mobilize. then it says, then that remnant can change the country. change this country and all over the -- all over the bible there are these stories about valley of dry bones, people rising up, the stones that the builders rejected becoming the

chief cornerstone of a new reality and pent cost happening and 12 or 120 people turning around and reaching thousands. these are all moral political imagery in scripture that we have to use in this particular moment and so, the time has come. we've tested it before, you heard the attorney talk about what had happened in 2016. we have data, this is metric-driven, not just emotionally driven, that's why we did this report and commissioned this report and so pastors, clergy, imams, rabbis, people of faith, people of faith, not of faith, joining together with poor and low wage folk saying it's time to bend the arc of moral universe and time to push into this third reconstruction, we are mobilizing together in every community and what's so powerful about it, is the

numbers tell us, it's not even a hard lift if we do it together. that the more begins of victory are so small now, 3%, 2%, 1%, that there's hardly a battle ground state in this country where if you mobilize 20% of poor and low wage voters that didn't vote in the last election, that they couldn't change the outcome and in some states like wisconsin and michigan, it's 1%. florida is about 4%. and when we tell people this in the room, they light up. because they've been told so long we don't have power. other folk are so strong. what we're finding out is a lot of people are not so strong, but that we've not flexed our strength and it's time now to do it. thank you so much, all of you who have come. blessings to all of you. thank you c-span for being here and we'll see you on the front

line. forward together-- >> not one step back. >> forward together. >> not one step back. >> forward together. >> not one step back. >> not one step back. >> not one step back. >> we did, all the folk, you heard me when i said that 31 people up there from all of the states and that's why they're there. and they're hollering back. >> not one step back. >> there they are. >> not one step back. >> not one step back. >> there, there. >> all right. >> not one step back. >> see you all on the front lines. [applause]. >> not one step back. [inaudible conversations]