Commission seeks to document stories of poverty in Memphis

A new commission announced plans Thursday to document the most egregious stories of poverty in Memphis as part of a national campaign in the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Starks Institute for Faith, Race and Social Justice at Memphis Theological Seminary and the Tennessee Poor People’s Campaign plan to document human rights in Memphis and the Mid-South. Their work will be part of the new Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival, and areas they will study include health care issues, the legal system, wages, education, the environment and housing.

Dr. Andre E. Johnson, pastor of Gifts of Life Ministries, recalled at a press conference Thursday how on Dec. 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Council announced plans to launch the Poor People’s Campaign to lead thousands to Washington to draw attention to the suffering of people living in poverty.

“We will go there,” King said. “We will demand to be heard, and we will stay until America responds. If this means forcible repression of our movement we will confront it, for we have done this before. If this means scorn or ridicule we embrace it, for that is what America’s poor now receive. If it means jail, we accept it willingly, for the millions of poor already are imprisoned by exploitation and discrimination.”

Fifty years later as the anniversary of King’s assassination draws near, groups from across the country are resurrecting the idea of a Poor People’s Campaign, Johnson said.

“We are resurrecting the idea that people should earn a living wage,” Johnson said. “We are resurrecting the idea that if someone works 40 hours a week they should not qualify for government assistance. We are resurrecting the idea that an investment must be made if we are really going to address poverty. And we are resurrecting an idea that to be in poverty is not a sin, but the people that produce the systems that cause poverty must confess their sin. “

The Memphis Truth Commission is collecting stories until March 22 of how poverty has impacted people’s lives and will meet at 10 a.m. March 24 at Lindenwood Christian Church.

The campaign can be reached at tennessee@poorpeoplescampaign.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TNPoorPeople.