WARNING: THESE VIDEOS MIGHT MAKE YOU GET UP AND DO SOMETHING
The crisis of poverty in the Black community has sparked the Poor People’s Campaign, the Gathering of Hearts Organization and the Nation of Islam’s Southhaven Study Group to mobilize an upcoming public hearing and march in the Delta of Mississippi on June 19-20.
“Someone has to help shed light on the living conditions in places like Louisiana and Mississippi. No one should have to live like this, no where in the world and especially not in America,” said Antoinette Harrell.
Ms. Harrell is the co-founder of Gathering of Hearts and has organized poverty tours for the last six months in both Louisiana and Mississippi. She has planned another tour for June 19 followed by the public hearing at Quitman County Elementary School in Lambert, MS. The march will take place on June 20 in Jackson, MS.
“To see people without clean water, living on dirt floors and having nothing for the children to even play on is horrendous”, she said. “Every citizen has a human right to these things but the people of Mississippi are being robbed.”
The concept of the Poor People’s Campaign was born out of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1968 plan of action to demand President Lyndon and Congress to help address the need for jobs, decent homes, health care and education in rural America.
The coalition of organizations has also launched a national online fundraising campaign for the family of Wade Brown, his wife Pricilla and their two daughters. All of the rooms in their miserable home leaks severely, have huge holes in the floor and they are hoping these efforts will bring more attention to their neighborhood.
According to the 2009 Mississippi Human Development Report, “a Black male born in Mississippi can expect a shorter life span than the average American in 1960. A Black woman in Mississippi earns less today than the typical American in 1960.”
The report also stated that the “overall infant mortality rate for non-Whites in Mississippi is more than 18 per 1,000 births, about the same as Libya and Thailand. Overall, Black Mississippians are worse off than other Black Americans, ranking second to last on the health and income index (just ahead of Louisiana) but dead last in education”.
WATCH THESE VIDEOS!!! DANG!
(For more information about the Poor People Campaign and The Public Hearing to be held in Lambert, MS, please call Antoinette Harrell at (985) 229-8001 or Yvonne Muhammad at (901) 451-2292 or muhammadsgofsouthaven@yahoo.com. To give donations Visit: http://www.firstgiving.com/brownfamily-poorpeoplescampaign)