The Poor People’s Campaign and a Shift in the Poverty Narrative: “Demanding Reconstruction From the Bottom Up”

“We’re looking for a complete transformation of U.S. society,” Poor People’s Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis told Ms. “We’re calling it a Third Reconstruction. We do not have scarcity in this country. People throw away food and there are more abandoned houses than there are unhoused people. We’re pushing back at the idea that we have to make choices about what we can provide to people. We’re also asking why it is usually poor women, children and people of color who are asked to compromise or make do with less.”