Finally, aid to states and localities makes common sense as a strategy to prevent further job losses and service cuts. If Congress fails to act, 900,000 more workers will lose their livelihood and there will be further cuts to the services that sustain Main Street America, including communities of color.
King directed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in late 1967 to take the civil rights movement on yet another march on Washington, D.C. But unlike the one four years earlier that was the setting for his memorable "I Have A Dream" speech, King planned to deliver a speech that would speak to the "waves of the nation's poor and disinherited" and to lead groups of poor people of all races in the spring of 1968 to demand "at least jobs or income for all."
He never led that march, nor delivered a singular defining speech on poverty. His assassination in 1968 left that unfulfilled. Still, King left writings that reveal he understood the essential nature of poverty in the United States and the benefits that surely will follow in its demise.
What's more, King plainly articulated the reality that continues to plague American society 40 years after his death. Just as it was in the late 1960s, prolonged and pronounced economic racial disparities and entrenched poverty across all races remains a source of friction and instability in 21st century America.
Candidate Obama spoke similarly of the need to tackle poverty during his historic presidential campaign. Now President Obama has an important opportunity to fulfill that promise by articulating and implementing a national goal to cut the U.S. poverty rate in half between 2010 and 2020, starting with a job creation strategy to lift up the hardest-hit communities.
Or as King said, "The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. . .The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct, and immediate abolition of poverty."
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Sam Fulwood is a Senior Fellow at American Progress, where he analyzes the influence of national politics and domestic policies on communities of color across the United States.
Melissa Boteach is the Half in Ten Manager at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. In this capacity she coordinates "Half in Ten: The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years," a project designed to build the political and public will to reduce poverty by promoting decent work, providing opportunity for all, building wealth, and increasing economic security.
King directed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in late 1967 to take the civil rights movement on yet another march on Washington, D.C. But unlike the one four years earlier that was the setting for his memorable "I Have A Dream" speech, King planned to deliver a speech that would speak to the "waves of the nation's poor and disinherited" and to lead groups of poor people of all races in the spring of 1968 to demand "at least jobs or income for all."
He never led that march, nor delivered a singular defining speech on poverty. His assassination in 1968 left that unfulfilled. Still, King left writings that reveal he understood the essential nature of poverty in the United States and the benefits that surely will follow in its demise.
What's more, King plainly articulated the reality that continues to plague American society 40 years after his death. Just as it was in the late 1960s, prolonged and pronounced economic racial disparities and entrenched poverty across all races remains a source of friction and instability in 21st century America.
Candidate Obama spoke similarly of the need to tackle poverty during his historic presidential campaign. Now President Obama has an important opportunity to fulfill that promise by articulating and implementing a national goal to cut the U.S. poverty rate in half between 2010 and 2020, starting with a job creation strategy to lift up the hardest-hit communities.
Or as King said, "The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. . .The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct, and immediate abolition of poverty."
###
Sam Fulwood is a Senior Fellow at American Progress, where he analyzes the influence of national politics and domestic policies on communities of color across the United States.
Melissa Boteach is the Half in Ten Manager at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. In this capacity she coordinates "Half in Ten: The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years," a project designed to build the political and public will to reduce poverty by promoting decent work, providing opportunity for all, building wealth, and increasing economic security.
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