This is week 4 of the 40 Days of Moral Action. Members from Pine Valley Christian Church have been present in Topeka the past three (3) weeks. Here’s a synopsis of some emails detailing the happenings to date.
Week 1: Kansas joined with more than 30 other states across the country in kicking-off a nationwide, six-week season of nonviolent direct action by the Poor People’s Campaign. We gathered in the capitol for a press conference and rally with amazing speakers teaching about the plight, the insight, and the fight of those directly affected by poverty in Kansas, especially children, women, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
We then marched to an intersection between the statehouse and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and blocked the intersection until 31 people were arrested and given citations. Additionally, two (2) representatives from Kansas Poor People’s Campaign joined with hundreds in Washington DC and were arrested blocking an intersection in our nation’s capital.
Week 2: 15 women and three (3) men were arrested at the office of the Kansas Secretary of State during the PPC demonstration.
Week 3: The focus the day after Memorial Day was to end rampant militarism, the corrupt war economy and the proliferation of gun violence. “In 2018, our country is trillions of dollars in debt from waging the longest wars in our history—wars that benefit weapons manufacturers while deepening poverty in the U.S. and abroad. Military families here still need food stamps, while 10 million people in Afghanistan and Pakistan are homeless due to war.” Grace Bell Hardison, Unitarian Universalist Minister and member of About Face: Veterans Against the War.
Week 4: The focus is the Right to Health and a Healthy Planet: Ecological Devastation and Health Care. This week there will be a Rally & Press Conference on the 2nd floor Rotunda of the Capitol Building.
Please keep the Poor People’s Campaign in your thoughts and prayers.