BISHOP JOHN SELDERS: Can I just be honest with you? It didn’t just drop out of heaven like this, that our societies, our urban centers, that poverty has been engineered, that our form of economic democracy needs poor people in order to have rich people. So we have gathered in this space and place, with our colleagues, not just here, but all across the U.S. right now, in at least 30 states across the country and the District of Columbia, our friends are gathering in similar places and spaces to decry that we will not go away! That this time we are fighting poverty to stay.
We are part of the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King who gathered a number of organizations and groups across the country 50 years ago, naming the triplets of evil for the country at that time: racism, materialism and militarism. We have gathered under the banner of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. And we say there are five pillars we’ve gathered around. Yes, racism, while things have changed, things are still the same. Racism is still a problem in this country. Can I get one amen right here? (Amen!) Poverty is still a problem in this country. Can I get one more amen (Amen!) The war economy is still a problem in this country. Can I get one more amen right there. (Amen!) Fifty-four percent of our national budget goes to spending on the national defense. That ain’t right.
It is very clear to me that ecological devastation impacts us all. And then there is the fifth of our pillars, which says, Listen! There is a distorted understanding of what morality really is. I said it once; I’ll say it again here today: we spend a whole lot of time on what a certain person tweets, rather than what I think are the real issues of this democracy. And so we are gathered under that umbrella to do business. Forty days of moral direct action. A number of us will once again do what we’ve vowed to do. We have vowed not to let one more national – or in this case, here in Connecticut – statewide election happen some focus on poor people and marginalized people and people who are disenfranchised. No more debates happen, no more conversations about what are the solutions for our state without a conversation about poor people and people who are disenfranchised, and people who have a lack of health care and a lack of housing and a lack of jobs.
Thank you for the two “amens” I got. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So I’m going to ask a couple of our colleagues to come and share. Today we have singled out as the theme of this week’s moral action is systemic racism. Say it: systemic racism (repeats). We have a slogan in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival, that systemic racism is immoral. Come on, say it with me, systemic racism is immoral. We’re focusing this week’s theme on that; we’re also talking about immigration, the continued struggle people are having, first of all, just to get in here, but once they’re here, all the blocks that are placed in their way to stay here. Can I say that’s immoral? (That’s immoral.)
Come on, sis. Talk to us a little bit about what it feels like to be Muslim in our fair land. (Applause)
CHAPLAIN NORA FITZPATRICK: Peace be with you, everybody. First I’d like to say Ramadan Mubarek. Today is the fifth day of Ramadan in America. My name is Chaplain Nora Fitzpatrick. I’m an inner-city ghetto chaplain, and I serve homeless youth living in the north end of Middletown, Connecticut. Today I’m going to read from an urban dictionary, if you don’t mind. “Islamophobe: Islamophobes are people who believe that Islam promotes violence, barbarism, terrorism, persecution, women oppression, and fill any bad objective that you can think of. To prove their point, they indulge in one or more of the following: they will present references from the Islamic scriptures with their own twisted translation, and I could go on and on and on.”
Don’t fear people who wear hijabs. This is a hijab; it’s a scarf. Shout out to all my hijabis in America. This is a decision that we make every day, when we wake up, for the sake of God. So today my message to you is, Don’t fear Muslims. When you see them, talk to them, have a conversation with them, reach out to them, shake their hand. And I’ll leave you with this. I was discriminated once a couple years ago, based on my scarf, and the fact that they believed I am Muslim, and it was very heart-wrenching. It was my first experience (with anti-Muslim discrimination) in this country, and I am ashamed of it, and I am here to say that we will not stand for this in our country. I’m here to tell you that as a Muslim woman who was raised Roman Catholic and Baptist, we ain’t here for that. And we want you to stand with us as we stand with you and all the poor people in America. And on that note, God bless everyone who’s here today and please continue to pray for all of our homeless youth that are living in Middletown, Connecticut.
For more information, visit the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival at poorpeoplescampaign.
