By Porter Mitchell
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent the last months of his life working with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to organize the Poor People’s Campaign, also known as the Poor People’s March on Washington.
Poor People's Campaign
The campaign sought to unite poor Americans of all backgrounds to demand economic and human rights. The campaign demanded an end to economic exploitation, a universal basic income, opportunities for employment, and guaranteed food and housing. In the midst of organizing the campaign and supporting the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Dr. King was assassinated on April 3, 1968.
Ralph David Abernathy Sr. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In the wake of King’s assassination, Ralph David Abernathy took on leadership of the campaign. The Poor People’s Campaign made organized sets of demands of multiple government agencies, including the USDA at the end of April 1968.
The campaign’s demands of the USDA centered on eliminating hunger, ending the USDA’s favoritism to large scale growers, supporting farm workers, supporting the formation of farmer cooperatives, and ending the USDA’s pervasive and flagrant practices of racial discrimination, particularly towards Black farmers.
The campaign’s demands of the USDA were largely ignored, especially the call to end the USDA’s disgraceful practices of racial discrimination. This would again come to a head during the Pickman vs. Glickman lawsuits of the 1990s and early 2000s.
In remembrance of King’s legacy and the countless activists who have worked for food justice and the fair treatment of small farmers, we encourage you to read the campaign’s demands of the USDA and hold time and space for reflection: bit.ly/sclcppcdemands
Porter Mitchell is a Farmer Services Coordinator at Georgia Organics. To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit www.georgiaorganics.org and follow us on Instagram @GeorgiaOrganics, Twitter @GeorgiaOrganics, and at www.Facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.