TO THE EDITOR:
On May 24,the Poor People’s Campaign presented their resolution in Congress titled, “Third Reconstruction.” Drawing on the transformational history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggles of the 20th century, this Third Reconstruction is the result of the ongoing historic effort to summon the moral and political resolve of the nation to center on the needs of the 140 million people in the U.S. who are poor or low-wealth in order to change these conditions with moral laws and policies.
This is in keeping with Pope Francis’ call for solidarity in his encyclical “Fratelli Tutti.” “Solidarity means thinking and acting in terms of community. It means that the lives of all come before the appropriation of goods by a few. It also means combating the structural causes of poverty, inequality, the lack of work, land and housing, the denial of social and labor rights. It means confronting the destructive effects of the empire of money ... Solidarity, understood in its most profound meaning, is a way of making history, and this is what popular movements are doing.”(#116) The Poor People’s Campaign is one of these popular movements.
The Poor People’s Campaign is planning a nationwide rally on June 7 to encourage U.S. Representatives to vote in favor of this resolution. In Rhode Island, the rally will be held at noon in front of Representative David Cicilline’s office at 1070 Main St., Pawtucket.
Rev. Raymond L Tetrault
