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submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) by thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

The Poor People's Campaign was a march on Washington D.C. to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States that began on this day in 1968, just one month after the assassination of one of its key organizers, MLK Jr.

The protest was also organized by Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King's assassination.

After presenting an organized set of demands to Congress and executive agencies, participants set up a 3,000-person protest camp on the Washington Mall, where they stayed for six weeks in the spring of 1968.

Among those demands was a proposal for an "economic bill of rights" that included a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure, and more low-income housing for poor Americans of all races.

"I think it is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights…

When we see that there must be a radical redistribution of economic and political power, then we see that for the last twelve years we have been in a reform movement…

That after Selma and the Voting Rights Bill, we moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution…"

-MLK Jr., in a 1967 planning meeting

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[-] Wmill@hexbear.net 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Having my cake and eating it too, what a dumbfuck saying what else am I gonna do with this cake?

[-] RION@hexbear.net 2 points 6 hours ago

Be careful that's how they caught a-guy

[-] Wmill@hexbear.net 1 points 5 hours ago

Wasn't it his brother giving him up to the feds or something?

[-] RION@hexbear.net 3 points 5 hours ago

Yes, and one of the ways his brother realized it was him was because the phrase "eat your cake and have it too" was used in the Unabomber writings. Teddy K apparently made a point of saying it with that order instead of the usual way because the expression actually makes sense that way, but it's pretty unusual and helped the brother connect the dots.

[-] Wmill@hexbear.net 2 points 4 hours ago

Damn cool tidbit thanks for sharing it, now I'm wondering what would give me away in how I speak

this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
96 points (100.0% liked)

chapotraphouse

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