The Poor People’s Campaign and Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs

The Poor People’s Campaign, in carrying on the work started by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, has planned a National Call for Moral Revival that will culminate in a Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, DC on Saturday, June 20, 2020.

The issues we will address include systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of Eurocentric religious nationalism.

What makes this Moral March on Washington special is that the people directly affected by poverty will be speaking for themselves. So, with this in mind, what’s the connection between the Poor People’s Campaign and Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs? I’m so glad you asked!

To begin with, most Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs were poor when they started their businesses. In fact, it was their poverty that pushed them to discover what was in them that they could do for themselves to earn a living for their families. Most of these entrepreneurs remembered the depths from which they arose and are still providing jobs and opportunities for poor people to earn a living wage as employees in their successful companies.

Given the above, there are two (2) distinct ways in which the Poor People’s Campaign and Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs are connected, and a third way that must now emerge.

The first way we are connected is through the original shared experience of poverty. The second way we are connected is through Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs who provide living wage jobs to poor people so they can have a better life. But, the third way that must now emerge is Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs’ joining with the Poor People’s Campaign to encourage poor people to start their own businesses!

We must make it crystal clear that starting a business is not a money or financial issue: it is a mindset, thinking and awareness issue. We must help poor people change the narrative in their heads that they are doomed to poverty just because that's all they've ever known. We must help them see that they are not their current or past circumstances. They are free moral agents who have the power to change their own lives for the better.

While the issues that confront poor people are very real and very systemic, Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs must take the leading role in helping poor people to understand that they have the power within themselves to change their own lives as they advocate for social justice. The Moral March must be backed by Moral Businesses created by poor people who have become aware of the resources within themselves. It is this Witness that must be shared as we walk hand-in-hand with those who will be going with us to Washington, DC on June 20, 2020.

It is Economically Urgent that Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs lead poor people out of a dependent-on-others mindset and into an independent self-determination mindset. Our encouraging people to think differently about who they are and Whose they are will go a long way toward sustaining authentic, grass-roots social change by the people most affected.

And here is your Call to Action: If you haven’t already done so, register now to join the Poor People’s Campaign at www.poorpeoplescampaign.org and decide to become a Socially Conscious Entrepreneur today!