Rev. William Barber’s new book on ‘White Poverty’ shows breadth of ‘an American crisis’
As election-year ads and social media campaigns focus on politicians’ personalities, Rev. William J. Barber II and other advocates for the poor want voters to look instead at policies they say divide Americans and keep too many of them in poverty.
Barber — a North Carolina pastor, lecturer, co-founder of the Poor People’s Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach — and writer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove released a book this week called “White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.”
The Poor People’s Campaign and other groups also plan a rally in Washington later this month.
Why does the book focus on ‘white poverty’?
Barber and Wilson-Hartgrove say politicians continue to use a decades-old strategy of dividing Americans by suggesting that Black, brown and white people have competing interests because if poor people realized how much they have in common, they would unite around shared concerns and force elected officials to respond to their needs.
Barber has said the technique is used by corrupt politicians as a distraction that allows them to craft policies benefiting the wealthiest people in society at the expense of the poorest.
Barber said in an interview there were 87 million poor and low-wage people in the U.S. who were eligible to vote in the last presidential election, but some 30 million of them didn’t go to the polls. Today, Barber said, there are 135 million poor and low-wage people in the country, 66 million of whom are white, and if they vote, their numbers could affect the outcome of local, state and national elections.
“We’re calling them the new swing vote,” Barber said, adding that in every state, “If poor and low-wage voters increased participation by 25 percent, they could fundamentally affect elections.”
Their participation is crucial, Barber said, because those voters tend to hold progressive views on the federal minimum wage, access to health care, affordable housing, funding for education and other issues that affect them.
“Poverty is interracial,” Barber said. “It’s not a Black issue or a white issue. It’s an American issue, and an American crisis.”
Why do so many poor people not vote?
Barber says many of them don’t believe elections have any impact on their lives. In debates, he said, politicians don’t discuss how their policies would affect the poor.
“Nobody talks to them or about them,” Barber said, despite research showing that poverty and social factors associated with it are a leading cause of death in the United States.
What’s the June 29 Moral March on Washington?
Barber said organizers, including faith and labor groups from across the country, are preparing for tens of thousands of people to participate in the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 29.
The rally is meant to draw attention to the movement’s 17-point agenda, encourage solidarity among the poor regardless of race, and inspire people to vote in the November election.
The event also will be live-streamed and Barber said more than a million people are expected to tune in.
This story was originally published June 14, 2024 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Rev. William Barber’s new book on ‘White Poverty’ shows breadth of ‘an American crisis’."
