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King and the Other America: The Poor People's Campaign and the Quest for Economic Equality
"An elegant and timely history of how black intellectuals have long made a case for the intersections between class and race."—The Nation "A meticulously researched look into the development of King’s thought. . . . Laurent’s important new book highlights the depth of the wisdom and organizing skill he brought to the movement for economic justice."—The Progressive Shortly before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power to transform the whole of society. In 1967, he envisioned and designed the Poor People’s Campaign, an interracial effort that was carried out after his death. This campaign brought together impoverished Americans of all races to demand better wages, better jobs, better homes, and better education. King and the Other America explores this overlooked and obscured episode of the late civil rights movement, deepening our understanding of King’s commitment to social justice and also of the long-term trajectory of the civil rights movement. Digging into earlier radical arguments about economic inequality across America, which King drew on throughout his entire political and religious life, Sylvie Laurent argues that the Poor People’s Campaign was the logical culmination of King’s influences and ideas, which have had lasting impact on young activists and the public. Fifty years later, growing inequality and grinding poverty in the United States have spurred new efforts to rejuvenate the campaign. This book draws the connections between King's perceptive thoughts on substantive justice and the ongoing quest for equality for all.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 8, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2021
Being in the Movement for over 40 years, this book was an inspiration. It's the story of the Poor Peoples Campaign in 1968, Dr King's radical attempt at building a multi-racial class based coalition of working people while addressing the question of race.
We never hear of the history of what some call "The American Commune" because it was a revolutionary diversion from the liberal coalition attempting to win more from the Johnson administration. Organizing against the Vietnam war was necessary to supply the resources needed, which alienated much of organizaed labor, electeds and the more conservative strains of the civil rights movement. However, King's outreach to black radicals (SNCC and the Panthers), white radicals (SDS, New Patriots), Hispanic radicals ( Brown Berets and Puerto Ricans), and an explicit anti-capitalist stance is a sharp contrast the the saintly vision of King reserved for Black History Month.
The book also delves into King's education in the Social Gospel movement, social democracy , and
Marxist idealogy.
Kudos to Sylvie Laurent for this book which should interest anyone with an interest in movement building and the necessity of a multi racial, class based strategy. Fascinating and enlightening. Highly reccommended.
We never hear of the history of what some call "The American Commune" because it was a revolutionary diversion from the liberal coalition attempting to win more from the Johnson administration. Organizing against the Vietnam war was necessary to supply the resources needed, which alienated much of organizaed labor, electeds and the more conservative strains of the civil rights movement. However, King's outreach to black radicals (SNCC and the Panthers), white radicals (SDS, New Patriots), Hispanic radicals ( Brown Berets and Puerto Ricans), and an explicit anti-capitalist stance is a sharp contrast the the saintly vision of King reserved for Black History Month.
The book also delves into King's education in the Social Gospel movement, social democracy , and
Marxist idealogy.
Kudos to Sylvie Laurent for this book which should interest anyone with an interest in movement building and the necessity of a multi racial, class based strategy. Fascinating and enlightening. Highly reccommended.
January 31, 2022
At times a bit repetitive, but overall it is a much needed exploration of the latter years of Dr. Kings activism. In addition, the author makes poignant connections between the Poor Peoples campaign and the work of earlier civil rights activists like DuBois and Douglass.
It would be wonderful if this campaign had succeeded, as many of the problems we still struggle with as a nation would be ancient history, but unfortunately it was not. The good news is that there are still people today who are fighting to correct the ills of the past and design a system that better reflects the makeup of our society.
On being a part of the solution, the author says of (white) liberals “Reasoning that the great racial divide plaguing the nation was mainly an issue of individual prejudice, racial liberalism was thus unable and unwilling to envision the structural reforms which many black activists knew to be indispensable “, I feel as though this could be said of us today.
It would be wonderful if this campaign had succeeded, as many of the problems we still struggle with as a nation would be ancient history, but unfortunately it was not. The good news is that there are still people today who are fighting to correct the ills of the past and design a system that better reflects the makeup of our society.
On being a part of the solution, the author says of (white) liberals “Reasoning that the great racial divide plaguing the nation was mainly an issue of individual prejudice, racial liberalism was thus unable and unwilling to envision the structural reforms which many black activists knew to be indispensable “, I feel as though this could be said of us today.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews