In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. — like the United States — was at a crossroads. The civil rights movements of which he was a leader had made significant gains, including the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

But those victories, King realized, had not ended suffering. In America’s urban centers and its rural expanse, poverty and discrimination persisted. The military conflict in Vietnam continued with no end in sight. America, according to King, needed a “radical revolution of values” to right those and other wrongs. The original Poor People’s Campaign was born.

Half a century after King’s vision was brought to life and his tragic assassination, we again find ourselves at a crossroads with respect to racism, economic exploitation, militarism and environmental devastation. The issues confronting poor Americans 50 years ago remain acute problems that leave families living in fear in 2018. The dimensions of those problems have changed somewhat. But we believe the solutions still lie within us.

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