Last night the Democratic presidential candidates held their last debate for the Iowa caucuses. As campaign season gets into full swing, the perennial stresses of toxic partisanship will feel harder to escape than ever.
Also on the horizon, however, is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This week in OtherWords, Jessicah Pierre highlights the last big campaign King signed onto before his death: the first Poor People’s Campaign. As Jessicah describes it, it was a massive mobilization of poor and low-income people from all races and all parts of the country.
While King’s racial justice legacy is as relevant as ever, Jessicah argues we need to pay a lot more attention to his later work on economic justice, too. If we look closely, it actually points a way out of our current predicament, by bringing people together across their divides — not to stop fighting, but to fight together.
Also this week, Basav Sen highlights stunning (but under-reported) survey data on Americans’ attitudes toward fossil fuels. Jill Richardson says we need universal school lunch. Jim Hightower explains where billionaires get their money. And finally, Khalil Bendib tries to square the “Christian” case for the Trump agenda.
New This Week
Learning from King’s Last Campaign | Jessicah Pierre
Before he died, Martin Luther King, Jr. joined a campaign to unify working people of all races. Today, nothing could be more powerful.
Nearly All Americans Want Off Fossil Fuels | Basav Sen
The vast majority of people in the world’s largest fossil fuel producing country want to phase them out.
Why Do We Have School Lunch Debt at All? | Jill Richardson
We live in a nation where food is plentiful but millions of children experience hunger and food insecurity.
How Do Billionaires Make Money? By Having Money | Jim Hightower
The world’s billionaires don’t grow their bank accounts with hard work. Their money does the work for them.
Evangelicals for Trump | Khalil Bendib
Because God is love?
In Case You Missed It…
Congress: War Profiteering Is Real. We Need to End It. | Sarah Anderson
Surging stock prices for military contractors gave several CEOs an early payday after Trump’s Iran aggression.
We Need a New Deal for Housing | Nicole Braun
I’ve worked hard my whole life and will probably never own a home. This is a policy shame, not a personal one.
Sesame Street Saved My Young Mind — Now We Need to Save It | Bobbi Dempsey
President Trump wants to cut off support for the show, now celebrating its 50th year and still drawing a huge audience.
Save the Minor Leagues! | Brian Wakamo
Driven by greed, Major League Baseball wants to kill 42 franchises in the towns that made baseball America’s pastime.
