Strategic Dialogue #2 November 6-9, 2008

Reigniting the Poor People’s Campaign:
Finishing the Unfinished business of 
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On November 6th, seventy people representing more than twenty organizations gathered at Union Theological Seminary for the Second Poverty Scholars Program Strategic Dialogue.

Just two days before, the United States – for the first time in its history – elected as President a mixed heritage, African-American man, Barack Obama.
In the weeks just before, the global economy became increasingly immersed in the largest economic crisis of our lifetimes. The reality that poverty is the defining issue of our time is more present than ever in people’s lives and consciousness.

A great highlight of the weekend was the participation of community members from the Mississippi Delta – including Bertha Burres, “Queen of the Mule Train” in the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign and members of the Tutwiler Quilters of the Tutwiler Community Education Center.