David Rovics | New song: "The Poor People's March on Washington" @drovics | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
A song for Mother's Day, 1968 -- in deep appreciation for Cheri Honkala and the great organizing work of the Poor People's Army, the heir to the spirit of Resurrection City, who are organizing marches to both the RNC and the DNC this summer.
The Poor People's March on Washington
It was the end '67, when the meeting began
Where MLK and friends began to make a plan
To try to build on all the victories they’d won
He said now it's the era of human rights begun
All across the country, people organized
And all across the country, so did the FBI
To derail and disrupt, by press and by gun
The Poor People’s March on Washington
Walks were planned, all across the country
To head to the capital and stay until victory
Armed with an Economic Bill of Rights
Indians, Chicanos, Blacks and whites
Together in a struggle for a guaranteed income
For housing, for jobs, they came from
California, Alabama, everywhere beneath the sun
For the Poor People’s March on Washington
On Mother’s Day, 1968
They'd set up camp to challenge the United States
To live up to its convictions, prosperity for all
The plan was not to leave until they saw injustice fall
To destroy this movement, the state did its very best
As the historical record abundantly attests
But what lengths they would go to to make sure that they won
Against the Poor People’s March on Washington
Whether it was related, or whether it was not
On April 4th, ‘68, MLK was shot
What the future might have held if he’d lived to go
Unfortunately this world will never know
Resurrection City was built on Mother’s Day
A month later, mass-arrested, and taken away
That’s what happened, it’s all true, however else it’s spun
It was the Poor People’s March on Washington
It was the end '67, when the meeting began
Where MLK and friends began to make a plan
A song for Mother's Day, 1968 -- in deep appreciation for Cheri Honkala and the great organizing work of the Poor People's Army, the heir to the spirit of Resurrection City, who are organizing marches to both the RNC and the DNC this summer.
The Poor People's March on Washington
It was the end '67, when the meeting began
Where MLK and friends began to make a plan
To try to build on all the victories they’d won
He said now it's the era of human rights begun
All across the country, people organized
And all across the country, so did the FBI
To derail and disrupt, by press and by gun
The Poor People’s March on Washington
Walks were planned, all across the country
To head to the capital and stay until victory
Armed with an Economic Bill of Rights
Indians, Chicanos, Blacks and whites
Together in a struggle for a guaranteed income
For housing, for jobs, they came from
California, Alabama, everywhere beneath the sun
For the Poor People’s March on Washington
On Mother’s Day, 1968
They'd set up camp to challenge the United States
To live up to its convictions, prosperity for all
The plan was not to leave until they saw injustice fall
To destroy this movement, the state did its very best
As the historical record abundantly attests
But what lengths they would go to to make sure that they won
Against the Poor People’s March on Washington
Whether it was related, or whether it was not
On April 4th, ‘68, MLK was shot
What the future might have held if he’d lived to go
Unfortunately this world will never know
Resurrection City was built on Mother’s Day
A month later, mass-arrested, and taken away
That’s what happened, it’s all true, however else it’s spun
It was the Poor People’s March on Washington
It was the end '67, when the meeting began
Where MLK and friends began to make a plan
