A few weeks before his death in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about the “other America” to a union group in New York. In his remarks, he condemned the structural nature of poverty, saying “this country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor.” He was referring to the societal and systemic factors that contribute to the perpetuation of poverty, like economic inequity, discrimination and inadequate social safety nets. It was this profound frustration that compelled him to call for a racially unified movement to fight against poverty in America, a country filled with so much “concentrated opulence.”
The idea of launching a multiracial coalition to demand economic opportunity for all in America has long been a threat to the wealthiest class. Yet now is precisely the time to resurrect that effort, especially given the exploitation of working-class whites for political gain in this past election cycle, and the structuralized poverty that has trapped millions of Americans of all races in generations of poverty.
