February 29, 2024, New York – In advance of the launch of a mass mobilization by the Poor People’s Campaign on March 2, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:

The Center for Constitutional Rights stands in solidarity with the Poor People’s Campaign in Mississippi – the strategic hub of our Southern Justice Rising initiative – and across the nation, as thousands of low-wage workers mobilize to abolish poverty. Without a living wage, voting rights, and the fundamental human rights that every human should have, poor and low-wage people in this country have suffered injustices and indignities at the hands of local and state governments that have further criminalized their existence.

Our commitment to demanding justice for all extends from Jackson, Mississippi, where, for decades, poor and Black communities have been denied even the most basic of fundamental rights –  including clean drinking water. On March 2, as low-wage workers descend on over 30 state capitals across the country, including in Jackson, we will hold the banner in solidarity to demand real policy change that ensures a living wage, healthcare for all, environmental justice, and respect for our fundamental human rights.

With a strategic Southern Regional Office centered in Jackson, Mississippi, the Center for Constitutional Rights’ Southern Justice Rising initiative represents our deepened, renewed institutional commitment to liberatory movements in the South. We have worked closely with generations of Southern freedom fighters and continue that historical work by partnering with Southern grassroots movements, human rights defenders, and community organizations fighting to transform material conditions, dismantle systems of oppression, and advance visions of collective liberation today.