The Poor People’s Campaign is returning to Frankfort Monday for another rally. The group was denied access to the Kentucky state capitol building during the event last week. There will also be demonstrations at state capitol buildings in Tennessee and Indiana.
Monday’s rally will focus on living wages, housing and education. More than 30 states will be participating in the demonstration at 2 p.m. local time. Reverend Megan Huston, pastor of First Christian Church in Bowling Green was at last week’s rally when the group was denied access to the Kentucky State Capitol.
“That poor people and people without healthcare, people who are trying to gain access to education,” she said. “That we are being shut out of the very place where these decisions are being made that are so detrimental to so many Kentuckians, it’s really not surprising.”
Huston said the group will continue working to gain access to their elected officials. Two Kentucky lawmakers have written a letter to state Attorney General Andy Beshear requesting an opinion on why a group of peaceful demonstrators was denied access to the state Capitol on June 4.
“It seems absurd to deny 400 people, 400 taxpaying Kentuckians into their own capitol building but we were not allowed to go in,” she said.
The “Poor People’s Campaign is a grassroots effort originally launched by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The movement has been re-ignited by Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. The rally at the state Capitol will include residents from Bowling Green and members of several statewide groups.
