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The Poor People's Campaign was a march on Washington D.C. to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States that began on this day in 1968, just one month after the assassination of one of its key organizers, MLK Jr.

The protest was also organized by Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King's assassination.

After presenting an organized set of demands to Congress and executive agencies, participants set up a 3,000-person protest camp on the Washington Mall, where they stayed for six weeks in the spring of 1968.

Among those demands was a proposal for an "economic bill of rights" that included a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure, and more low-income housing for poor Americans of all races.

"I think it is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights…

When we see that there must be a radical redistribution of economic and political power, then we see that for the last twelve years we have been in a reform movement…

That after Selma and the Voting Rights Bill, we moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution…"

-MLK Jr., in a 1967 planning meeting

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365 comments

  • Nathan straight up saying "HBO gave us a blank check" explains a lot about season 2 of The Rehersal

    • It is pretty wild to think about how production for this show goes; how can they spin up entire sets that faithfully imitate real locations for every episode? They must have been working very fast, even on top of how much money goes into it it's a real feat of budgeting it all out properly.

      Not to mention, it seems pretty easy to picture how they got S1 to all add up into a sensible story arc, since Nathan himself directly controlled how the story goes. But in S2 a lot of it is just left up to how these pilots behave! I'm open to the idea that there is a lot more direction and manipulation via editing than you might initially assume, but as a whole I think it's really interesting how much Nathan is just finding the narrative rather than creating it.

      • I would 100% watch a documentary on the mechanics of this show. Like I want to hear from all the set builders, casting agents, writers, extras, etc..

        It is definitely one of those shows where I am constantly thinking about the line between reality and fiction. There is definitely movie magic going on, but I don't think it would be as good if he didn't let it develop as it goes. The feeling I got while watching some of the best Nathan for You episodes is brought up the the nth level with this season. NFY was goofy and staged, but also really sincere and organic at sometimes unexpected times. This season really builds off of the stronger threads of his previous stuff.

        There isn't anyone out there doing it like this right now. I keep thinking about the last one through the week while I wait for the next.

        • Last episode's bit with the actors making out while their boyfriends watched through monitors really sold it. It's exploring the same idea as S2E2 where Nathan talks about how even when someone is being genuine, the genuineness is a performance. We're all performing all the time, trying to question what is reality and fiction is a fool's errand because society is already completely artificial and we're all fake. But if we go so far in that direction as to claim that all we do is present a fake version of ourselves 24/7, it does leave us with a really big question about feelings, because feelings are still real (think of what the actress said about doing love scenes and feeling real feelings during). So is there a kernel of "reality" inside that we're suppressing?

          So many interesting philosophical questions!

          • I couldn't help but call that the cuck gallery.

            Re: reality and fiction, I meant it more in the sense of the production of images. So not really reality, but appearance, which is always contingent, contextual and open to manipulation. He makes pseudo-reality TV, but it feels so much more sincere that it blurs that line in a more compelling way. But I always wonder how much is prompted, and how much the shooting and editing alters it all. It's always both, because as soon as a camera enters a situation part of it is articulated through that relationship.

            I like how you are framing this. There are those larger questions nested in all of this about self, authenticity and performance which really come out, and Nathan himself is implicated in that as both a subject but also the orchestrator of it all.

            Did you watch How To with John Wilson?

            • Did you watch How To with John Wilson?

              I actually didn't know Nathan was involved with it so I hadn't put it on the priority watch list, but now I think I'll watch it after finals are over.

              • Yeah it was his production company behind it. Connor O'Malley also wrote for it.

                I think I binge watched the entire first season, it was a very unique show that has similar elements but in a much more pared down way. I did tire of it a bit, but I blame myself for watching too much all at once.

365 comments