Category: Articles

Despite a stately facade of moderation, Manchin has, in the words of the gospel, ‘neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness.’

Religion News Service and Washington Post
By Liz Theoharis
October 1, 2021

(RNS) — On Thursday (Sept. 30), amid intense debate in Congress about the budget reconciliation bill, Politico magazine published a copy of an agreement signed in late July by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, in which Manchin is guaranteed that President Biden’s Build Back Better bill would not exceed $1.5 trillion, rather than the $3.5 trillion proposed at the time.

The day before, Manchin had not once but twice made statements about negotiating “in good faith.”: “There is a better way,” he said in a Sept. 29 statement, “and I believe we can find it if we are willing to continue to negotiate in good faith.”

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Today’s voting rights and economic justice advocates must apply two key lessons from the courageous activists of a half-century ago.

The Progressive
By Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Rev. Dr. William Barber II, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sarah Anderson
September 28, 2021

In the face of rising voter-suppression efforts across the country, we are witnessing a growing movement that builds on the proud history of the 1960s civil rights era. To be successful, today’s voting rights and economic justice advocates must apply two key lessons from the courageous activists of a half-century ago.

First and foremost, the voting rights movement of 2021 needs to reject the pressure to isolate voting rights from a broader moral economic agenda. The U.S. Constitution enshrines the interconnected commitments to “establish justice” and “promote the general welfare.”

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Resisting Evictions Amid a Pandemic

Tom Dispatch
By Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
September 16, 2021

Over the past weeks, multiple crises have merged: a crisis of democracy with the most significant attack on voting rights since Reconstruction; a climate crisis with lives and livelihoods upended in the Gulf Coast and the Northeast by extreme weather events and in the West by a stunning fire season; and an economic crisis in which millions are being cut off from Pandemic Unemployment Insurance, even as August job gains proved underwhelming. There’s also a crisis taking place in state legislatures with an ongoing attack on women’s autonomy over our own bodies. The Supreme Court let a law go into effect that makes abortions nearly impossible in Texas and turns its enforcement over to vigilantes. And then, of course, there’s the looming eviction crisis that could precipitate the worst housing and homelessness disaster in American history.

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A series of anti-poverty policies and programs in response to the pandemic offers a glimpse of what is possible when we center the needs of the poor in public policy.

the Grio
By Shailly Barnes, The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
August 11, 2021

Hundreds were arrested last week outside the Senate Hart building near Capitol Hill in nonviolent direct action to demand voting rights, an end to the filibuster, and economic rights for all. Organized by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, the action brought together poor and low-wage workers, clergy and people of conscience, all committed to fighting for a multiracial democracy that works for everyone.

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On Choosing Community Over Chaos

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
August 10, 2021

My father, Athan G. Theoharis, passed away on July 3rd. A leading expert on the FBI, he was responsible for exposing the bureau’s widespread abuses of power. He was a loyal husband, dedicated father, scholar, civil libertarian, and voting-rights advocate with an indefatigable commitment to defending democracy. He schooled his children (and anyone who would listen, including scholars, journalists, and activists from a striking variety of political perspectives) to understand one thing above all: how hard the powers-that-be will work to maintain that power and how willing they are to subvert democracy in the process. His life is a reminder that much of American politics in 2021 is, in so many ways, nothing new.

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The attack on democracy currently playing out in D.C. and in state legislatures like Texas is the worst we have seen since Reconstruction. At the center of this crisis are poor women—especially poor women of color.

Ms. Magazine
By Dr. Liz Theoharis and Roz Pelles
July 22, 2021

On Monday, July 19, nearly 100 women were arrested with the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C. while protesting the filibuster and demanding full voting rights and living wages. These women—a multiracial group of leaders from major labor unions, religious denominations, national organizations and grassroots communities that represent millions of people—demanded action from Congress and the president by August 6, the anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

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In this op-ed, protesters Sophia Theoharis Caruso, Isabel Peterson, and Indi Barnes explain why pro-democracy activism is important to them and why they decided to join the Poor People’s Campaign.

Teen Vogue
By Isabel Peterson, Indi Barnes, and Sophia Theoharis Caruso
July 21, 2021

On July 19, 2021, we joined the Poor People’s Campaign as we protested near Capitol Hill with 100 people from all over the country who are willing to risk arrest to get voting rights, and to speak out against the voter suppression tactics rolling out across the country. Even though we’re not old enough to vote yet, we’re still ready to fight for our right to do so when the time comes because we’ve seen from history that democracy has to be fought for.

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‘Critical race theory’ fearmongering seeks to paint anyone who wants to speak truth as un-American, unpatriotic and un-Christian.

USA Today
By Rev. Liz Theoharis
July 10, 2021

In 2018, a year after then-President Donald Trump took office, I was in Kentucky with the Poor People’s Campaign, along with the Rev. Dr. William Barber. We were in Harlan County, home to historic labor struggles that led to better wages and working conditions for people across the nation, but now a place with some of the highest poverty rates in our country. In the middle of the afternoon, hundreds of residents gathered together to talk about the reasons why poverty is so widespread today and the central role poor people can play in leading a spiritual and material revival. 

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Some U.S. lawmakers are all too willing to sign off on another holiday, especially if they can use it as cover while actively working to suppress voting rights, block living wages and reparations, fight against healthcare, and more.

Common Dreams
By Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
June 23, 2021

Last week, an overwhelming majority of Congress voted to make Juneteenth a national holiday. Just days later, many of the same politicians voted to block the For the People Act and continue to uphold the filibuster and resist other legislative actions to protect our democracy, lift up poor rural and urban areas, raise wages, and expand social programs for the poor.

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The first two have much to teach us about the possibilities and dangers that abound today.

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
June 22, 2021

West Virginia, a state first established in defiance of slavery, has recently become ground zero in the fight for voting rights. In an early June op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin vowed to maintain the Senate filibuster, while opposing the For the People Act, a bill to expand voting rights. Last week, after mounting pressure and a leaked Zoom recording with billionaire donors, he showed potential willingness to move on the filibuster and proposed a “compromise” on voting rights.

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