Common Folk: Poor People's Campaign Camps Out Near State House

BOSTON, MA — Tuesday morning a man unzipped a red pup tent, one of nearly two dozen set up in perfect rows under the shadow of the State House, and ventured outside into the early morning on the Boston Common past a sign that read "Veteran's Encampment Against The War Economy."

This military veteran was part of the The Poor People's Campaign with a message for the governor.

"The particular message we're trying to get across here is 53 cents out of every dollar in the discretionary budget is spent on the military; while we have homeless military veterans; while we have people in need in this country. You can walk across the street and it's full of homeless people. There's a war on the poor," said Vietnam Veteran Dan Luker, the one who organized the tents and is considered the Boston group's fearless leader.

The veteran voice is aligning itself with the Poor People's Campaign, he said.

You may have heard talk about this Poor People's Campaign in the past couple of weeks. It's part of a renewed coalition fight against poverty that have thousands of low-wage workers, church leaders and civil rights advocates across the country out rallying for 40 days of nonviolent action. The movement kicked off on the anniversary of MLK's assassination.

The original 1968 Poor People's Campaign was a multicultural, multi-faith coalition planned by Martin Luther King Jr. It brought thousands of poor Americans to the national mall to demand better living conditions and higher wages. MLK's vision was to take the civil rights fight beyond injustices rooted in Jim Crow and fight the roots of poverty suffered across racial lines.

Among the specific items the new Poor People's Campaign is calling for, are changes to federal and state living wage laws that are commensurate for the 21st century economy, a renewed investment in public housing, a repeal to the 2017 GOP-led tax plan, an end to America's militarism and reallocation of "resources from the military budget to education, health care, jobs and green infrastructure needs," according to its website.

Each week for the duration of the campaign the coalition focuses on a different theme.

This week the coalition is focusing on the war economy, which is something these veterans feel strongly about. There are nearly 41 million people living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census, and many of them are returned veterans.

"We still have a draft, but it's a poverty draft," said Luker whose parents were farm workers and who grew up poor. "People are going into the military so they can go to college afterward. It isn't the senators' sons who are going to war. It's the poor people."

Robert Master of Cambridge who was out in the early morning sunshine with Luker and the tents Tuesday agreed. The encampment, he said was supposed to be part of a demonstration.

"This was to be a place of civil disobedience. But the cops did not oblige us last night. They let us stay out all night. They let us camp out. We didn't think that would happen," he said, laughing.

Once the week is up the tents will go to the New England shelter for homeless veterans. The American flag draped on a table nearby with the names of people who have lost their lives in the service, to poverty, or to gun violence will be delivered to Gov. Charlie Baker.

Master is also a Vietnam Vet. After coming home from the war he said he wasn't involved with the original group of vets who protested.

"For my own sanity I needed to raise a family, go to work and try to heal all that. But with Trump's election and all of what that meant, I, and a lot of others, said you know, 'it's time to reestablish my veteran identity.'"

Master said he felt there was a moral authority calling him back, particularly seeing protesters wrapping themselves in the flag.

"Many who had no idea, no idea what that means," he said. After a lifetime of trying to hide his past, it was time to step up and say something. And that, he said, was why many of the vets were out Tuesday.

See what Luker recommends below:

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Photos by Jenna Fisher/Patch