Old News: Resurrection City

Book excerpt: "The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of a Poor Peoples Campaign in Washington was still in the planning stages when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. King had envisioned a mass rally of economically disadvantaged people which would shut down Washington, DC until legislators promised solutions to poverty and unemployment. He had all the poor in mind, not just black folks. He also spoke out about against the war in Vietnam. In May, the March on Washington began. I knew I had to shoot it. I had to see what was happening, to record it and be part of it....Of course, it was old stuff from the start. Another nonviolent demonstration. Another March on Washington. Another army camping, calling on a deaf government. Even poverty is ancient history...We built Resurrection City out of plywood shacks on the Washington Mall, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Talk about poor. Some of those people raised their whole standard of living just by moving in. Food every day, electric lights, enough beds for everyone. This mudhole was a paradise...At 2:30 in the morning of the last day, the authorities gassed us in our beds." photographer's website viewed 9/23/2020