A caravan of about 60 Southern California residents are on their way Sunday to a 40-day rally in Sacramento that will tackle such issues as poverty, racism, inequality — and what organizers say is the decline of morality in the nation.
An additional caravan of 45 people is expected to depart Los Angeles at 11 p.m. Sunday from 1545 Wilshire Blvd. The caravans are dubbed “Freedom Trains,” evoking the name used by Martin Luther King Jr. when he led a similar group of caravans to legislative leaders.
The non-violent rally will launch at 2 p.m. Monday at the California state Capitol.
It is sponsored by the California Poor People’s Campaign — an off-shoot of the movement begun in 1968 by Martin Luther King Jr.
The idea behind that movement was to gather poor people as a way to enact change.
The rally that will launch Monday will expand the original campaign to include such issues as homelessness, health care, police brutality and immigration.
“The reason that this campaign is so important is that we’re really addressing a broad range of problems in this country,” said spokeswoman Mylene Carberry.
The group is advocating for a revival of the nation’s conscientiousness. Carberry said. Currently, she said, profits are prioritized over people. The group’s goal is to make U.S. residents’ quality of life the priority.