Forty years later, almost 21% of New York’s children live in poverty. Of New Jersey’s children, almost 12% suffer the same fate.

Forty years is a ‘season’ of time. The biblical Israelites wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. And Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to sojourn in the wilderness for 40 days. But what is the point of 40 years of child poverty? What is the spiritual lesson to be learned of 40 years of inadequate child health care? What are we to learn about 40 years of escalating gun violence?

Surely we have made many gains in the last 40 years. Growing up in Newark, NJ the sixth of seven children with a mom who struggled to raise us by herself, I know what it means to internalize the hidden messages of poverty. I didn’t know I was “poor” until somebody told me, but I did know that I was different. I was different because visits to the dentist were not regular for me or my siblings. I knew that I was different because teachers didn’t have many expectations of me. I knew I was different because adults would not let me forget it. I am the beneficiary of the very Head Start programs that the Civil Rights Movement and the Poor People’s Campaign fought to secure. And thanks to a great free After School program at the House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Newark, I heard countering messages about my worth and potential. But for every ‘one’ of us that we can point to who has beat the odds stacked against us, many more are falling through the cracks. It is not enough that some have made it through. Forty years after the Poor People’s Campaign, all black children should be making it through. As long as we tolerate enduring poverty and turn deaf ears to the deeply affecting messages spoken by poverty into the ears of children, we will never be the America that Dr. King dreamed about.

One of the most misunderstood statements attributed to Jesus is the one in which he acknowledges that “the poor you will always have with you.” Acknowledging that we perpetually fail to create societies that ensure that all needs are met does not mean that poverty is inevitable. In fact, when the psalmist says, “I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God’s seed begging bread…” Maybe this is because the psalmist lived in a community marked by people’s commitment to take care of one another, and to be particularly mindful of the most vulnerable among them.

What is our commitment to this generation of Black children? Does it matter to us that every minute in America, a black child is arrested; every minute a baby is born to an unmarried mother; every two minutes, a black child is born into poverty; and every 8 hours a child or teen is killed by gunfire?

Does it matter to us that a black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison? Does it matter to us that we have given the issues of racial inequity and the issues of enduring poverty another 40 years in America to gather insidious challenges and place them squarely on the shoulders of black children in the form the Cradle to Prison Pipeline?

Spoken at the press conference announcing the Poor People’s Campaign in November 1967, Dr. King’s words could have been spoken in today in January 2008:

Those who serve in the human rights movement…are keenly aware of the increasing bitterness and despair and frustration that threaten the worst chaos, hatred, and violence any nation has ever encountered. In a sense, we are already at war with and among ourselves. Affluent Americans are locked in the suburbs of physical comfort and mental insecurity. Poor Americans are locked inside ghettos of material privation and spiritual debilitation. And all of us can almost feel the presence of a kind of social insanity, which could lead to national ruin. The true responsibility for the existence of these deplorable conditions lies ultimately with the larger society and much of the immediate responsibility for removing the injustices can be laid directly at the door of the federal government.

What is the movement for this generation?

Contrary to what some people think, working for change is not just something they used to do in the 1960’s. Our lament must lift the chords of hope. That is the movement of this generation. Hope is not about waiting for God to perform a miracle “on us.” Hope works when we work. Hope is realized when we work to reach the children of Hurricane Katrina. Though the floodwaters have receded, they are still swimming up to their necks in the neglect of the American government. Hope is worked out every time we hold American legislators accountable for fighting for health care, quality education, affordable housing, and after school and positive youth development programs. Hope is worked out when we work together across communities to dismantle the cradle to prison pipeline. Hope is worked out when we work to transform our neighborhoods into beloved communities of mutual care -- where the righteous are not forsaken and forced to beg for bread.

The best way we can celebrate the legacy of Dr. King and the millions of everyday people across America who dared to dream, fight, demonstrate and walk with him—is to let hope work through us. Don’t be bought. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t be consoled. Refuse to give up the dream.

The Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson is the Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund – New York and the Associate Pastor of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, NY. She preached her first sermon at the age of 17 at House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Newark and is a graduate of Fisk University and Union Theological Seminary. She is currently completing the Doctor of Ministry Program and Drew Theological School.