The 15-city, 5-month, “Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty” campaign came to a close on Oct. 31 with a star-studded rally at St. Paul AME Church in Miami, FL. The “Let Justice Roll” worship service, co-sponsored by the National Council of Churches (NCC) and the Center for Community Change, was the last in the series of campaigns to get faith-based voters out to the polls on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Rev. Dr. James Forbes, keynote speaker of the event, explained to the 250-plus crowd that no matter which candidate wins, the movement for justice and equality under God has been successful.
"There is a movement afoot. A movement for justice, equality and respect for all of God's children," said Dr. Forbes. "Even if we don't always win, we're on a winning team," he said.
According to the NCC, both candidates were invited to the rally but only the democratic party responded by sending senator Bob Graham to the event on behalf of Senator Kerry. In addition to Graham, the rally also attracted Michael Moore, the controversial political commentator; Nick Canon, star of the movie “Drum Line”; and hip-hop artist Stallion.
Prior to the rally, Moore predicted that the 2004 election will witness one of the largest turnouts in history, partly because of the “debacle” that occurred in 2000. Moore added that he himself would be in Florida filming at polling sites to make sure such an event does not repeat itself.
Meanwhile, Ian Rhett, a Christian songwriter, performed “Didn’t Know I Was – Unamerica” at the service to bring to light the central concern of the campaign: hunger, poverty, the environment and the war in Iraq.
Since the “Let Justice Roll” campaign began this June, more than 100,000 people registered to vote at events nationwide. The main goal of the campaign is to ask public officials and those running for office what they would do to end poverty.
