TRUTH COMMISSION REPORTS 

"At these events we lift up the “plight, fight and insight” of the poor and dispossessed." 

- Rev. West McNeill, from Labor Religion Coalition and The New York State Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival

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On October 11, 2021 - Indigenous People’s Day - more than 350 people gathered virtually to hear testimony from Shinnecock leaders on the impact of the intersecting evils of poverty, systemic racism, environmental devastation, militarism/colonialism, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism, as well as how the community is organizing in response.

 

“Land Back And The Third Reconstruction” was the first in a series of Truth Commission events that the Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS is holding across the state over the coming year, in collaboration with the Poor People’s Campaign and other partners.

 

Truth Commissions - and similar events where directly impacted people speak for ourselves about our conditions and our demands - have been an important tool that has been used for decades by the network of organizations now taking up the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. 

 

At these events we lift up the “plight, fight and insight” of the poor and dispossessed - in other words, not only highlighting the pain and injustice we experience, but also the ways that people on the front lines of poverty, racism, militarism and ecological devastation are resisting, organizing, and coming up with solutions to our problems. In this report we highlight some of the key themes that emerged related to the “plight, fight and insight” of the Shinnecock..