A Martin Luther King Jr. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Toward the Abolition of Poverty

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prescribed that we add an economic bill of rights to the U.S. Constitution. A King-Inspired bill of rights should include a constitutional amendment that enumerates a natural human right to be free from economic poverty, and appropriate enforcement legislation. For the sake of abolishing slavery, the Thirteenth Amendment says: (Section 1) Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. (Section 2) Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Similarly, for the sake of abolishing poverty, a King-Inspired Amendment should say: (Section 1) Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, nor economic poverty, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. (Section 2) Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Legislation appropriate to King’s prescriptions for abolishing economic poverty will seek to “create incomes” by providing well-paid jobs and new forms of work that “enhance the social good” supplemented by “guaranteed income” for all and special measures for those who are disadvantaged (MLK Jr.)