Rev. William Barber: "You & I were born for such a time as this"

[ND-Dem]

Last edited Tue Mar 31, 2015, 11:46 AM - Edit history (3)

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Rev. William Barber, president of the NAACP in North Carolina, calls for a "moral movement" across America to defend our democracy from extremist state legislatures at the 2014 CWA Legislative-Political & Movement Building Conference

Full speech here:

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"The March on Washington was not just a kumbaya meeting, it was a march for Jobs and Justice...The first part was designed to boost wages through jobs and training...the second was to provide income support...and the third was to bring a system of government health care to the elderly and the poor...

'By 1968 you couldn't use (n-word) so you start using code words like 'forced bussing,' like 'states' rights,' and then you get very abstract and you talk about 'cutting taxes,' and denying labor rights...it seems like you're talking about economic things, but the byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites, you're able to turn whites, particularly in the south, against blacks, and you undermine their ability to work together and thereby create a bloc of states that you can always control...

Now if you understand this history, and look at the attacks we're seeing today -- on voting rights, on labor, on education, on fair tax policies, you can see that what we are seeing is a reincarnation with a 21st century twist of the Redemption Movement of the 1800s, the white Southern Strategy of the 1900s -- but what you also must see is -- if they're fighting that hard against us, it must mean we're in the middle of a third Reconstruction...and the forces that are afraid of this kind of future are trying to deconstruct the possibilities...

If blacks and whites and latinos get together -- if they every learn the truth about economic reality -- if they understand that these plutocrats and the oligarchs that are buying them off are actually hurting them -- maybe, as my grandmother said, they will stop cutting off their nose to spite their face and they will come together."

We must fight extremism...change the public conversation...you don't negotiate until you fight...and I'm here to tell you from the ground...that people, even in the south, are ready for some truth talk. That if we come up with a language that's not about democrat and republican, red versus blue, liberal versus conservative...a language that destroys the myth of extremism, that these extreme policies only hurt a few people (i.e. lgbt, black...)...we start talking about these policies not just as being bad policies, but as immoral...we change the terms of the battle, shift the center of gravity...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barber_II

[ND-Dem]

1. Kicking cause this guy is good.

[deutsey]

2. +1

[ND-Dem]

3. thank you

[mmonk]

4. When he asked us to march, I marched.

Last edited Tue Mar 31, 2015, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

When he asked us to attend something, I have attended. He is a true leader in that he walks the walk, not merely gives lip service. Thanks for posting. He is a moral compass.

[ND-Dem]

7. thank you. you're from the carolinas?

[mmonk]

8. Yes. Raleigh, NC.

[ND-Dem]

9. I am glad to hear from someone who's seen him in action in real life.

[mmonk]

10. Here's a video of a get together we had on our last march

on the NC Legislature in 2013 at Kings in downtown Raleigh. Thought I would add it just for fun. We fight hard but also have various events to ease our demeanor and keep our purpose.

[ND-Dem]

11. thank you. I will watch it after work.

Last edited Tue Mar 31, 2015, 08:16 PM - Edit history (1)

on edit: and I did. looks like people have a lot of fun on moral Mondays.

[mmonk]

12. You're welcome. People need to know that mere words

are not enough and with gerrymandering, voting sometimes is not enough. You have to be their biggest inconvenience.

[ND-Dem]

22. +100

[G_j]

14. yes

The good Reverand is the very definition of inspirational. When I hear him speak, I actually feel hopeful.

[mmonk]

15. There's an energy in truth and moral purpose.

[ND-Dem]

20. that's how i felt; somebody saying & doing something that actually matters.

[octoberlib]

5. Love him. Big kick!

"I didn't know who he was."

"I went to something else that was scheduled at the same time."

"I am not interested in anything a minister has to say."

I heard a long list of reasons why people missed/skipped/ignored the keynote speech at NN14 by The Rev. Dr. William Barber.

It broke my heart to realize that so many people at NN14 were completely unaware of Moral Monday and/or completely uninterested in the powerful and effective activism Rev. Barber has been doing for the past several years.

Who is he? He is organizing a movement that has been a game-changer in North Carolina. He is offering a blueprint for coalition building that, if repeated in other states, has the potential to redraw the electoral map in the South. His work may finally give us the antidote to the White Southern Strategy that has worked so well for Republicons for the last two generations, and let us build a new majority that encourages people to "vote their future not their fears."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/24/1316230/-I-m-glad-I-didn-t-miss-it


The transcript of his keynote is well worth reading.

[ND-Dem]

6. I'd heard of Moral Mondays, but not of him. Excellent and inspiring speaker and apparently very

effective organizer, uniting an interracial coalition that's had some real effect.

[appalachiablue]

16. Read about this and am very disappointed that narrow minded attendees would not

go to his presentation because he's a religious leader. Use brain, or first open brain to remember that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a reverend. Barber is a very moving and effective speaker, saw him on Thom Hartmann. What he's doing in the South with Moral Monday is critical. Rev. Barber is A++.

[mmonk]

17. Some are "too intelligent" to be intelligent if you get my drift.

[appalachiablue]

18. Unfortunately true. The Berrigan brothers were peace activists against Vietnam and also priests,

even though that was during the 1960s and we are in very different times clearly.

[mmonk]

19. I have noticed old problems have a way of reinserting themselves.

What we have learned is that the old remedies can too, be effective, and are relevant as long as the stage has moved backward. But in the long run, the arc of morality is constant regardless.

[G_j]

13. Love This Man

I have seen him speak in person. He's is simply awesome!

[ND-Dem]

21. are you from north carolina too?

[G_j]

23. lived here for 25 yrs.

Love it. I am very concerned about the Republican wrecking crew. I've attended some Moral Monday protests, and plan on attending more.

[yardwork]

24. I'm a fan. Reverend Barber fights the good fight for everybody.