Moral Monday crowd rallies for womens rights (NC) Great Pix & Barber Speech

[marions ghost]

5. Rev Barber's Speech, "Stand Our Ground"

Notes from the speech:

NAACP campaign to pass anti-racial profiling laws and repeal Stand Your Ground--We MUST end gun violence. My oldest boy heard Fox commentator say--"Trayvon is not a hero, his life ended because he decided to confront a man..." My legislature has gone gun crazy--concealed weapons on campuses and bars, parades, no records kept.

When a Trayvon dies, we all die a little.

I came back to honor the sisters. We love you, we are with you. When they mess with you they mess with us.

I needed to be here to be with you, people who still believe in the possibility of us being one people. I needed to be here for my own personal renewal.

Everyone is applauding you from all 50 states and many are talking about doing Moral Monday in their own states.

This is our ground, this is freedom ground--Tell Mr. Berger, Tillis & McCrory--anyone who would force and ram through immoral and extreme legislation--you might be able to pass it now but you can't break our spirit.

A starving child is violence. Suppressing people is violence. Neglecting schoolchildren is violence. Discrimination is Violence. Ignoring healthcare is violence.

We all need a movement that can somehow keep our eyes open in the midst of the ugly realities of meanness and injustice.

We need a movement that doesn't ask what is Republican, what is Democratic, but what is RIGHT.

We need a movement that troubles the conscience of the nation. We will stand our ground.

We need a movement. We will stand our ground. God bless us with enough foolishness to believe we can make a difference.

We need a movement that stands against violence without being violent. A movement that stands against meanness, hate, injustice, destruction, uncaring, evil--without being that ourselves.

Thank you for being the modern day Esthers. We Shall Not be Moved.

Chanting: "We must Stand Our Ground"