Rekindling a prophetic moral vision for justice, social change and movement building
OUR FAITH IS A FAITH IN ACTION
Faith stands up. Faith speaks truth to power. Watch this powerful clip from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II on how faith keeps us going in the struggle for justice and peace.
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MORAL MOVEMENT NEWS
Gun Violence Affects Us All: Black and White, Rich and Poor, Young and Old - Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
If you are tired of seeing deaths and violence on your television screens night after night, it’s time to fight policy violence, says Rev. Barber.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II joined youth leaders at a pre-rally for the #MarchForOurLives on Saturday, March 24, 2018. Below is a transcript of his remarks.
I’m here today because I took a vow to follow this brown-skinned Palestinian Jew named Jesus who stood up in the public square of his own day and said, “Enough!”
My tradition teaches me to always trust the young people who have the courage to stand up and say, “Enough!”
In ancient Israel, it was the teenager David who said “Enough!” to the tyranny of Goliath’s loud-mouthed intimidation.
In Jesus’ day, it was a young boy who shared his lunch with 5,000 people and, by some miracle, had more than enough to feed everyone and collect leftovers.
In the great vision of the prophet Isaiah, the text says that in the peaceable kingdom, the lion and the the lamb shall lie down together. But they’re not just going to decide to do it on their own. No, the prophet says, “a little child shall lead them.”
I stopped by today to tell you that young folk have always been called to led us toward a more perfect union.
Barbara Johns was a student like you when she led a walk out at her school in Virginia to protest segregation, starting the movement that led to the Brown v Board of Education decision.
When the civil rights movement had lost its energy after the monumental victory of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it was black students and white students together who started the sit-in movement, led the Freedom Rides, and saved the Movement by forming the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
When the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, was at an impasse and even Dr. King going to jail on Easter weekend could not shake Bull Conner’s iron grip on that city, it was the children who stood up and said, “Enough is enough. We will march.”
A little child shall lead them. The prophet declares it and history attests it is true. So we are here today to acknowledge and bless your leadership. You stand today in a great tradition of young people who have helped to transform this nation at moments of great moral crisis.
But if we as a people are to follow you toward the country we have never yet been, we must be clear about the crisis we face. Despite your clear and collective cry of “Never Again,” the state legislature in Florida proposed to fight violence with violence and passed legislation that would authorize teachers to carry guns in schools.
Jesus told us that those “who live by the sword will die by the sword,” (Matthew 26:52). No good can come from militarizing our teachers in classrooms. There have already been instances of guns accidentally going off in classrooms, yet many politicians think instead of creating stronger background checks, or banning assault rifles, that arming our teachers is the best way to prevent another tragedy.
Clearly many lawmakers have been bought by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and are choosing to prioritize their own ambition and wealth over the well-being of our children, families, and other individuals. No one in this nation needs an assault rifle to protect themselves or hunt, yet many of our elected representatives refuse to remove assault weapons from the streets because their campaigns are funded by the very companies that profit from making and selling these guns.
Politicians don’t trust young people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol, but they trust them to own guns.
The solutions we need are common sense, simple and wanted by a majority of people across this country, yet a majority of politicians refuse to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, we have seen 30 mass shootings already in 2018 — more than the the rest of the world has experienced in decades.
According to the CDC, nearly 100 people will die today — and everyday this year — from gun violence.
Why do lawmakers who refuse to listen to the voices of the American people continue to sit in seats of power? The influence of gun money, through groups like the NRA, is part of the story. But money alone is not enough. The same politicians who refuse to pass sensible gun reform are also suppressing your votes. Since 2010, 24 states have passed voter suppression bills that target African-Americans, Latinos, poor people and students.
They accept money from the NRA and then turn around and close down polling places, limit early voting, and gerrymander their districts so that they continue to accept that money and not have to deal with the consequences. We’ve got to be clear about this moral crisis: an extremely wealthy oligarchy is determined to hold onto power by subverting democracy and pitting Americans against one another along the lines of race. But America’s original sin threatens us all in this present crisis. We must be clear about our crisis. If the house is on fire, no one can save just their own room.
Violence has tainted the heart of our democracy for far too long. The Second Amendment itself was crafted to equip slave patrols with guns in order to prevent uprisings or retrieve runaway slaves. The state of Virginia required this provision in exchange for their ratification of the U.S. Constitution because numerous slave uprisings had occurred throughout the South and they did not believe that non-slave holding states would invest federal resources to put down slave rebellions.
We better read that Second Amendment that the NRA is always talking about. Why does it guarantee the right to bear arms? It says it right there: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” The Second Amendment wasn’t passed to guarantee federal protection of citizens’ rights to hunt and defend themselves. No, states rights was always about the South protecting the property rights of people who believed they could own other people. We’ve never repented of that racism at the heart of this nation’s history. Now, it threats all of our children.
The rates of gun violence in the top 10 states with the weakest gun laws are over three times higher than the states with the strongest gun laws.
Militarization of our police and racial bias has led to increased violence against communities of color. Young black men are nine times more likely to be killed at the hands of police because of this. Politicians constantly want to throw the blame of gun violence onto gangs — so-called “black-on-black” crime — but this gun violence issue is not a strictly black and white matter, nor an urban and rural matter. This is a national matter that affects us all. Black and white, rich and poor, young and old.
How many of our children have to be murdered in their classrooms before Congress decides that enough is enough? How many people have to be gunned down while their heads are bent as they pray in churches? How many innocent bystanders at a concert? A club? Our local and congressional leaders have sat by idly for too long and have allowed too many innocents to die because they refuse to act.
But it’s not just the guns that are killing us. It is clear that the extremists in the White House, Congress and statehouses who refuse to ban assault weapons are the same individuals who dismantle affordable health care and let people die. They have reappropriated taxes to the rich, worked to suppress voting rights, stripped away environmental protections, and refused to raise living wages.
After Dr. King was taken from us by gun violence, his widow, Corretta Scott King, was once asked about America’s addiction to violence. “I must remind you,” she said, “that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”
My sisters and brothers, if we’re going to say, “Enough” to violence, We must challenge all of these violent policies with a united nonviolent movement and massive voter mobilization.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is linking up with youth movements across the country to say that enough is enough.
By clapping more or less, you can signal to us which stories really stand out.
President of Repairers of the Breach, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, & author of The Third Reconstruction.
READ MORE
Faith stands up. Faith speaks truth to power. Watch this powerful clip from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II on how faith keeps us going in the struggle for justice and peace.
PLAY VIDEO
MORAL MOVEMENT NEWS
If you are tired of seeing deaths and violence on your television screens night after night, it’s time to fight policy violence, says Rev. Barber.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II joined youth leaders at a pre-rally for the #MarchForOurLives on Saturday, March 24, 2018. Below is a transcript of his remarks.
I’m here today because I took a vow to follow this brown-skinned Palestinian Jew named Jesus who stood up in the public square of his own day and said, “Enough!”
My tradition teaches me to always trust the young people who have the courage to stand up and say, “Enough!”
In ancient Israel, it was the teenager David who said “Enough!” to the tyranny of Goliath’s loud-mouthed intimidation.
In Jesus’ day, it was a young boy who shared his lunch with 5,000 people and, by some miracle, had more than enough to feed everyone and collect leftovers.
In the great vision of the prophet Isaiah, the text says that in the peaceable kingdom, the lion and the the lamb shall lie down together. But they’re not just going to decide to do it on their own. No, the prophet says, “a little child shall lead them.”
I stopped by today to tell you that young folk have always been called to led us toward a more perfect union.
Barbara Johns was a student like you when she led a walk out at her school in Virginia to protest segregation, starting the movement that led to the Brown v Board of Education decision.
When the civil rights movement had lost its energy after the monumental victory of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it was black students and white students together who started the sit-in movement, led the Freedom Rides, and saved the Movement by forming the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
When the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, was at an impasse and even Dr. King going to jail on Easter weekend could not shake Bull Conner’s iron grip on that city, it was the children who stood up and said, “Enough is enough. We will march.”
A little child shall lead them. The prophet declares it and history attests it is true. So we are here today to acknowledge and bless your leadership. You stand today in a great tradition of young people who have helped to transform this nation at moments of great moral crisis.
But if we as a people are to follow you toward the country we have never yet been, we must be clear about the crisis we face. Despite your clear and collective cry of “Never Again,” the state legislature in Florida proposed to fight violence with violence and passed legislation that would authorize teachers to carry guns in schools.
Jesus told us that those “who live by the sword will die by the sword,” (Matthew 26:52). No good can come from militarizing our teachers in classrooms. There have already been instances of guns accidentally going off in classrooms, yet many politicians think instead of creating stronger background checks, or banning assault rifles, that arming our teachers is the best way to prevent another tragedy.
Clearly many lawmakers have been bought by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and are choosing to prioritize their own ambition and wealth over the well-being of our children, families, and other individuals. No one in this nation needs an assault rifle to protect themselves or hunt, yet many of our elected representatives refuse to remove assault weapons from the streets because their campaigns are funded by the very companies that profit from making and selling these guns.
Politicians don’t trust young people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol, but they trust them to own guns.
The solutions we need are common sense, simple and wanted by a majority of people across this country, yet a majority of politicians refuse to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, we have seen 30 mass shootings already in 2018 — more than the the rest of the world has experienced in decades.
According to the CDC, nearly 100 people will die today — and everyday this year — from gun violence.
Why do lawmakers who refuse to listen to the voices of the American people continue to sit in seats of power? The influence of gun money, through groups like the NRA, is part of the story. But money alone is not enough. The same politicians who refuse to pass sensible gun reform are also suppressing your votes. Since 2010, 24 states have passed voter suppression bills that target African-Americans, Latinos, poor people and students.
They accept money from the NRA and then turn around and close down polling places, limit early voting, and gerrymander their districts so that they continue to accept that money and not have to deal with the consequences. We’ve got to be clear about this moral crisis: an extremely wealthy oligarchy is determined to hold onto power by subverting democracy and pitting Americans against one another along the lines of race. But America’s original sin threatens us all in this present crisis. We must be clear about our crisis. If the house is on fire, no one can save just their own room.
Violence has tainted the heart of our democracy for far too long. The Second Amendment itself was crafted to equip slave patrols with guns in order to prevent uprisings or retrieve runaway slaves. The state of Virginia required this provision in exchange for their ratification of the U.S. Constitution because numerous slave uprisings had occurred throughout the South and they did not believe that non-slave holding states would invest federal resources to put down slave rebellions.
We better read that Second Amendment that the NRA is always talking about. Why does it guarantee the right to bear arms? It says it right there: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” The Second Amendment wasn’t passed to guarantee federal protection of citizens’ rights to hunt and defend themselves. No, states rights was always about the South protecting the property rights of people who believed they could own other people. We’ve never repented of that racism at the heart of this nation’s history. Now, it threats all of our children.
The rates of gun violence in the top 10 states with the weakest gun laws are over three times higher than the states with the strongest gun laws.
Militarization of our police and racial bias has led to increased violence against communities of color. Young black men are nine times more likely to be killed at the hands of police because of this. Politicians constantly want to throw the blame of gun violence onto gangs — so-called “black-on-black” crime — but this gun violence issue is not a strictly black and white matter, nor an urban and rural matter. This is a national matter that affects us all. Black and white, rich and poor, young and old.
How many of our children have to be murdered in their classrooms before Congress decides that enough is enough? How many people have to be gunned down while their heads are bent as they pray in churches? How many innocent bystanders at a concert? A club? Our local and congressional leaders have sat by idly for too long and have allowed too many innocents to die because they refuse to act.
But it’s not just the guns that are killing us. It is clear that the extremists in the White House, Congress and statehouses who refuse to ban assault weapons are the same individuals who dismantle affordable health care and let people die. They have reappropriated taxes to the rich, worked to suppress voting rights, stripped away environmental protections, and refused to raise living wages.
After Dr. King was taken from us by gun violence, his widow, Corretta Scott King, was once asked about America’s addiction to violence. “I must remind you,” she said, “that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”
My sisters and brothers, if we’re going to say, “Enough” to violence, We must challenge all of these violent policies with a united nonviolent movement and massive voter mobilization.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is linking up with youth movements across the country to say that enough is enough.
- We will not remain quiet while our children, friends, and neighbors continue to be gunned down. We will rise up and cry out for justice and we will not stop until our voices are heard. If you have had enough of the extremist and immoral agendas that these corrupt politicians are promoting, if you are tired of seeing deaths and violence on your television screens night after night, then I encourage you to join us. www.poorpeoplescampaign.org
- Guns
- March For Our Lives
- Repairers Of The Breach
- Rev Dr William Barber
- Poor Peoples Campaign
By clapping more or less, you can signal to us which stories really stand out.
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Campaign Posters by Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Download the powerful Justseeds’ portfolio of artistic interpretations of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
POSTER GALLERY
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The Crime, Contamination & Immorality Being Funded By Your Tax Dollars
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Download the powerful Justseeds’ portfolio of artistic interpretations of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
POSTER GALLERY
The Crime, Contamination & Immorality Being Funded By Your Tax Dollars
Moral Movement Media
As Congress continues to struggle to agree on a federal budget, we examine the single biggest source of discretionary spending: ‘defense.’
LISTEN
Follow us on Medium to read more from Rev. Barber & the Moral Movement
READ OUR BLOG
JOIN THE POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN: A NATIONAL CALL FOR MORAL REVIVAL
We're uniting tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality.
SIGN THE PLEDGE
Trainings & Events
Friday, March 30, 2018
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Mass Meeting in West Virginia
WATCH LIVE
As Congress continues to struggle to agree on a federal budget, we examine the single biggest source of discretionary spending: ‘defense.’
LISTEN
Follow us on Medium to read more from Rev. Barber & the Moral Movement
READ OUR BLOG
JOIN THE POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN: A NATIONAL CALL FOR MORAL REVIVAL
We're uniting tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality.
SIGN THE PLEDGE
Trainings & Events
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Mass Meeting in West Virginia
WATCH LIVE
Saturday, April 1, 2018
The Gathering: Race, Religion & Resistance on CBS
JOIN US
The Gathering: Race, Religion & Resistance on CBS
JOIN US
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Poor People’s Campaign Art Build & Nonviolent Moral Direct Action Training at Union Seminary
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Check out more events, tune in to our livestream and find movement resources
EXPLORE
Support Our WorkRepairers of the Breach is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization that works with diverse religious leaders from every U.S. State and the District of Columbia to develop a prophetic social justice vision rooted in moral analysis, moral articulation, and moral action. Help us continue this work by making a one-time donation or becoming a monthly sustainer.
Poor People’s Campaign Art Build & Nonviolent Moral Direct Action Training at Union Seminary
SIGN UP
Check out more events, tune in to our livestream and find movement resources
EXPLORE
Support Our WorkRepairers of the Breach is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization that works with diverse religious leaders from every U.S. State and the District of Columbia to develop a prophetic social justice vision rooted in moral analysis, moral articulation, and moral action. Help us continue this work by making a one-time donation or becoming a monthly sustainer.
info@breachrepairers.org
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