Showing results by author "William Barber II" in All Categories

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible proclaims justice and abundance for the poor. Yet these powerful passages about poverty are frequently overlooked and misinterpreted. Enter the Poor People's Campaign, a movement against racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism, and religious nationalism. In We Cry Justice, Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the campaign, is joined by pastors, community organizers, scholars, low-wage workers, lay leaders, and people in poverty to interpret sacred stories about the poor seeking healing, equity, and freedom.

Drawing from the history of social movements in the US, especially the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, Rev. Barber and the contributors to this volume speak to the most pressing issues of our time, including Black Lives Matter, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, the struggle to protect voting rights, the march for women’s rights, and the movement to overcome poverty and unite the dispossessed across all dividing lines.

"Why We Are Protesting in Charlotte" is from the September 23, 2016, United States section of The New York Times. It was written by William Barber II and narrated by Barbara Benjamin-Creel.

Over the summer of 2013, the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II led more than a 100,000 people at rallies across North Carolina to protest restrictions to voting access and an extreme makeover of state government. These protests - the largest state government-focused civil disobedience campaign in American history - came to be known as Moral Mondays and have since blossomed in states as diverse as Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York.

One of the most pernicious and persistent myths in the United States is the association of Black skin with poverty. Though there are forty million more poor white people than Black people, most Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, continue to think of poverty—along with issues like welfare, unemployment, and food stamps—as solely a Black problem. Why is this so? What are the historical causes? And what are the political consequences that result?

From June 12, 2020, until the passage of the state law making the occupation a felony two months later, peaceful protesters set up camp at Nashville's Legislative Plaza and renamed it for Ida B. Wells. Central to the occupation was Justin Jones, a student of Fisk University and Vanderbilt Divinity School whose place at the forefront of the protests brought him and the occupation to the attention of the Tennessee state troopers, state and US senators, and Governor Bill Lee.

As the cultural conversation around race, gender, and sexuality has evolved, straight white men are becoming increasingly aware of their privilege. But many may be left thinking, "OK, what am I supposed to do about it?" "We need a way forward beyond feelings of guilt, overwhelmingness, anger, and denial." Straight white male pastor Chris Furr offers a guide to deconstructing that privilege in Straight White Male. With an emphasis on confession and redemption, Furr invites other privileged men to reconsider the ways they live, work, believe, and interact with others.