Rev. William Barber FTW
July 29, 2016 11:09 AM Subscribe
Many people's first exposure to Rev. William Barber was his speech to the DNC Thursday. But he's been working tirelessly ever since the Republican Party took over North Carolina in 2012. His Moral Mondays movement scored a big win today over voting rights.
Moral Mondays is a broad coalition of groups: churches, labor unions, teachers, health care workers, LGBTQ groups, Planned Parenthood, immigrants, youth, and more. Barber has led many out of their typical comfort zones to fight against bigotry in all its forms.
Moral Mondays is a broad coalition of groups: churches, labor unions, teachers, health care workers, LGBTQ groups, Planned Parenthood, immigrants, youth, and more. Barber has led many out of their typical comfort zones to fight against bigotry in all its forms.
I love his line about "people who say so much about what God says so little, while saying so little about God says so much."
And that 4th Circuit decision is great. I'm hoping the attempt to quash their votes brings out minority voters in even greater numbers this November.
posted by marxchivist at 11:15 AM on July 29, 2016 [14 favorites]
And that 4th Circuit decision is great. I'm hoping the attempt to quash their votes brings out minority voters in even greater numbers this November.
posted by marxchivist at 11:15 AM on July 29, 2016 [14 favorites]
I would definitely urge people to go out and experience more of Rev. Barber and company if there is a stop on their Moral Revival Tour that is hitting a city near you.
Moral Revival Tour
Revivals: Not just for Conservatives anymore!
posted by vuron at 11:22 AM on July 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
Moral Revival Tour
Revivals: Not just for Conservatives anymore!
posted by vuron at 11:22 AM on July 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
That speech moved me to tears and had me shouting 'yes!' alone in my apartment. This is the spirit of the NC that I know. Over the past 5 or 6 years, as I've watched the state's government become regressive and hateful from afar, I have been trying to explain to people in my new home that that isn't all North Carolinians are. William Barber proves that.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:23 AM on July 29, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:23 AM on July 29, 2016 [11 favorites]
I've marched for Moral Monday and I am super looking forward to telling my (currently 8 month old) daughter about the time when I had to show my photo ID to vote in the Democratic Primary in NC but not in the general election later that year when we elected the first woman to the Presidency.
posted by jermsplan at 11:29 AM on July 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by jermsplan at 11:29 AM on July 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
Rev. William Barber has been a major voice in NC for quite some time. In 2010 there was a major dust up about a change Wake County (Raleigh) was making in their busing policy. The Rev. Barber led large protests about the issue for months.
I was at this school board meeting and watched him get arrested as a stand against the policy. The man is a force, regardless of what you believe. How can you have anything but respect for someone who is so certain in their principles?
posted by matrixclown at 11:32 AM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I was at this school board meeting and watched him get arrested as a stand against the policy. The man is a force, regardless of what you believe. How can you have anything but respect for someone who is so certain in their principles?
posted by matrixclown at 11:32 AM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
From the 4th Circuit decision:
posted by rtha at 11:43 AM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
In holding that the legislature did not enact the challenged provisions with discriminatory intent, the court seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees. This failure of perspective led the court to ignore critical facts bearing on legislative intent, including the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina.So great.
posted by rtha at 11:43 AM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Looking forward to an opportunity to read this opinion in greater detail. (Direct link to PDF of the opinion.) I was unfamiliar with the history of the law; it's so much worse than I understood:
posted by compartment at 11:58 AM on July 29, 2016 [28 favorites]
But, on the day after the Supreme Court issued Shelby County v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612 (2013), eliminating preclearance obligations, a leader of the party that newly dominated the legislature (and the party that rarely enjoyed African American support) announced an intention to enact what he characterized as an “omnibus” election law. Before enacting that law, the legislature requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices. Upon receipt of the race data, the General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans.Literally the day after the the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in North Carolina announced their intentions to make huge changes to election law. They then requested data that would tell them about minority voting practices. After receiving that data, they wrote a law that implemented certain barriers to voting, every single of one of which had disproportional effect on black voters.
posted by compartment at 11:58 AM on July 29, 2016 [28 favorites]
Literally the day after the the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in North Carolina announced their intentions to make huge changes to election law.
Exact same thing happened in Texas, except I think the announcement came that very same day. Gutting those preclearance obligations is one of the most shameful things the Court has ever done in my opinion. I can understand, even though I may disagree, with their readings of the 2nd Amendment, or a host of other issues. But the South has been so patently forward in seeking to gerrymander and enact voting laws that discriminate against minorities. You have to be egregiously removed from reality, which five of its justices apparently were, to believe that racism was over, and these preclearance obligations were an undue burden on the South. Load of horseshit. Just look at the whole host of court cases striking down all the new voting laws enacted shortly after that Supreme Court case.
posted by Dalby at 12:17 PM on July 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
Exact same thing happened in Texas, except I think the announcement came that very same day. Gutting those preclearance obligations is one of the most shameful things the Court has ever done in my opinion. I can understand, even though I may disagree, with their readings of the 2nd Amendment, or a host of other issues. But the South has been so patently forward in seeking to gerrymander and enact voting laws that discriminate against minorities. You have to be egregiously removed from reality, which five of its justices apparently were, to believe that racism was over, and these preclearance obligations were an undue burden on the South. Load of horseshit. Just look at the whole host of court cases striking down all the new voting laws enacted shortly after that Supreme Court case.
posted by Dalby at 12:17 PM on July 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
Oh man, this reads like how-overt-can-we-make-our-institutional-racism-101.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:18 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:18 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
Skimming the decision. This part owns:
Given a state’s interest in the fair administration of its elections, a rational justification can be imagined for many election laws, including some of the challenged provisions here. But a court must be mindful of the number, character, and scope of the modifications enacted together in a single challenged law like SL 2013-381 […] the court found the General Assembly’s decision to eliminate same-day registration “not unreasonable,” and found “at least plausible” the reasons offered for excluding student IDs from the list of qualifying IDs. Id. at *108, *142. But, of course, a finding that legislative justifications are “plausible” and “not unreasonable” is a far cry from a finding that a particular law would have been enacted without considerations of race. As the Supreme Court has made clear, such deference in that inquiry is wholly inappropriate.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:26 PM on July 29, 2016
Given a state’s interest in the fair administration of its elections, a rational justification can be imagined for many election laws, including some of the challenged provisions here. But a court must be mindful of the number, character, and scope of the modifications enacted together in a single challenged law like SL 2013-381 […] the court found the General Assembly’s decision to eliminate same-day registration “not unreasonable,” and found “at least plausible” the reasons offered for excluding student IDs from the list of qualifying IDs. Id. at *108, *142. But, of course, a finding that legislative justifications are “plausible” and “not unreasonable” is a far cry from a finding that a particular law would have been enacted without considerations of race. As the Supreme Court has made clear, such deference in that inquiry is wholly inappropriate.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:26 PM on July 29, 2016
Looking up the Reverend William Barber I found this story about how, in April, he was removed by airport police from an American Airlines flight because a passenger behind him complained about him taking two seats (because of his disability), and expressed his dislike for "those people". The reverend responded "To those of you who were worried about me, I am fine, physically. Yes, I am not at all happy about what I believe were the real reasons I was the one asked to leave," Barber said. "My training and experiences with non-violent civil disobedience, and my deep faith, however, made my decision to peacefully comply with the order to get off the plane an easy one."
I mention it both for the incredible graciousness of his response and because it shocks me, how ubiquitous the injustice he works against is.
posted by callistus at 12:51 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
I mention it both for the incredible graciousness of his response and because it shocks me, how ubiquitous the injustice he works against is.
posted by callistus at 12:51 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
Dr. Barber provided the necessary refutation of both the religious pretensions of the Republican Right, and the nastiness from the email leak earlier in the week. He demonstrates that one can build an inclusive multi-faith (including atheists), multi-racial, and LGBTQ-affirming political movement acting on principles and values.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 1:33 PM on July 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 1:33 PM on July 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
I am so glad to see Moral Mondays and Reverend Barber getting national attention last night and today. They've been putting in the work for a long time, and MM is a powerful model--when you bring together the NAACP, churches, and teachers, that's a heck of a lot of moral credibility in one place.
If you're interested in this case and in other contemporary civil rights heroes of North Carolina, I also suggest reading up on Al McSurely, attorney for the NC NAACP, who's been working on this case for several years and has a pretty great life story. There's a short profile here and a radio conversation here.
(Disclosure: I know Al--one of his kids is the friend I mentioned here last night. He is a brilliant and warm and slightly odd man who once used his daughter's wedding reception as an opportunity to lead the guests in a few verses of "We Shall Overcome.")
posted by hippugeek at 4:17 PM on July 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
If you're interested in this case and in other contemporary civil rights heroes of North Carolina, I also suggest reading up on Al McSurely, attorney for the NC NAACP, who's been working on this case for several years and has a pretty great life story. There's a short profile here and a radio conversation here.
(Disclosure: I know Al--one of his kids is the friend I mentioned here last night. He is a brilliant and warm and slightly odd man who once used his daughter's wedding reception as an opportunity to lead the guests in a few verses of "We Shall Overcome.")
posted by hippugeek at 4:17 PM on July 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
I needed this.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:21 PM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Stewriffic at 5:21 PM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm just so weary. I have had to essentially shut down my media consumption in the last six months to a year because the neverending bad news has been grinding me down to a nub.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:25 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Stewriffic at 5:25 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Thrilled to see him speak at the DNC and delighted by the 4th circuit ruling. More good news than I'm used to in 24 hours.
posted by kingless at 5:37 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by kingless at 5:37 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Rev. Barber is a true force for righteousness and social justice, and galvanised those who felt like they had no voice.
The details in that voting rights judgement stagger me, even as someone who's seen the NC GOP at work. It's too easy to think of Southern right-wing politicians as versions of Boss Hogg: vague undifferentiated lumps of appetite and prejudice. But that's no longer true: this is procedural redlining, data-driven discrimination. The state GOP leadership sought data on the type of IDs that North Carolinians typically have at hand, and cherry-picked the ones that white people were more likely to have; they sought data on registration and curtailed the methods that African-Americans prefer; they sought data on voting patterns and removed the early voting periods that African-Americans prefer to use.
(The discrimination also extended to students on campus, but the racial discrimination is blatant and sickening and explicitly illegal.)
None of those legislators will lose their seats or face sanction because they represent districts that are a) conservative; b) very white; c) gerrymandered unto eternity. Thom Tillis, who was Speaker of the state House in 2013, is now a US Senator and doesn't face re-election until 2020. I hope that this judgement is draped around his neck during that campaign.
posted by holgate at 6:13 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
The details in that voting rights judgement stagger me, even as someone who's seen the NC GOP at work. It's too easy to think of Southern right-wing politicians as versions of Boss Hogg: vague undifferentiated lumps of appetite and prejudice. But that's no longer true: this is procedural redlining, data-driven discrimination. The state GOP leadership sought data on the type of IDs that North Carolinians typically have at hand, and cherry-picked the ones that white people were more likely to have; they sought data on registration and curtailed the methods that African-Americans prefer; they sought data on voting patterns and removed the early voting periods that African-Americans prefer to use.
(The discrimination also extended to students on campus, but the racial discrimination is blatant and sickening and explicitly illegal.)
None of those legislators will lose their seats or face sanction because they represent districts that are a) conservative; b) very white; c) gerrymandered unto eternity. Thom Tillis, who was Speaker of the state House in 2013, is now a US Senator and doesn't face re-election until 2020. I hope that this judgement is draped around his neck during that campaign.
posted by holgate at 6:13 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
Our lovely Republican governor had a minor spasm on Twitter about Democrat Roy Cooper, NC's current attorney general and likely next governor, after the ruling was announced.
I've been reading excerpts from the decision all evening. It's an amazing takedown of the targeted denial of voting options that disproportionately affect black voters. The court noted that the legislature didn't touch absentee voting, which is used disproportionately by white voters, in a particularly sharp jab, but everything I've read is savage in its careful, precise dissection of what the law was really about. Such great news.
posted by mediareport at 7:08 PM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
I've been reading excerpts from the decision all evening. It's an amazing takedown of the targeted denial of voting options that disproportionately affect black voters. The court noted that the legislature didn't touch absentee voting, which is used disproportionately by white voters, in a particularly sharp jab, but everything I've read is savage in its careful, precise dissection of what the law was really about. Such great news.
posted by mediareport at 7:08 PM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
That arc doesn't bend by itself. Thank you to Rev. Barber, the rest of the Moral Mondays movement, and everyone else who's fighting to protect equal access to the franchise.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:36 PM on July 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 7:36 PM on July 29, 2016 [7 favorites]
Thank you for this. I was so inspired by his speech!
posted by cleroy at 8:47 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by cleroy at 8:47 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Our lovely Republican governor had a minor spasm on Twitter about Democrat Roy Cooper, NC's current attorney general and likely next governor, after the ruling was announced.
That would be the same Roy Cooper who has refused to defend HB2 or appeal certain judgements when they were categorically against the state, leading McCrory and the state GOP to hire private lawyers at state expense to continue (losing) cases. Cooper's hardly a liberal darling -- he refused to endorse a Dem candidate and didn't go to the DNC -- but he's the best candidate the NC Dems could have this year, given that the issues at stake are about an out-of-control legislature enabled by a weak and complicit governor.
posted by holgate at 9:37 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
That would be the same Roy Cooper who has refused to defend HB2 or appeal certain judgements when they were categorically against the state, leading McCrory and the state GOP to hire private lawyers at state expense to continue (losing) cases. Cooper's hardly a liberal darling -- he refused to endorse a Dem candidate and didn't go to the DNC -- but he's the best candidate the NC Dems could have this year, given that the issues at stake are about an out-of-control legislature enabled by a weak and complicit governor.
posted by holgate at 9:37 PM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
I was riding my bike home from NC State this spring, past the statehouse and heard a booming voice over a loudspeaker. It stopped me cold. I walked my bike over to the speech and realized it was Rev. Barber. Within minutes I had tears in my eyes. He is an incredibly powerful orator and the moral compass that North Carolina needs. It's a good ole boys club down there.
posted by Sreiny at 5:52 PM on July 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Sreiny at 5:52 PM on July 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
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