Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II State of Civil Rights Address

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

14 October 2013

For More Information:      Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, President, 919-394-8137

                                        Atty. Irving Joyner, Legal Redress Chair, 919-682-4700

For Media Assistance:      Laurel Ashton, Field Secretary, 828-713-3864

Two days ago, on Saturday morning, to the largest civil rights gathering in Eastern North Carolina in decades, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II presented his annual "State of Civil Rights in North Carolina" report to the North Carolina NAACP. He heaped praise on the tens of thousands of North Carolinians who participated in the 13 Moral Mondays at the Peoples House on Jones Street in Raleigh to expose the tea party's extreme legislative policies.  He thanked the local peoples assemblies that brought the Forward Together Movement into every corner of the state, at simultaneous assemblies in the 13 U.S. Congressional Districts at the same hour, 50 years ago, that Dr. Martin Luther King urged the 1963 participants to take the March on Washington back home in the South, to accelerate the long, hard work of dismantling racism back home.  And he listed the dozen Moral Mondays that have been held around the state, and several that are planned in the near future--as well as Moral Monday groups becoming activated around the nation.

Dr. Barber did not just report to the huge crowd of NAACP leaders, representatives from the 150 partners in the Historic Thousands on Jones Street, and other state leaders attending the NC NAACP's 70th State Convention.  As is his practice, he laid out a vision for the work of the organization and the Moral Monday/Forward Together Movement it leads over the next period. As you can see in this video, the huge crowd was with him, as he spelled out the next steps in the Forward Together Movement that has swept the state, and caught the imagination of political leaders across the country.  

Here is the address in full. He spells out the seven "next steps" for the Forward Together Movement at 31:30.  They are also outlined below.

The State of NC Civil Rights in 2013 | William J. Barber, II

1. Calling for a Special Redemptive Legislative Session: As the seasons of Hanukkah and Advent begin, clergy and other people of conscience will peaceably petition Governor McCrory to call a Special Redemption Session during this Season of Redemption and use the power of his office to persuade the legislators to rescind their decision to strip medicaid from 500,000 North Carolina families and unemployment benefits from 170,000 North Carolina families. The Forward Together Movement will work through Thanksgiving and Hanukkah getting signatures for the petition. 

2. Mass Moral Monday on December 23rd:  The Moral Monday-Forward Together Movement will gather in Raleigh on December 23rd to either celebrate Gov. McCrory's redemptive decision or to continue our protest as witnesses to the loss of Medicaid and Unemployment Benefits for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.

3. Informational Pickets at Art Pope's Stores: At the Convention, NC NAACP passed a resolution to get approval from the National NAACP to set up an informational picket campaign at Maxway and Roses stores, owned by state employee Art Pope, Gov. McCrory's Budget Director. The public education pickets will connect McCrory's Budget Director's family fortune that he used to finance extremist campaigns by tea party politicians and the cuts Mr. Pope made in his state budget to harm the poor and help the rich.

4. Supporting Education Justice Lawsuits: The North Carolina Constitution guarantees all children the right to a sound basic education. The NC NAACP will join with other civil rights and education organizations to file lawsuits challenging the McCrory-Pope-Tillis-Berger cuts to public education as unconstitutional.  

5. Stepping up the Fight Against the Monster Voter Suppression Bill: The Moral Monday/Forward Together Movement will fight against the "worst voter suppression bill in the country" at our court houses, our polling  booths, and in the streets.  The goal is to make sure the Monster Voter Suppression Bill is found unconstitutional by the 2014 election.

6. Voter Registration and Education: The Moral Monday/Forward Together Movement will do voter registration and education across the state, in rural towns and urban cities, in preparation for the November 2014 election.

7. All Roads Lead to Raleigh for HKonJ8 on February 8, 2014. In 2014, Raleigh will host the largest people's assembly yet.  Thousands of people from across North Carolina, and across the United States, will assemble on Jones Street, to protest the immoral, unconstitutional, mean spirit that has taken over the Peoples House.  

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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. The NC Conference of NAACP Branches is 70 years old this year and is made up of over 100 Adult, Youth and College NAACP units across the state, convenes the more the 150 members of the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) Peoples Assembly Coalition, and is the architect of the Moral Monday & Forward Together Movement.