North Carolina NAACP leader of protest movement to step down (Rev. William Barber)
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Rev. William Barber, who led the state NAACP in blocking North Carolina's attempts to limit voting rights and fiercely supported gay rights, said he's stepping down as state chapter president and will focus on a poor people's campaign like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was building when he was slain.
Barber gained prominence in launching "Moral Monday" protests in North Carolina this decade and trained others in more than 20 states in such peaceful civil disobedience. But he said Wednesday that after 12 years as an NAACP state leader, he wants to focus on the new campaign and "a national call for a moral revival."
"We need a moral narrative because somewhere along the line we've gotten trapped in this left vs. right conversation," said the 53-year-old NAACP leader in an interview via conference call.
Barber also leads a nonprofit called Repairers of the Breach and said that group, along with the Kairos Center, Union Theological Seminary and others will lead a movement that will concentrate on 25 states and the nation's capital where voter suppression, poverty and other problems are prevalent. The groups plan major actions next summer, which would mark the 50th anniversary of the start of King's campaign in 1968.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article149886232.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
I have been so busy, actually doing boots on the ground work that I was too exhausted to search for a link for this the day the news broke. Reverend Doctor Barber, no doubt, will continue to be a moral compass for our movement. Thanks again.
♡lmsp
and thanks for your work on the ground. The nice thing about DU is when some of us do get busy there are others to pick up the slack. 