Citing ‘national sickness,’ Barber issues call to action in MLK Day message to Morristown

The Rev. William J. Barber II, keynote speaker at virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin
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Enough lip service to Martin Luther King.

America faces a crisis of democracy, and must follow the slain Civil Rights leader’s example of nonviolent action for a “moral re-set,” the Rev. William J. Barber II said Monday in a virtual MLK Day address to Morristown.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Barber, who in 2018 helped re-launch the Poor People’s Campaign that King promoted a half century earlier, called for a “mass, poor people’s, low-wage workers, moral march” on Washington on June 18, 2022, to forge a movement addressing our “national sickness.”

“America’s memory of Jim Crow has been distorted by a political culture that pays lip service to Dr. King while forgetting his vision of a democracy that works for all Americans,” Barber said.

He was keynote speaker for Morristown’s Martin Luther King Observance Committee, which has marked King’s birthday for 52 years. The program went virtual for the second straight year because of the pandemic.

There were video messages from ministers Jerry Carter of Calvary Baptist Church,  Sarah Green from the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, and David Hollowell, who emceed.

Morris County Commissioner Kohn Krickus addresses virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

A group called Sounds of Zamar sang anthems, MLK scholarship winners pledged to do good for the world, and recorded panels discussed today’s “Toxic Environment of Hate,” culture wars, and disparities wrought by COVID-19.

Noting that Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery, now is a Morris County holiday, Morris County Commissioner John Krickus, a Republican, urged viewers to heed King’s call to “transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

Video: The Rev. Barber’s talk starts around the 31:00 mark:

2022 Martin Luther King Day Program

The Fifty-Second Annual Service of Celebration
“The Promise of the Dream: From Chaos to Community”

Posted by The Martin Luther King Observance Committee on Saturday, January 15, 2022

Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, called out the GOP for sowing division nationwide.

Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, addresses virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

The 2020 presidential election, a “low point in American history,” showed how some “would go to any means to stop democracy in its tracks in a naked quest for power,” said Morial, former mayor of New Orleans.

Since the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, some 40 states have introduced laws to hinder voting, “sanction racial gerrymander,” and undercut the Voting Rights Act that King fought for in 1965, he said.

Standing up for the right to vote, and insisting our leaders do the same, is how to honor King’s legacy, Morial said.

‘JIM CROW, ESQUIRE’

Barber attributed this period of “national sickness” to “wickedness in high places.”

Back in the 1960s, Martin Luther King observed how the Southern aristocracy pitted poor whites against poor Blacks to thwart democratic coalitions. Today, Jim Crow segregation tactics have evolved into “Jim Crow, Esquire,” Barber said.

The Rev. David Hollowell, emcee of virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

“The data analysis and legal maneuvers are more sophisticated than Jim Crow. If they weren’t, you would not have voter suppression laws being passed in Texas, where the majority of people are people of color,” he said.

Such measures, enacted in at least 19 states so far, along with government policies favoring corporations and military spending over social programs, and an ever-widening chasm between haves and have-nots, “glaringly exposed” by COVID-19, ultimately threaten everyone, Barber said.

MLK Scholar Indira Summerville speaks at virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

The Civil Rights movement, he pointed out, was a coalition of Black and white, Christian and Jew, young and old, gay and straight.

“The Beloved Community that Dr. King preached and organized toward wasn’t just an America where Black, white and brown could sit down in a restaurant together.

“It was the hope of a political system where the Black, white, brown, Asian, and native masses could vote together for leaders who served the common good.

“We need to understand this today. Something’s going on here other than just the attack on voting rights being a Black issue,” said Barber.

‘SILENCE IS NOT AN OPTION’

The North Carolina pastor and author is a visiting professor at the Union Theological Seminary. He holds a doctorate from Drew University in Madison, and in 2017 was consecrated as Bishop of Repairers of the Breach, a national network of faith-based justice organizations.

He delivered the homily at the inaugural prayer service for President Biden and Vice President Harris, and has spoken at the Vatican.

The Rev. Jerry Carter, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, delivers a prayer at virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

Barber questioned how the United States, alone among the planet’s 20 wealthiest nations, refuses to offer universal health care. And why corporations swiftly received more than $4 trillion in COVID aid, while Congress has yet to pass the $1.9 trillion Build Back Better bill.

Billionaires have thrived during the pandemic, he said, while 140 million citizens live under or near the poverty line, and 61 percent of Americans cannot afford a $1,000 emergency.

Low-wage workers deemed “essential” early in the pandemic were treated as “expendable,” dying in disproportionate numbers, he said.

The Rev. Sarah Green of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown gives a blessing at virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

Opposing living wages and voting rights laws, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports Sen. Mitch McConnell, his fellow Republicans and “moderate” Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who “normalize the subversion of democracy” by insinuating that voting rights are a special interest of minorities, Barber said.

This week the Senate is poised to debate two voting rights measures favored by Democrats.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the late Georgia congressman, would reverse a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A more sweeping bill, the Freedom to Vote Act, would make Election Day a holiday, prohibit partisan redrawing (“gerrymandering”) of voting districts, limit “dark money” spending on campaigns, and protect alternatives to in-person voting, among other things.

Citing states’ rights and concerns about voter fraud, Republicans are expected to block the measures by filibustering.

Barber said the GOP mantra of “election integrity” predates President Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election; he pegs it to President Obama’s victories. So many Black, brown and white voters–particularly in the South–voted for Obama, “all of a sudden somebody said something must be wrong. Somebody must be cheating.”

Voter roll purges, overly restrictive voter I.D. requirements, gerrymandering and other state-level actions disenfranchise Blacks — and also diminish multi-ethnic voting coalitions, Barber said.

Meanwhile, millions of poor people can buy unleaded gas–but not unleaded water, Barber continued. The environment is devastated, education is underfunded, and political agendas are driven by “the false, distorted morality of religious nationalism, coupled with white supremacy.”

These challenges are enormous, Barber acknowledged. Yet nothing could be more tragic than turning back now, in his view.

“Silence is not an option. Standing down is not an option. It wasn’t an option for Martin, can’t be an option for us.”

Sounds of Zamar perform at virtual 2022 MLK Day Observance. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Kevin, thank you and the Morristown Green contributors for all the coverage of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observance. For those of us who couldn’t attend (and miss the in-person events), this was a great way to stay connected and inspired. Congratulations to the scholarship winners!

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