Moral Mondays a civil rights movement for our time

Outside room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, a white wreath commemorates the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Every year, pilgrims come to Memphis to remember the man who was gunned down here while working to build a Poor People’s Campaign. 

Nearly half a century after Dr. King’s death, America needs the moral revolution of values he called for more than ever. Across America, dozens of grassroots movements are uniting to demand that it happen now.

Since the first week of August this year, I have been traveling with co-chair Liz Theoharis for the "Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival." From Charlotte, N.C., to Anchorage, Alaska, from rural Appalachia to Skid Row in Los Angeles, we have listened to the stories of people directly impacted by injustice in America. 

Like the millions who have marched on Washington this year, the people we have met are outraged. They are, as Fannie Lou Hamer said, "Sick and tired of being sick and tired."

People who suffer from racism and economic injustice know that our present moral crisis goes much deeper than President Donald Trump. While the threat of harmful legislation is real, it is not new. 

Republicans blame poor people for their plight while Democrats euphemistically talk about helping "those who aspire to the middle class." Meanwhile, we witness growing inequality, mass incarceration, ballooning defense budgets and unchecked ecological devastation under leadership from both parties.

If the rise of Trump has done nothing else, it has unmasked the moral corruption of a democracy controlled by corporate interests. While the crisis is real, it also presents an opportunity: In the face of such blatant hypocrisy, we can unite across historic divides to build a moral movement.

In the 19th century, a moral movement of black and white abolitionists organized against great odds to overturn race-based slavery and make strides toward reconstructing American democracy. In the mid 20th century, a coalition of civil rights and labor -- black, white and brown -- came together once again to frame desegregation, voting rights, and the alleviation of poverty as moral imperatives.
 
What we’ve read in our history, we’ve also seen for ourselves. When extremists hijacked the North Carolina Republican Party in 2013, they worked nonstop to carry out an agenda of deconstruction, deregulation, and "tax reform." But Moral Mondays emerged to unite a broad coalition of North Carolinians around the conviction that we could stand together against the tyranny of a corporately funded oligarchy.
 
In 2016, when Trumpism swept the South, North Carolina was the one place where extremists lost control of the executive and legislative branches. Before our legislature had reconvened this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the districts used to elect its members an illegal gerrymander. 

Our struggle is not over, but we see now that state-based efforts to unite a resistance led by impacted people have the power to change America. Dr. King died working to build a Poor People’s Campaign in Memphis. I pray this city can become an anchor in our present effort to save the heart of our democracy.

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and the president of Repairers of the Breach and leader and architect of Moral Mondays and the Forward Together Movement.

He will be speaking at Moral Mondays in Memphis Oct. 16 at Mississippi Blvd Christian Church. Table Talks begin at 6:15 p.m. followed by a mass gathering and service at 7:30 p.m. For more information visit mlk50.civilrightsmuseum.org.