Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Profile picture
Aug 12, 2020 7 tweets 3 min read Read on X
In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, campaigns that court low-income nonvoters by focusing on issues like expanding Medicare and raising wages could build progressive governing power for generations.
In presidential elections, low-income-voter turnout over the past 36 years has consistently been 20 percentage points below that of higher-income voters, according to a new report from the #PoorPeoplesCampaign @UniteThePoor.

Read the report: poorpeoplescampaign.org/resource/power…
The report shows that eligible nonvoters across income brackets in 2016 reported the same top reasons for not voting: They didn’t feel they were represented by the candidates who were running or they did not think their vote would make a difference.
Among the 34 million poor and low-income Americans eligible to vote, those views combined with an array of voter-suppression measures kept many away from the polls.
If poor ppl voted at levels similar to their higher-income neighbors, not only could their voting power flip the swing states Trump won across the Rust Belt, but they could crack the “Solid South” that Republicans have counted on for decades by flipping NC, GA, FL, MS, TX & AZ.
A road to victory through the South for Democrats in 2020 would be transformative because it could also unexpectedly add Senate seats in these so-called red states, resulting in governing majorities in the House and the Senate that could pass federal anti-poverty legislation.
Read my new opinion piece with @wilsonhartgrove @nytimes @nytopinion

These People Hold the Key to a New America

nytimes.com/2020/08/11/opi…

#PoorPeoplesCampaign #MoralMovement #ThirdReconstruction

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More from @RevDrBarber

Nov 7
America has often chosen wrong and had to pay for it later. This week, over 71 million people chose to return Donald Trump to the White House.
Whether they were right to do so will be determined by whether the anger and vitriol he spewed towards his fellow Americans defines how he will treat them as president.
We have to wonder how much damage he must inflict before even his own supporters feel the hurt so bad they start to question, “what did we do?”
Read 16 tweets
Oct 27
In the Bible, Joshua says, “Choose ye this day...” Howard Zinn said, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.”

Right now, we face a choice.

I joined 1,000 clergy to endorse VP Harris in our personal capacity. I hope other faith leaders will do the same. cnn.com/2024/10/27/pol…
My full statement:

In my role as both a bishop of the church and a leader of a non partisan movement, I maintain a position of not endorsing any candidate for public office. But as the law allows, I reserve the right in my private capacity to endorse candidates openly.
This has become a moment when I feel compelled to exercise that right, and I hope others will too. I sense a call to speak as a private citizen about my own personal struggle to live faithfully in the present political moment.
Read 24 tweets
Jul 30
Dems, we love your use of “weird” to describe Trump & Vance. But when there are 140 million poor & low wage ppl struggling to make it in this country, it’s also weird to not speak to them.
Yes, it’s weird for Trump & Vance to call policies that would reduce poverty “communism.” But it’s also weird for Dems to not say “poor” if they want poor people to support their agenda.
When 800 ppl are dying from poverty in the richest nation in the history of the world, it’s weird to not make a big deal about it.

It’s weird to have a Zoom call for every group except the 1/3 of the electorate that’s poor.
Read 5 tweets
Jun 14
For years, we’ve been fed a pernicious myth that poverty is only an issue for Black people. This myth not only demeans Black people – with racist images of Black mothers on welfare dominating the imaginations of so many Americans – but also obscures the poverty of tens of millions of white people.
When you frame it as being poor people are Black, other folks are working, what you're doing is dismissing millions of poor and low-wage white people.
This form of mythology is designed to keep Black and white people from working together who really are allies and unified when it comes to the experience of poverty in this country.
Read 11 tweets
Apr 18
In a unified act of solidarity, @GovBillLee joined governors of the former slaveholding states Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama to make a joint statement this week against the @UAW's efforts to unionize autoworkers in the South.
Calling the union a “special interest,” the governors claimed that unions threaten not only good jobs, but also the “values we live by.”

As a preacher from the South, I am tired of politicians trying to co-opt faith with talk about “values” when they do not have the facts to back up their claims.
The truth is that workers are building power in the South and politicians who’ve made immoral partnerships with corporate interests are feeling the heat.

It’s past time for all God’s people to stand up for living wages and union rights.
Read 11 tweets
Feb 25
We're in North Carolina with the @NC_PPC for the final tour stop on the Moral March to the Polls Tour. We are calling on state governments to enact a #ThirdReconstruction agenda, that’s not about left versus right politics, but about what’s right versus what’s wrong.
@NC_PPC In North Carolina, there are 3.5 million poor and low-wealth eligible voters. If we mobilize and organize together, we have the power to change voting outcomes in every election in our state.
@NC_PPC We cannot be silent while politicians prioritize corporate interests over the needs of the poor. From Asheville to Charlotte and Wilmington to Raleigh, we must demand change and fight for a North Carolina and a country that works for all.
Read 4 tweets

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