All of the people & GA activists that challenged the President today stand in the same tradition of John Lewis when he challenged JFK at the March on Washington in 1963. Some civil rights groups didn’t like it then, but John Lewis was right. And those activists were right today,
and the President would do well to meet with them & diverse moral & religious leaders, as we have been asking for months but his handlers have not facilitated.
Read what John Lewis did 59 years ago: “It is true that we support the administration’s civil rights bill. We support it with great reservations, however.
“Unless Title III is put in this bill, there is nothing to protect the young children and old women who must face police dogs and fire hoses in the South while they engage in peaceful demonstrations.
“In its present form, this bill will not protect the citizens of Danville, Virginia, who must live in constant fear of a police state. It will not protect the hundreds and thousands of people that have been arrested on trumped charges.
“What about the three young men, SNCC field secretaries in Americus, Georgia, who face the death penalty for engaging in peaceful protest?

“As it stands now, the voting section of this bill will not help the thousands of black people who want to vote.
“It will not help the citizens of Mississippi, of Alabama and Georgia, who are qualified to vote, but lack a sixth-grade education. ‘One man, one vote’ is the African cry. It is ours too. It must be ours!
“We must have legislation that will protect the Mississippi sharecropper who is put off of his farm because he dares to register to vote. We need a bill that will provide for the homeless and starving people of this nation.
“We need a bill that will ensure the equality of a maid who earns five dollars a week in a home of a family whose total income is $100,000 a year. We must have a good FEPC bill.”

voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/lewis-speech-a…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @RevDrBarber

13 Jan
This is a damn shame to have to do all of this to protect the promises of the 14th and 15th amendments and the right to vote.

washingtonpost.com/politics/senat…
Anyone who agreed to stand down and wait a year after the inauguration and insurrection to push to fix the VRA is just as guilty to seeding power and influence to Manchin and Sinema as anyone else. But redemption is always possible, if we all chip in and do our part now.
Let’s not forget that the VRA has been before the Congress since 2013. Ever since June 25, 2013, when the Shelby decision said the Congress had to write a new coverage formula.
Read 4 tweets
12 Jan
Exactly. That is why it was important that @POTUS declared he is tired of being silent. Theologically, I wish he had said, “I’m sorry I was ever silent,” because we should’ve never treated this like normal politics.

This should have been all one fight, and we should have been as loud about voting rights as infrastructure and Build Back Better, all as one. But now we are going to fight and declare that Washington’s manipulating games and deals have no place here.
From today forward, I want us all to remember another 6th anniversary. Not the 6th of January but the 6th of August 1965, when President LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act & declared, “Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield.”
Read 4 tweets
9 Jan
In “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Sidney Poitier said this line to his father, “I love you, but you think of yourself as a Black man. I think of myself as a man.” This line needs to be embraced today.
Someone asked me, “Are you a Black preacher?” No, I first see myself as a preacher, able to be in any place, the pulpit, the streets, etc. This is why I resist and fight anytime racism and classism seeks to treat me as less than a man.
For instance, some say @VP Kamala Harris is a Black woman and a Black vice president. No, she is first a woman and the Vice President, and this is why she must resist any limits and blocks that are tried to be placed upon her.
Read 8 tweets
7 Jan
Some reflections on today:

1) We must truly remember and understand this history:


2) Everybody doesn’t come to do good.

3) Believing lies is as American as believing racism, classism, and homophobia. It’s not something strange.
4) America, in some sense, is in a constant political civil war.

5) To support the policies of the current Republican party is to believe in and support a rolling insurrection.
6) We have not always been able to come out of our problems with just education and elections. It has taken civil war, labor movements, martyrs, and sacrificial suffering.
Read 8 tweets
6 Jan
WATCH: #PoorPeoplesCampaign National Prayer Call | From Insurrection to Resurrection twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
“Hate evil and love good,
then work it out in the public square.
Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
will notice your remnant and be gracious.”

Amos 5:15 (The Message)

biblegateway.com/passage/?searc…
Praying now: Rev. Traci Blackmon, one of 21 faith leaders who are joining @MadisonSiriusXM in his hunger strike for voting rights starting today. #Jan6th Rev. Traci Blackmon
Read 13 tweets
6 Jan
I’m listening to U.S. Capitol officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone who were attacked on #Jan6th. They said we shouldn’t call this an anniversary, because January 6th is still going on. But we should tell the truth, which has not been told in full yet.
The more I look at this I’m moved to pray for my enemies and the enemies of democracy and humanity. I pray for them to be tracked down by a spirit of repentance. I pray for them not to be successful.
I pray for those who know better, who know lies when they see them and hear them, that they will stand up as the resurrection in word, deed, and commitment, and as living nonviolent witnesses against the violence, the lies, the greed, the racism, and the spirit of insurrection.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(