Editorial: Moral Victory in Sight
(pictured above: Dr. Rev. William Barber)
Hats off to the N.C. NAACP!
The Tar Heel branch of the venerable civil rights organization is setting the pace for the national, state and local offices and making liars of those who claim that organizations such as the NAACP have long ago outlived their usefulness.
Dr. Rev. William Barber, the state president, started a campaign of civil disobedience on a premise that Dr. King held so true: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
The Forward Together/Moral Monday movement has attracted a large racially, politically- and ideologically-diverse group of residents because it has successfully connected the struggle of the underpaid, under-appreciated teacher with that of the single, minimum wage-earning mother whose children have been denied access to health care by refractory Republican lawmakers. Environmentalist and voting rights advocates have united; common sense Republicans and Independents fed up with the mean-spiritedness of this General Assembly are on board, as is the LGBTQ community.
The tenacity of the Moral Monday crowd was underestimated, but like those who staged other great civil rights movements – the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Selma to Montgomery March … – they proved that injustice is a powerful fuel – potent enough to propel and sustain the most tiresome and besieged battles.
As Dr. Barber reshapes, redefines and enhances the Moral Monday model, we wish him godspeed. His ability to inspire and unite the masses is well-proven, and he is accustomed to playing David to the Goliath that is the GOP political machine.
This new focus of the movement, one that will educate and empower voters leading up to November’s crucial Midterms, is perhaps more important than its antecedent, for if all the indignation and outrage expressed by Moral Monday protestors fails to drive North Carolinians to the polls to vote for change, the fight will remain just that – a fight, not a victory.
