WS Chronicle

In above photo:  Winston-Salem officials attended the Voting Rights Ecumenical Service on Sunday, July 12, including, Mayor Allen Joines, in the middle, front row; Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian Burke is next to the mayor on the right, and North Ward Council Member Denise “D.D.” Adams is far right. (Photo by Donna Rogers)

Chronicle Staff Report

The N.C. NAACP spearheaded a Voting Rights Ecumenical Service on Sunday, July 12, that packed Union Baptist Church on Trade Street.

The service was designed to motivate people to support the N.C. NAACP as it begins a long trial in its case N.C. NAACP v. McCrory, a federal lawsuit against the state of North Carolina over voting rights.

Religious leaders from various faiths said prayers: Christian, the Rev. Dr. John Mendez, pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church; Muslim, Imam Khalid Griggs, Community Mosque, Winston-Salem; and Jewish, Rabbi Leah Citrin, Temple Beth Or. During the service, which featured praise, worship and a message from the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president of the N.C. NAACP, “A Litany for Voting Rights Sabbath” was recited.

Barber spoke from Isaiah 58 and Jeremiah. His topic was “Necessary Interruptions.”

He said he obtained a litany from a rabbi, who told of how he orchestrated interruptions to the annual Yom Kippur service to help his congregation understand the challenge of the Scripture.

Barber translated it into a voting rights litany.

He said the people and the nation need interruptions, such as Moral Mondays, to help them move forward instead of going back to the time rights were violated.

The litany is below:

A Litany for Voting Rights Sabbath

Leader: Is this not the fast that I choose? To fight for the right to vote for leaders who seek to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every foe?

People: We remember thousands of little towns where countless, unnamed ancestors stood in their human dignity to cast a ballot.

Leader: Is this not the fast that I choose? To fight for the right to vote for leaders who seek to share bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into home, and to clothe to naked?

People: We remember the Selma to Montgomery March, Bloody Sunday and the Edmund Pettus Bridge and all the scared places where lives were given for voting rights of all people. We honor the legacy of our forebearers and mass protests that established the 1965 Voting Rights Act. We celebrate the successes and sacrifices of all those who have gone before us and bequeathed to us this great heritage and we commit ourselves, our very lives, to preserve every man and woman’s right to vote. Then we shall call and our God will answer.

Leader: Too many serve their own interest on their fast day, and oppress all their workers. They fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.

People: We must choose this day whom we will serve so that the light of our faithfulness will break forth like the dawn and our healing will spring up quickly. Then we shall call and our God will answer.

Leader: Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

People: We will not be silent or denied the right to vote. For we have come too far by faith. We will remain faithful to the God of all the weary years and hopeful for a brighter tomorrow for all God’s people. We will exercise our right to vote and get others to do the same. Then we shall call and our God will answer.