For February, Black History Month, Sopris Sun illustrator Larry Day will highlight an influential African American each week, accompanied by an illustration.
Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, a Protestant minister, is no stranger to protests. On May 30, 2017, he was arrested and led away — cuffed in a zip-tie — along with 32 others charged with second-degree trespassing during a sit-in protest inside the North Carolina State Legislative Building. The protesters were advocating for Medicaid expansion. He was found guilty of loudness in the hallways.
He was arrested again on Aug. 2, 2021 in Washington D.C., this time along with hundreds of others, leading a peaceful protest for voting rights and higher wages. A veracious fighter for Democracy, Reverend Barber has led numerous Moral Monday rallies, including when 80,000 protestors gathered calling for aid for the impoverished communities suffering from Hurricane Helene.
Barber has been a staunch advocate for giving voice to the poor and fighting for voting rights, calling for a ”season of nonviolent direct action.”
A professor and the founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, he was named a 2018 MacArthur Fellow and is a highly sought after speaker across the country. He has earned numerous honorariums and awards including many of NAACP’s highest honors for legal advocacy. Barber is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: a National Call for a Moral Revival.
“We are being called, like our mothers and fathers, to be the moral defibrillators of our time. We will shock this nation and fight for justice for all. We will not give up on the heart of our democracy, not now, not ever.” – Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, 2016 Democratic National Convention