8/14/2019 Statement from the Rev. Dr. William J Barber

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Statement from the Rev. Dr. William J Barber

The language of our states Constitution adopted after the Civil War is lofty andgrand in its ideals. It states, We the people of the State of North Carolina ,grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for the preservation ofthe American Union and the existence of our civil, political, and religious

liberties. Each state official has taken an oath to uphold the StateConstitution. North Carolina s founding principle was the people expressed interms of we. Its moral framework was that the same God who calls us to dojustice and love mercy, and to care for the least of us, was also the hand ofprovidence behind the formation of our state with the commitment to protect thecivil, political, and religious rights of all our citizens. The HKonJ Coalitionpartners are once again calling upon us to remember and act upon these grandprinciples.

While we have made progress, the State of North Carolina is not yet fullyupholding its founding principles. Far too many of our children languish inpoverty and are in schools that are underfunded and underperforming. Ourundocumented sisters and brothers are being terrorized by ICE immigration raids

and racial profiling on their jobs and in their homes Many of our people arewithout health care or health insurance; many of our people are making minimumwage not a living wage; large numbers of our people live in substandard inhumanehousing; large numbers of our people are affected by global warming evidenced byHurricane Katrina; large portions of our poor are warehoused in prisons andaffected by racist drug laws.. Right now were putting more money intoincarceration per year, more money into prisons. If you take the budgets of ourhistorically black colleges and universities - Winston Salem State , FayettevilleState , North Carolina Central, A & T, and Elizabeth City take all five of theirbudgets combined, and were putting more money in prison than were putting intostate-funded historically black colleges and universities.

North Carolinas motto is Esse Quam Videri to be rather than to seem. However,

we are not protecting the very liberties we claim are so valuable abroad when weas a State have not truly acknowledged or redressed years of racial and economicdiscrimination and decades of racial violence. We fall far too short of who weclaim to be in our motto and constitution. Too many of the bills of the people arenever heard or shown in the light of day. And so, we the people will continue tocome to Raleigh . We the people will continue to demand that the General Assemblyremember it is our house. We the people are unifying our efforts. We the people,directed by faith and focus, are determined to infuse a fresh ethic in the veinsof NC politics and to work until North Carolina is true its motto and the promisewithin its constitution. We the people intend on seeing this through. This is nota moment, but a movement!

Join us by signing on to support the Historic Thousands on Jones Street 14 PointPeoples Agenda.