Notes from Reverend Barber's historic HKonJ speech in North Carolina this morning.
There is a train coming and we urge you to get on board!
Now is the time and here is the place. We are the people and we shall be heard.
8:57 AM PT: How can you say you love God...but hate your brother everyday?
NC Constitution...all power rests with the people and should be used only for the good of the whole.
8:59 AM PT: In policy and politics we face two choices: one is the low road to destruction
The ultraconservative right wing is choosing the low road. It is extreme and mighty low to cut Medicaid knowing that 2,800 will die. It is mighty low to end unemployment benefits for 170,000 people who have lost jobs through no fault of their own.
9:00 AM PT: It is mighty low after you have committed all of these low acts to then commit crimes against democracy and suppress the right to vote.
9:02 AM PT: Kicking hard working people when they are down is not just bad policy, it is against the common good.
Your actions have worked in reverse. You may have thought you were going to discourage us but instead you have encouraged us.
(Note: This man is an amazing speaker).
9:04 AM PT: This is a fight for the future of our state. It doesn't matter what the critics call us. They may call us violent, and losers, and leftists. and socialists...[we have the Constitution and Bible on our side]. We ARE NORTH CAROLINA. [wild cheering]
9:06 AM PT: We know who we are. And we know who they are. We refuse to call them 'Republican' because we know there are sensible Republicans. Abe Lincoln was a Republican (and several other historical progressives named). Republicans and Democrats alike signed off on the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. So when you make Ronald Reagan look like a liberal, we know who you are.
9:07 AM PT: We believe that the more the hijackers who have taken hold of the Republican party are exposed the more Republicans and Democrats can come together to do the best for all the people. No matter how extremists try to twist things, this is about right vs wrong.
9:11 AM PT: This is not just a moment. It is a movement.
We will move every obstacle that keeps people from voting in 2014. We do this because we refuse to accept the low road. We are clear, there is higher ground where we can pay living wages and ensure fairness on the job. We can be on higher ground when we support education and if we see the poor as our neighbor. We can be on higher ground when we reject hate.
We have been called to take this state ... to the higher ground we believe in possible. We will mobilize. We will organize. We will pray. We will speak the truth to power. We will protest. We will stand up. And we will vote like never before.
It does not matter who is in the Governor's office. We cannot settle for anything less than higher ground.
9:13 AM PT: You don't have enough political power to vote us away. You don't have enough insults to taunt us away. And you don't have enough money to buy us away.
We will not give up, NOT NOW, NOT EVER.
We will never abdicate our birth right and sell it for a bowl of porridge.
9:17 AM PT: Higher ground. That is what we deserve. And that is what we demand.
Don't you know that if you leave the low ground of extremism and go to the higher ground of justice and use your office for good then your living will not be in vain.
Too many have sacrificed their blood for us to settle for the lower ground.
North Carolina was first in flight so we know how to get to higher ground.
This land is your land and this land is my land.
We are better than meaness and domination. In America we are better than this. YES WE ARE. YES WE ARE. YES WE ARE.
Tell your neighbors it is time to dig a little deeper, work a little harder, organize a little better. It is moving time. It is moving time.
[Amazing. Preach it Reverend!]
9:30 AM PT: [Crowd estimated at 10,000+]
We've got work to do and if we work together we can turn this thing around.
[Rev calling for commitments to getting people registered to vote.]
[Text the word "forward" 90975 to donate]
Forward together, not one step back. This is why we march. This is why we mobilize. We are on our way to higher ground.