Moral Monday: Building a Public Pulpit & Prophetic Witness in the Public Square (06/08/2026)
Moral Monday: Building a Public Pulpit & Prophetic Witness in the Public Square (06/08/2026)
Led by Bishop William Barber, Repairers of the Breach is organizing coordinated nonviolent Moral Monday peace-protest rallies outside the White House and Congressional offices across the country to deepen and escalate nonviolent moral resistance against the unholy and illegal war in the Middle East.
We are gathering because our nation continues to spend billions on war while people suffer at home and abroad. We stand against policy violence, abandoned communities, and the normalization of destruction. We come in disciplined, nonviolent, moral witness to call for peace, truth, justice, and the common good.
#MoralMonday #WilliamBarber #RepairersOfTheBreach #WhiteHouse #IllegalWar #UnholyWar #NoWar #TrumpsWar #MAGAWar #PolicyViolence #fstv #freespeechtv
Transcript
Follow along using the transcript.
0:00
pull our energies together and lift our voices on. All right. Such a distract.0:08
8 seconds
We shall not We shall not be moved.0:14
14 seconds
We shall not We shall not be moved. Just like a tree0:22
22 seconds
planted by the waterers, we shall not be moved.0:33
33 seconds
We shall not We shall not be moved.0:40
40 seconds
We shall not We shall not be moved. Just like a tree0:48
48 seconds
planted by the waterers, we shall not be moved.0:59
59 seconds
We're fighting for living wages.1:03
1 minute, 3 seconds
We shall not be moved. We fighting for living wages.1:10
1 minute, 10 seconds
We shall not be moved. Just like a tree. planted by the waterers.1:20
1 minute, 20 seconds
We shall not be moved.1:26
1 minute, 26 seconds
We stand against unjust war. We shall not be moved.1:33
1 minute, 33 seconds
We stand against unjust war. We shall not be moved. Like a tree1:43
1 minute, 43 seconds
planted by the worlders, we shall not be moved.1:54
1 minute, 54 seconds
We're fighting for our families. We shall not be moved.2:01
2 minutes, 1 second
We're fighting for our families.2:05
2 minutes, 5 seconds
We shall not be moved. Just like a tree planted by the water,2:16
2 minutes, 16 seconds
we shall not be moved.2:22
2 minutes, 22 seconds
Oh, we shall not We shall not be moved.2:29
2 minutes, 29 seconds
We shall we shall not just like a tree planted by the waterers.2:43
2 minutes, 43 seconds
We shall not be moved.2:49
2 minutes, 49 seconds
One more time say we shall no. We shall not be moved. We shall not know.3:00
3 minutes
We shall not shall not.3:03
3 minutes, 3 seconds
Oh, just like a tree planted by the worlders,3:12
3 minutes, 12 seconds
we shall not be moved.3:20
3 minutes, 20 seconds
Forward together, not one step back. Forward together. Not one step back. Forward together. Not one step back.3:28
3 minutes, 28 seconds
Forward together. Not one step back.3:31
3 minutes, 31 seconds
We shall not We shall not be moved be moved like a tree.3:37
3 minutes, 37 seconds
Planted by the water. by the water.3:41
3 minutes, 41 seconds
Everybody as we gather here today, no matter what is going on, we stay focused. Say stay focused.3:52
3 minutes, 52 seconds
We know why we need to build the flag. We need to build a pull pit outside of the White House.4:03
4 minutes, 3 seconds
And we know that the more we build, there will be pro those who will come and try to do various things to disrupt.4:13
4 minutes, 13 seconds
But somebody scream nobody nobody will ever will ever disrupt disrupt our voices. our voices.4:20
4 minutes, 20 seconds
It's time.4:21
4 minutes, 21 seconds
It's time to turn it up. to turn it up.4:24
4 minutes, 24 seconds
My job here today is to lay out why we are here. The Bible says in Jeremiah 22,4:31
4 minutes, 31 seconds
"Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there."4:38
4 minutes, 38 seconds
Notice that God did not tell Jeremiah to whisper his concerns in the safety of4:45
4 minutes, 45 seconds
the sanctuary. He commanded him to march to the center of government.4:51
4 minutes, 51 seconds
And this is why we are taking space and building a pull pit right here in the street in the middle of rush hour.4:59
4 minutes, 59 seconds
Have you ever seen such a thing?5:01
5 minutes, 1 second
Preaching outside the White House follows a biblical blueprint.5:06
5 minutes, 6 seconds
It declares that the word of God is not captive to the church walls. The word of God speaks directly to the rulers of5:16
5 minutes, 16 seconds
nations. And when we see this administration, Dr. Jackson, pushing an immoral war of choice that is draining5:24
5 minutes, 24 seconds
resources,
look over here at the billions of dollars. So much so that Trump
himself has said, "We can't afford daycare. We can't afford living
wages.5:35
5 minutes, 35 seconds
We can't afford health care." the greatest nation, the most uh economically sound nation in the world.5:42
5 minutes, 42 seconds
We know we must go down and come down to the gates of power. That's right.5:47
5 minutes, 47 seconds
When we watch this administration attack immigrants, we know we must be here.5:54
5 minutes, 54 seconds
When we see the attacks on voting rights orchestrated by politicians who know they can't win without cheating,6:01
6 minutes, 1 second
who know they aren't doing the will of the majority. So they're trying to gerrymander themselves into power. When6:08
6 minutes, 8 seconds
we see that, we know we must be here and proclaim the word of the Lord.6:15
6 minutes, 15 seconds
Listen to what God told Jeremiah to tell the politicians who were abusing power in his day. He said, "Do what is just,6:24
6 minutes, 24 seconds
do what is right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor, the one that has been robbed. Do no wrong. Do no violence to6:33
6 minutes, 33 seconds
the immigrant or the fatherless or the widows. Well, by that list, this administration is doing a lot of sinning.6:42
6 minutes, 42 seconds
Jeremiah was not alone. In the church tradition, Jesus is a prophetic liberator. And in his first public6:50
6 minutes, 50 seconds
sermon, he declared, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor."6:56
6 minutes, 56 seconds
God is a defender of the poor. Jeremiah 22 makes it clear. Luke chapter 4 makes7:04
7 minutes, 4 seconds
it clear that our policy demands must always focus on the most vulnerable. We7:11
7 minutes, 11 seconds
must preach at the seat of executive power. We must hold the empire accountable for how it treats the7:19
7 minutes, 19 seconds
immigrant, the broken, and the disenfranchised. Do I have a witness? Do I have a witness?7:26
7 minutes, 26 seconds
This
is the prophetic checklist that we must hold every president to and
every ruler to, especially now. Stop using public service for personal
enrichment.7:38
7 minutes, 38 seconds
Somebody say, "Stop it." Stop it.7:40
7 minutes, 40 seconds
Stop treating political power as a get-rich quick scheme for yourself and your corporate donors. Stop it.7:48
7 minutes, 48 seconds
Stop weaponizing policies against the poor. Stop it.7:52
7 minutes, 52 seconds
Stop using governments to take safety nets from struggling families while protecting the mega wealthy. Stop it.8:00
8 minutes
Stop treating workers like disposable commodities. Stop it.8:05
8 minutes, 5 seconds
Stop fueling pure public wage and division. Stop it. Stop immoral wars of choice.8:13
8 minutes, 13 seconds
Stop it. Stop policy violence. Stop it. Stop the attack on voting rights. Stop it. Stop it.8:22
8 minutes, 22 seconds
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.8:26
8 minutes, 26 seconds
And we must declare like the Bible, woe unto him who builds his palace by using unrighteousness and builds his upper8:34
8 minutes, 34 seconds
rooms by injustice. No matter how defiant a president is or Congress is,8:42
8 minutes, 42 seconds
somebody must have the courage to say, "Wo!" No matter how much you play God, whoo! Wo!8:50
8 minutes, 50 seconds
No matter how many followers you got online, wo wo!8:54
8 minutes, 54 seconds
No matter how mean and angry and greedy and anti-American MAGA is, wo wo!9:00
9 minutes
No matter how much you cuss and threaten others, wo wo! Preaching at the White House is a9:07
9 minutes, 7 seconds
prophetic woe against systematic greed, against systemic uh racism, against corporate9:15
9 minutes, 15 seconds
exploitation, and against the neglect of the poor. Somebody shout whoo.9:21
9 minutes, 21 seconds
And we will preach here every Monday to remind Trump and remind MAGA, the MAGA Congress, that God still judges nations.9:32
9 minutes, 32 seconds
Do I have a witness? Yes, even America.9:36
9 minutes, 36 seconds
And God judges by how that nation defends the cause of the poor and the needy. MAGA. Somebody say MAGA.9:44
9 minutes, 44 seconds
MAGA. Trump. Somebody say Trump. Trump. Johnson. Somebody say Johnson. Thun. Somebody say Thon.9:51
9 minutes, 51 seconds
And the religious nationalist might think power define is defined by greatness. And military might defines10:00
10 minutes
greatness.
and economic wealth and greed define greatness. But God flips the
script through Jeremiah and prophets like all of you. And we must tell
it right here.10:12
10 minutes, 12 seconds
False prophets talk like that. But God says greatness is in how you treat the poor.10:18
10 minutes, 18 seconds
Greatness is in how you treat the least of these. God does not bless immoral wars.10:25
10 minutes, 25 seconds
God does not bless policy violence.10:28
10 minutes, 28 seconds
God does not do it. And we will not be silent.10:32
10 minutes, 32 seconds
This
is why we have brought this pull pit right here in front of the White
House. And folk can do whatever they want to do. They can play music.
They can blow horns. But we will shout loud.10:45
10 minutes, 45 seconds
And we going to tell it like it really is.10:48
10 minutes, 48 seconds
Somebody say, "Tell it like it really is." Empires fall apart. Nations fall apart.10:56
10 minutes, 56 seconds
Governments fall apart. Leaders fall apart when they reject justice.11:01
11 minutes, 1 second
And so preaching at the gates of the executive branch is really an act of deep patriotism. We love this country.11:09
11 minutes, 9 seconds
That's why we don't want to see it going the way that it is.11:13
11 minutes, 13 seconds
And
we're not talking about going back to normal because normal wasn't
perfect either. We need a third reconstruction in America.11:20
11 minutes, 20 seconds
We need an America that builds from the bottom up. We need America that honors the great truths of our faith and the11:27
11 minutes, 27 seconds
great truth of our constitution. We are warning this nation that military strength can't save a country that is11:36
11 minutes, 36 seconds
rotting
from moral compromise and internal oppression. We preach from here to
all our colleagues in the faith. This is no time to be quiet.11:48
11 minutes, 48 seconds
Somebody say no time.11:49
11 minutes, 49 seconds
No time to be quiet.11:51
11 minutes, 51 seconds
To be quiet. We cannot sit comfortably in our pews while the president and the congress are waging unjust and immoral11:59
11 minutes, 59 seconds
wars and policy violence. We can't be silent. We won't be silent. We won't be silent. We can't be silent.12:07
12 minutes, 7 seconds
We can't be silent. We won't be silent. We won't be silent.12:10
12 minutes, 10 seconds
Jeremiah didn't say stay home. Jeremiah said go down.12:14
12 minutes, 14 seconds
Go down to the king's palace.12:17
12 minutes, 17 seconds
Jesus didn't say stay in your place. He said challenge Herod. Yes. And to be faithful, so must we.12:24
12 minutes, 24 seconds
We will tell the truth right here.12:27
12 minutes, 27 seconds
And by telling the truth, we are giving the people hope.12:31
12 minutes, 31 seconds
People who want to see courage. They need to see us unafraid to stand right here. So thousands are watching online.12:40
12 minutes, 40 seconds
Millions are watching online. And we stand right here because God is still on the throne. We stand right here because12:49
12 minutes, 49 seconds
God
is still a God of justice. We stand right here because you can't say a
beautiful voice on Sunday and then be silent against oppression on
Monday.13:00
13 minutes
You can't applaud a leader's religious words while going all along with their corporate and corrupt actions. We must13:08
13 minutes, 8 seconds
speak with our voice. We must cry loud and let me take this thing. You must cry loud and speak the truth. No matter where you13:17
13 minutes, 17 seconds
are, the truth is still the truth. And as long as I got breath in my body, as long as my tongue is not cleave to the13:25
13 minutes, 25 seconds
roof of my mouth, we will speak the truth. We will say what's right. Love is right.13:32
13 minutes, 32 seconds
Truth is right. Goodness is right. The Holy Ghost is right. Standing up for the poor is right.13:40
13 minutes, 40 seconds
Stopping wars is right.13:42
13 minutes, 42 seconds
Caring about everybody is right. And the right time to be right is right now. Do I have a witness?13:49
13 minutes, 49 seconds
We will not be silent. We will not be silent.13:54
13 minutes, 54 seconds
We will not be silent. Not now. Not ever. Not now. Not ever. Not now. Not ever. Not now. Not ever.14:08
14 minutes, 8 seconds
Not ever.14:09
14 minutes, 9 seconds
We invite now the Reverend Dr. Dela Owens, the pastor of St. James Christian Church to come and preach from this pull pit.14:20
14 minutes, 20 seconds
When voting rights are under attack, what do we do?14:24
14 minutes, 24 seconds
When voting rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up. Stand up. Fight back. Stand up.14:31
14 minutes, 31 seconds
Stand up. Fight back.14:33
14 minutes, 33 seconds
Fight back. As a pastor and a member of the governing board of the North Carolina Council of Churches, I cannot be quiet.14:44
14 minutes, 44 seconds
My faith demands that I cry out when I witness the brutal assault against our democracy and direct assault on voting rights.14:53
14 minutes, 53 seconds
We have less voting rights today than we did when the Voting Rights Act was passed in August 6, 1965.15:02
15 minutes, 2 seconds
True.15:02
15 minutes, 2 seconds
And
through the democracy pro process, we have power in our vote to elect
the candidate that will best address our issues and values.15:14
15 minutes, 14 seconds
However,
a strategic maneuver has been designed to help the GOP maintain control
over the US Congress in the upcoming 26 election.15:26
15 minutes, 26 seconds
Say it true. But neither can we be satisfied when 90 million people did not vote in the 2024 general election. That's it.15:36
15 minutes, 36 seconds
While only 700,000 votes decided who now controls the House of Representatives.15:42
15 minutes, 42 seconds
So it is time it's time that we must dispel uh the apathetic mindset that your vote does not matter or that you15:51
15 minutes, 51 seconds
will make a difference. Let me tell you today from this pull pituh it does matter.15:58
15 minutes, 58 seconds
And this is why they're want to take your vote. That's why they want to steal it. Cuz no one steal anything uh that16:05
16 minutes, 5 seconds
does not have value. Uh your ballot, the ballot is valuable. Uh somebody say valuable.16:12
16 minutes, 12 seconds
Your voting your voting power is valuable.16:17
16 minutes, 17 seconds
Voting is valuable in every policy decision. Uh, and we refuse uh to let anyone steal it with our eyes wide open.16:27
16 minutes, 27 seconds
Our creator gave everyone free will. Uh, it's my choice. It's my vote. It is my ballot. Uh, and I'm reminded of a16:36
16 minutes, 36 seconds
parable found in Luke 18 uh, of the widow who was persistently approached an unjust judge uh, and who was neither16:45
16 minutes, 45 seconds
afraid of God uh, nor did he care about the people. Yes.16:50
16 minutes, 50 seconds
She said, "Grant me justice against my adversary." Uh, and I stand as that woman today. Uh, and though the unjust16:57
16 minutes, 57 seconds
judge refused her for some time, uh, she unwaverly determination was compeling17:04
17 minutes, 4 seconds
him to act. And the Bible said because this widow uh keeps on bothering me, uh,17:11
17 minutes, 11 seconds
I will see that she gets justice so that she won't even uh, come and attack me.17:17
17 minutes, 17 seconds
God will bring justice uh for those who he's chosen one uh who cry out uh to him17:24
17 minutes, 24 seconds
in day and night. Uh and this is why we are persistent uh every Monday to17:30
17 minutes, 30 seconds
challenge unjust politicians. Uh so we must continue uh to bother the system uh17:37
17 minutes, 37 seconds
bother them with action uh bother them with marches uh bother them with prayers uh bother them with more action every17:46
17 minutes, 46 seconds
Monday. And Jesus also instruct us uh to always pray and not to give up. And so17:53
17 minutes, 53 seconds
yes, that's a call for persistence, which means we must put feet on our prayers uh by voting and advocating. And18:01
18 minutes, 1 second
when necessary, we will engage uh in nonviolent demonstration. Uh to put our way to put18:09
18 minutes, 9 seconds
it another way, uh we should always protest uh and never give up. Uh somebody say protest. Uh and so there's18:16
18 minutes, 16 seconds
an acronym that always say pray until something happens. But I want to flip it and remix it for the movement. Uh and18:23
18 minutes, 23 seconds
say we must push, we may protest until something happened. Uh and just as the18:30
18 minutes, 30 seconds
widow uh we will be consistently uh pleading for justice. Uh we must maintain uh and be steadfast in prayer18:38
18 minutes, 38 seconds
uh in protest uh in pushing uh and pursuing justice uh and protecting uh the voting rights uh and those who are18:47
18 minutes, 47 seconds
in power. They may not fear God uh and they may not care about the voices uh of the people but we will uh keep on18:56
18 minutes, 56 seconds
pushing uh we will uh keep on bothering them. And thy presence today uh is a19:03
19 minutes, 3 seconds
testament uh that we have not uh and we will not uh give up or abandon uh our democracy uh until uh we have justice.19:13
19 minutes, 13 seconds
Uh we'll keep showing up uh we'll speak up uh we'll stand up uh but we will not shut up. Uh we will continue to stand uh19:23
19 minutes, 23 seconds
and push uh until they respond uh to our demands. uh protest uh until we get voter rights uh fully restored uh19:32
19 minutes, 32 seconds
persist with everybody uh having a living wage uh and push and pressure our legislator until everybody19:42
19 minutes, 42 seconds
everybody has healthcare. So, it's time uh to push uh it's time uh to press uh to pray uh19:49
19 minutes, 49 seconds
and protest by expressing our faith uh through our vote uh that God will19:56
19 minutes, 56 seconds
intervene uh and he will transform uh the hardened hearts uh of our politician uh and he will grant us the power uh the20:05
20 minutes, 5 seconds
power to stand uh the power to march uh the power to protest uh the power to push uh until justice says, "Roll down20:15
20 minutes, 15 seconds
uh roll down like a river and righteousness." Yeah. Yeah.20:19
20 minutes, 19 seconds
Like a never flowing stream. Uh we won't settle for less. We will press forward and push until salvation comes20:29
20 minutes, 29 seconds
for the saving of the soul of this nation. We will disturb their plan and protest to protect the voting rights and20:39
20 minutes, 39 seconds
protest until until that happens. Somebody say push. Push push. Push.20:46
20 minutes, 46 seconds
Push. Push. Push. Push. Push. Push. Somebody say push. Push. Push. Push.20:53
20 minutes, 53 seconds
Until until something something happens. Preach. Preach.20:58
20 minutes, 58 seconds
Until until something happens. Dr. Hannah Broom coming to this pull pit to preach from this sacred desk.21:11
21 minutes, 11 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good evening to every preacher, pastor, rabbi, imam, elder, organizer, worker, student,21:19
21 minutes, 19 seconds
artist, advocate, freedom fighter, and freedom loving neighbor gathered in this public square. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.21:26
21 minutes, 26 seconds
I
am Reverend Dr. Hannah Arbroom, director of religious affairs for
repairs of the breach, a governing board of the North Carolina Council
of Churches, and an ordained elder in the AM Zion church.21:36
21 minutes, 36 seconds
We need to make it plain from the beginning. This moral Monday is wide enough for all of us. That's right.21:43
21 minutes, 43 seconds
We welcome Christians, Jews, Muslim, Buddhists, Hindus, Sik, Unitarians, humanit agnostics, atheists, seekers,21:51
21 minutes, 51 seconds
skeptics, and every person whose conscience has been stirred by the suffering of the people.21:57
21 minutes, 57 seconds
You do not have to name God the same way to stand together for justice.22:01
22 minutes, 1 second
You do not have to pray the same way to protect the poor.22:04
22 minutes, 4 seconds
You do not have to worship the same way to defend democracy. You only have to believe that human dignity is not up for sale.22:13
22 minutes, 13 seconds
It's not up for debate and not up for political sacrifice.22:18
22 minutes, 18 seconds
We
are standing here today in front of the White House, not because we are
confused about where power sits, but because we are clear about where
moral truth must be spoken.22:28
22 minutes, 28 seconds
This is the public pull pit. That's it.22:30
22 minutes, 30 seconds
This
is the prophetic witness in the public square. We come in the spirit of
Jeremiah 22nd where the prophet declares, "Do justice and righteousness22:39
22 minutes, 39 seconds
and
deliver from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed." We
come in the spirit of Luke the 4th 18th verse where Jesus announced
good22:48
22 minutes, 48 seconds
news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed.22:56
22 minutes, 56 seconds
But this witness does not just stay here. It needs to go into every state, into every valley, onto every23:03
23 minutes, 3 seconds
mountaintop,
in every alley, every community. Do not be crushed. The vulnerable must
not be abandoned. And the powerful must not be allowed to govern
without accountability.23:14
23 minutes, 14 seconds
That's right.23:15
23 minutes, 15 seconds
As a leader in this movement, I am calling on you. every clergy person, every faith leader, every moral leader,23:22
23 minutes, 22 seconds
every congregation, every temple, mosque, synagogue, church, meeting house, every justice ministry, every23:29
23 minutes, 29 seconds
ministerial alliance, every person of conscience. Do not let your witness be silent. Take it to the house. Take it to the house.23:37
23 minutes, 37 seconds
Stand in your state.23:38
23 minutes, 38 seconds
Stand
in front of your senator's offices. Stand where decisions are made to
hurt the poor. Stand where silence has been mistaken for consent. Stand23:46
23 minutes, 46 seconds
with
the poor. Stay with the sick, the hungry, the worker, the immigrant,
the child, the elder, the voter, the veteran, and every person whose
life has23:56
23 minutes, 56 seconds
been threatened by policy violence. Say, "We're going to stand." Stand.24:00
24 minutes
If Congress can demand our dignity, then clergy and faith leaders can raise a righteous sound in every state.24:08
24 minutes, 8 seconds
Every state.24:09
24 minutes, 9 seconds
If they can organize cruelty, we must organize a moral conscience. That's it.24:14
24 minutes, 14 seconds
Let us be clear. These are not soft words. They are public policy words.24:19
24 minutes, 19 seconds
They
are budget words. They are voting rights words. They are healthc care
words. They are anti-war words. They are immigrant justice words. They
are24:28
24 minutes, 28 seconds
poverty ending words. We are here because faith that never leaves the building becomes decoration.24:36
24 minutes, 36 seconds
But faith that walks in the streets becomes a public witness. And for those who do not claim a faith tradition, your24:45
24 minutes, 45 seconds
moral courage must stand together with us.24:48
24 minutes, 48 seconds
Because conscience is not only in the sanctuary. Conscience is in the public square.24:54
24 minutes, 54 seconds
Truth is in the pull pit and truth is in the public square.24:58
24 minutes, 58 seconds
Justice is not only a prayer when you take on the flesh, but justice is what you take on standing together in the public square.25:06
25 minutes, 6 seconds
So today we declare nonviolence. Today we declare love and justice against the empties of the pantries, denial of25:14
25 minutes, 14 seconds
health care, suppression of the vote, wages of war, separate families, and cause cruelty governance. We are not25:21
25 minutes, 21 seconds
here to curse people. We are here to confront systems.25:25
25 minutes, 25 seconds
We are not here to perform outrage. We are here to practice moral clarity.25:30
25 minutes, 30 seconds
We
are not here because we hate. We are here because we love too much to
be quiet. To be quiet. We say stop the war. Stop the war.25:38
25 minutes, 38 seconds
We say protect voting rights. Protect voting rights.25:41
25 minutes, 41 seconds
We say stop cutting lifelines for the poor. Stop cutting lifelines for the poor.25:46
25 minutes, 46 seconds
We say America does not need more religious nationalism. America needs repentance. America needs repair.25:54
25 minutes, 54 seconds
America needs reconstruction.25:56
25 minutes, 56 seconds
America needs a moral revival rooted in justice in the public square. People are not disposable.26:04
26 minutes, 4 seconds
The poor are not expendable. The sick are not statistics. The hungry are not collateral damage. The immigrant is not26:11
26 minutes, 11 seconds
your scapegoat. The voter is not your enemy. The child is not your bargaining chip. The elder is not your budget cut.26:20
26 minutes, 20 seconds
And the moral conscience of this nation is not dead. That's right.26:24
26 minutes, 24 seconds
Let the microphones become the altar of truth. Let the streets become the classrooms of democracy.26:30
26 minutes, 30 seconds
Let our bodies become ballots for the justice. Let our prayers, meditations, convictions, commitment grow feet. Let26:38
26 minutes, 38 seconds
our preaching, teaching, organizing, and truthtelling become policy demands. And let our witness say it to this nation.26:46
26 minutes, 46 seconds
Let our witness Let our witness We are loving forward together. Yes, sir. Not one step back.26:52
26 minutes, 52 seconds
Welcome to the Merl Monday public pool pull pit in DC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.26:59
26 minutes, 59 seconds
All right. This is the public pull pit.27:04
27 minutes, 4 seconds
We are in a tradition that's 2600 years old.27:09
27 minutes, 9 seconds
And in every moment, in every century, the pull pit must move itself out of the sanctuary into the street. That's right.27:19
27 minutes, 19 seconds
And we must declare that we will not be silent anymore.27:25
27 minutes, 25 seconds
We will love forward together. Touch your neighbor and say, "We will." We will love forward.27:32
27 minutes, 32 seconds
Love together. Together.27:35
27 minutes, 35 seconds
Look
at him and say, "If you got a voice, you got a voice. It's time to use
it. It's time to use it. It's time to sound like a trumpet.27:44
27 minutes, 44 seconds
For justice. Sound like a trumpet.27:48
27 minutes, 48 seconds
For righteousness, for sound like a trumpet, sound like a trumpet. For truth. Sound like a trumpet.27:56
27 minutes, 56 seconds
For fairness. Sound like a trumpet.27:59
27 minutes, 59 seconds
Sound like a trumpet for equality. for equality.28:01
28 minutes, 1 second
Somebody say, "Sound off." Sound off justice. Justice. Sound off.28:07
28 minutes, 7 seconds
Sound off justice. Justice. Sound off. Sound off. Sound off. Sound off. Sound off. Sound off.28:15
28 minutes, 15 seconds
Justice. Justice.28:17
28 minutes, 17 seconds
We now bring to this pull pit the Reverend Frank D to preach from this pull pit.28:24
28 minutes, 24 seconds
Amen. Thank you, Bishop. Amen. Preach, right? Hello, Marl Monday DC.28:34
28 minutes, 34 seconds
What a beautiful crowd. Thanks to every one of you for being here today. I bring28:41
28 minutes, 41 seconds
you greetings from the North Carolina Council of Churches.28:49
28 minutes, 49 seconds
I want to tell you why I have come to Greensboro to DC. All right, tell us.28:56
28 minutes, 56 seconds
I'm here because I want to follow the prince of peace.29:04
29 minutes, 4 seconds
So I call on our leaders. Yes. To stop war and to pursue peace.29:13
29 minutes, 13 seconds
Yes. Amen. Amen.29:17
29 minutes, 17 seconds
I'm here because I know a savior my who sets people free.29:26
29 minutes, 26 seconds
So I am here to call on our senators, our representatives,29:33
29 minutes, 33 seconds
to protect our freedoms, and to preserve our voting rights. Yeah. Amen.29:41
29 minutes, 41 seconds
Amen.29:43
29 minutes, 43 seconds
I'm here today because my rabbi, my teacher, Yeah.29:51
29 minutes, 51 seconds
healed the sick. Yes, sir. And fed the hungry. Yes. And so I call on our public servants.30:01
30 minutes, 1 second
Yes. To fully fund nutrition programs.30:06
30 minutes, 6 seconds
And to provide health care for all of our people. Amen. Amen.30:14
30 minutes, 14 seconds
So we have come together today. Yes.30:18
30 minutes, 18 seconds
We have come together today to speak out. Yes. Yes.30:22
30 minutes, 22 seconds
And to stand with Yes. hurting people. Yes. Hurting people.30:27
30 minutes, 27 seconds
Those who are among us, those who are around us, those who are around the world who are hurting today, we stand with them.30:39
30 minutes, 39 seconds
Stand with them. We are here because of God's love. That's right.30:45
30 minutes, 45 seconds
We are here because God so loved the world. The whole world.30:54
30 minutes, 54 seconds
So therefore, let us love forward together.31:02
31 minutes, 2 seconds
Love forward together.31:05
31 minutes, 5 seconds
Not one step back. love forward together, not one step back. Thank you.31:14
31 minutes, 14 seconds
Yes. Yes.31:16
31 minutes, 16 seconds
The
Reverend Frank D reminds us that you cannot ever have a national call
for justice. That does not include an international call as well.31:29
31 minutes, 29 seconds
For we do not say merely, God bless America.31:33
31 minutes, 33 seconds
That's too too limited. That's right. We call on blessings for all people, the blessings of justice, the blessings of goodness.31:43
31 minutes, 43 seconds
We
want to make sure, turn these two big posters this way so I can see
them because we want to make sure and I want you to participate in a
public litany31:52
31 minutes, 52 seconds
with me and say, "As long as long as the cost of war as the cost of war is 72 billion32:01
32 minutes, 1 second
is $72 billion of our money." of our we won't be silent. We won't be silent.32:07
32 minutes, 7 seconds
We will declare We will declare stop the war. stop the war.32:12
32 minutes, 12 seconds
As long as long as this nation as this nation is engaged is engaged in unholy in unholy unjust war.32:21
32 minutes, 21 seconds
unjust war that has killed more than 7,000 civilians abroad that has killed more than 7,00032:30
32 minutes, 30 seconds
civilians abroad. We 7,000 civilians abroad. We won't be silent ever. We won't be silent ever.32:39
32 minutes, 39 seconds
As long as long as the money spent in this war as the money spent in this war32:45
32 minutes, 45 seconds
could have provided 14 million people who lost their health care with healthcare. could32:53
32 minutes, 53 seconds
who could have provided who could have provided 14 million people 14 million people with their health care with their health33:01
33 minutes, 1 second
that they've lost that they've lost we won't be silent we won't be silent 3.5 million people 3.5 million33:09
33 minutes, 9 seconds
have lost their food stamps have lost their food stamps we can't be silent we can't be silent33:16
33 minutes, 16 seconds
800 people are dying a day 800 people from poverty from poverty 200 250,000 a year.33:24
33 minutes, 24 seconds
250,000. We won't be silent.33:27
33 minutes, 27 seconds
We won't be silent anymore. anymore.33:31
33 minutes, 31 seconds
And also And also this is a public pullpit. This is a public.33:37
33 minutes, 37 seconds
Say it loud. This is This is a public pullpit. a public pull pit.33:42
33 minutes, 42 seconds
We stand We stand in the prophetic witness. in the prophetic witness.33:47
33 minutes, 47 seconds
You want to know You want to know what we stand for? what we stand for.33:51
33 minutes, 51 seconds
We stand We stand for fully protected voting rights. for fully protective voting rights.33:57
33 minutes, 57 seconds
We stand We stand to abolish poverty to abolish poverty.34:01
34 minutes, 1 second
We stand We stand for healthc care for all. for healthcare for all.34:05
34 minutes, 5 seconds
We stand We stand for fully funded public education. for fully funed public education.34:11
34 minutes, 11 seconds
We stand We stand housing for all. Housing for all.34:14
34 minutes, 14 seconds
We stand We stand for food care for all.34:18
34 minutes, 18 seconds
food care for all. We stand We stand for child care for all. child care for all.34:23
34 minutes, 23 seconds
We stand We stand for fully funded head start. fully funed head start.34:28
34 minutes, 28 seconds
We stand We stand for statehood for DC. for statehood for DC.34:33
34 minutes, 33 seconds
We stand We stand for nonviolence.34:36
34 minutes, 36 seconds
for nonviolence and peace and peace and justice and justice and we never And we never ever ever will be silent34:44
34 minutes, 44 seconds
will be silent. Let me invite Miss Michelle Dune to come to this pull pit at this time. Welcome her.35:00
35 minutes
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.35:02
35 minutes, 2 seconds
I'm Michelle Dunn, executive director of Franciscan Action Network.35:10
35 minutes, 10 seconds
Uh 800 years ago, St. Francis of Aisi was born into wealth and privilege. But he gave it all up35:17
35 minutes, 17 seconds
because of his commitment to the gospel and to nonviolence. That's right.35:22
35 minutes, 22 seconds
When his movement started growing and his friars wanted to acquire property, he said, "Oh no, brothers, don't you see35:31
35 minutes, 31 seconds
that once we own a bunch of properties, we will end up having to use violence to defend them?"35:38
35 minutes, 38 seconds
St. Francis saw clearly that clinging to inordinate wealth and privilege leads inevitably to the use of violence.35:48
35 minutes, 48 seconds
And that is what we see in our time. a massive growth in wealth disparities in the United States uh leading to a35:57
35 minutes, 57 seconds
situation in which the richest 1% of Americans uh control about the same36:03
36 minutes, 3 seconds
amount of wealth as the poorest 90% of Americans.36:09
36 minutes, 9 seconds
So is it any surprise that a tiny group of people who control most of the wealth are coming for the political power,36:18
36 minutes, 18 seconds
coming for our democracy, depriving our fellow citizens of their voting rights. That's right.36:25
36 minutes, 25 seconds
Depriving people of low wealth of their health care and their ability to feed their families. Depriving migrants of36:33
36 minutes, 33 seconds
safe haven. depriving people in the Middle East of their right to life and to safety.36:40
36 minutes, 40 seconds
So, as in the time of St. Francis, too much wealth concentrated in too few hands leads to too much violence.36:50
36 minutes, 50 seconds
That's right.36:51
36 minutes, 51 seconds
Uh actual violence and policy violence being practiced against too many people.36:58
36 minutes, 58 seconds
Yes. And I so appreciate the leadership of Reverend Barber and this movement who bring this to light, educate us on these37:07
37 minutes, 7 seconds
issues. We have to understand how all this works and show us how to bring a moral voice to public policy.37:15
37 minutes, 15 seconds
So, it's time for us to speak against the violence we don't want and for the37:22
37 minutes, 22 seconds
just, lifegiving public policies that we do want.37:27
37 minutes, 27 seconds
Yes. Yes. And so, sisters and brothers, let's pray together. Please repeat after me. Oh, most high and glorious God, most37:36
37 minutes, 36 seconds
high and glorious God, enlighten our hearts. Enlighten our hearts. Give us perfect love, wisdom, and insight. Give37:46
37 minutes, 46 seconds
us perfect love, wisdom, and insight to do your holy and true will. to do your holy and trill and to bring justice and37:56
37 minutes, 56 seconds
peace for all your people and to bring justice and peace for all your people. Amen. Amen. Amen.38:04
38 minutes, 4 seconds
Amen. Let's thank our dear sister. Amen.38:08
38 minutes, 8 seconds
Reminding us of ancient truths. The one reason we preach is because and speak is because in our faith tradition, we38:15
38 minutes, 15 seconds
believe the whole world was created through the word.38:19
38 minutes, 19 seconds
And even now we announce prophetic imagination.38:24
38 minutes, 24 seconds
One of the things that authoritarians want you to do is shut up.38:28
38 minutes, 28 seconds
They want the lies to have the last word. But say not on our watch.38:33
38 minutes, 33 seconds
Not our They want meanness to have the last word. Say not on our watch. Not on our watch.38:38
38 minutes, 38 seconds
They want you to be scared to be in the street, but say not in our not on our watch. Not on our watch.38:43
38 minutes, 43 seconds
No. No. We have to speak for the Bible declares the power of life and death is in the tongue. The greatest nonviolent38:51
38 minutes, 51 seconds
thing you can do first in a season of lies is to tell the truth. Not once every three months.39:00
39 minutes
That's why tomorrow Monday is every Monday.39:03
39 minutes, 3 seconds
Every
Monday. Hold your signs high so folk around the world and then they can
see all of you can come and somebody take pictures and begin to39:11
39 minutes, 11 seconds
just
send them out. Send them out. Send them out. Send them out. Everybody
can come. Everybody can come. Everybody is welcome. Everybody is
welcome.39:19
39 minutes, 19 seconds
It's truthtelling time.39:22
39 minutes, 22 seconds
We come now. The Reverend Jonathan Wilson Hotgrove has a word to say from this pull pit in the public square.39:33
39 minutes, 33 seconds
Jonathan. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. Good afternoon.39:40
39 minutes, 40 seconds
Good afternoon.39:42
39 minutes, 42 seconds
I'm glad to be here today. I'm a Baptist preacher from North Carolina. Yes.39:47
39 minutes, 47 seconds
And I'm part of a network called the Red Letter Christians. Yeah.39:51
39 minutes, 51 seconds
Who've been trying for some time to ask this question. What if Jesus actually meant what he said?39:59
39 minutes, 59 seconds
I'm grateful to Repairs of the Breach and all of our partners.40:03
40 minutes, 3 seconds
Yes.
for establishing this pull pit in the public square because if ever we
needed a word from God in our public life, we sure do need it now.40:13
40 minutes, 13 seconds
Yes, sir.40:14
40 minutes, 14 seconds
Now, I say that as a Baptist who is committed to the separation of church and state.40:21
40 minutes, 21 seconds
My
mentor and friend, the Baptist preacher Tony Campolo, he used to say
that mixing church and state is like mixing ice cream and horse manure.40:32
40 minutes, 32 seconds
It doesn't do much to hurt the manure, but it sure does ruin the ice cream. Yes, sir.40:38
40 minutes, 38 seconds
Tony
had away with words, but he got the idea from one of the very first
Baptists in this land, a preacher named Roger Williams. That's him.
That's him.40:45
40 minutes, 45 seconds
Williams
didn't believe in the separation of church and state because he thought
preachers should stay out of politics. No, he was deeply involved in
politics.40:54
40 minutes, 54 seconds
He founded a colony. Yeah, Williams knew it was wrong when the Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed a41:00
41 minutes
divine right to indigenous people's land because a king back in England had said so. That's right.41:07
41 minutes, 7 seconds
He opposed religious nationalism because he saw how it was used to prop up policy violence.41:14
41 minutes, 14 seconds
And he challenged the religious nationalism of fellow Christians. That's it.41:18
41 minutes, 18 seconds
Because he saw how the lust for power ruins religion.41:23
41 minutes, 23 seconds
Roger Williams died almost a century before the US declared its independence.41:28
41 minutes, 28 seconds
But he was a founding father of the idea that we call religious liberty. That's right.41:33
41 minutes, 33 seconds
The advocates for the freedom of worship in the Bill of Rights were putting on paper what he had preached in the public square.41:40
41 minutes, 40 seconds
We are here today because people are hurting. Yes.41:44
41 minutes, 44 seconds
SNAP benefits have been cut for 3.5 million poor people.41:48
41 minutes, 48 seconds
Healthc
care has been stripped for millions of Americans. Our immigrant
neighbors are being kidnapped from their homes and jobs. They're being
kidnapped41:57
41 minutes, 57 seconds
from their jobs to be put into in concentration camps where they're forced to work. That's right. That's right.42:03
42 minutes, 3 seconds
The cost of living has gone up for all of us because of an illegal and immoral war in Iran. And while the majority of42:10
42 minutes, 10 seconds
Americans oppose what they see happening, this regime and its Supreme Court have conspired to dilute the power42:17
42 minutes, 17 seconds
of our vote. Mama, we are here because the people who control our government have turned it against us.42:25
42 minutes, 25 seconds
Yes, sir.42:26
42 minutes, 26 seconds
But I wanted to talk about Roger Williams and religious liberty today because I know that this is also true. Yes.42:34
42 minutes, 34 seconds
None of this would be happening without the votes of my fellow white Christians.42:40
42 minutes, 40 seconds
Yes. Yes. the political movement that put Donald Trump in that White House by saying that he is a flawed instrument42:47
42 minutes, 47 seconds
in the hand of God. That's what they said. That's what they still say.42:52
42 minutes, 52 seconds
It is not a movement that represents most Americans. It doesn't even represent most Christians.42:59
42 minutes, 59 seconds
But
the political movement that manipulates and distorts my faith has
convinced a majority of white Christians to support politicians who are
abusing power.43:09
43 minutes, 9 seconds
Shame.43:10
43 minutes, 10 seconds
They
like to pretend that they are the champions of religious liberty, but
they talk and act like the theocrats Roger Williams protested against in
the colonies more than 350 years ago.43:21
43 minutes, 21 seconds
That's right.43:22
43 minutes, 22 seconds
So, if I'm to be true to my Baptist roots, Yes, sir.43:25
43 minutes, 25 seconds
and
to my pastoral vow, I must say to my sisters and brothers who have been
deceived what Jesus said to his siblings in the first century,43:33
43 minutes, 33 seconds
my repent. Repent. And believe the good news. Believe the good news.43:38
43 minutes, 38 seconds
Repent. Repent and reject the lies. And reject the lies. Repent. Repent. And refuse to be silent. And refuse to be silent.43:46
43 minutes, 46 seconds
Repent. Repent.43:48
43 minutes, 48 seconds
And join the movement to reclaim the tools of our government.43:53
43 minutes, 53 seconds
Listen to your neighbors who remember that the only attempt to establish a Christian nation in this land called44:02
44 minutes, 2 seconds
itself the Confederate States of America. Only one.44:07
44 minutes, 7 seconds
Let me close with a final verse of scripture.44:10
44 minutes, 10 seconds
It is a promise that I have found to be true.44:13
44 minutes, 13 seconds
The Bible says, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just44:20
44 minutes, 20 seconds
to forgive us our sins and to wash us clean from all injustice." Yes, sir.44:27
44 minutes, 27 seconds
If you know that we need to be washed, not just as individuals, but as a nation, then say yes. Yes.44:35
44 minutes, 35 seconds
Say yes. Yes. Say yes. Yes. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.44:42
44 minutes, 42 seconds
We keep hearing from this pull pit. Yes. Metaninoia. The call to repentance.44:51
44 minutes, 51 seconds
Repentance for those who, as you just heard, decided that they needed an idol to44:59
44 minutes, 59 seconds
worship in order to push their nationalism.45:03
45 minutes, 3 seconds
Authoritarianism and nationalism always needs an idol, a false prophet, a false religion, repentance.45:11
45 minutes, 11 seconds
We've
been called to repentance. Those who sat home and said somebody else
could do it and allowed a person to get in office by only a little over a45:20
45 minutes, 20 seconds
million votes when 90 million folks stayed home.45:23
45 minutes, 23 seconds
Lord, repentance. That's right.45:26
45 minutes, 26 seconds
Repentance when we sometimes have had apathy or have forgotten our role to stand up and fight.45:34
45 minutes, 34 seconds
Yeah.45:35
45 minutes, 35 seconds
And
asking the question, what are we going to do? We're going to do what
justice folk have always done. Stand up. Stand up. Speak the truth.45:44
45 minutes, 44 seconds
Live in love and fight back. Thank you, Jonathan. Thank you for calling us. Calling us. And thank you for reminding us.45:52
45 minutes, 52 seconds
Reminding us. And you know, my wife and I were listening at Walter Bugman the other day, and he reminds us that46:00
46 minutes
whenever we come into public square as moral agents, it's never partisan. Okay? It's always principle.46:08
46 minutes, 8 seconds
Okay?46:08
46 minutes, 8 seconds
My
stance for healthc care is not Democrat or Republican. It's not left or
right. It's not right conservative or liberal. It's just right.46:17
46 minutes, 17 seconds
That's right. It's rooted in love and justice. Stand against war is just what? Right. That's right.46:22
46 minutes, 22 seconds
The stand for taking care of the poor is just right.46:26
46 minutes, 26 seconds
And to come and help us understand this rightness more is our dear sister who just hopped off a train, the Reverend46:34
46 minutes, 34 seconds
Lisa Sharon Harper. Would you welcome her to this pull pit?46:42
46 minutes, 42 seconds
Thank you so much, Bishop. Really appreciate you.46:46
46 minutes, 46 seconds
Well, I want to tell you a story. My grandmother, Willa Jenkins Lawrence, was born in 1909.46:56
46 minutes, 56 seconds
She was born in Camden, South Carolina.46:59
46 minutes, 59 seconds
Uhhuh. She was born 30 minutes from the state house where the state flag featuring a white palm meadow and a47:08
47 minutes, 8 seconds
crescent
moon at one time had served as a symbol of secession flew over the
heads of all the people in South Carolina including hers.47:21
47 minutes, 21 seconds
When Willow was only 8 years old, her mother Lizzy left to go north in the great migration and left Willa behind47:30
47 minutes, 30 seconds
because she was too dark along with her brother. They were too dark, so they had to stay in the south and earn their keep.47:38
47 minutes, 38 seconds
And when they earned their keep, they worked in the fields and eventually uh Willa uh began working as a47:46
47 minutes, 46 seconds
housemaid. And we believe that she was actually sexually assaulted in that house.47:52
47 minutes, 52 seconds
The violence the violence in the south drove millions of people north47:59
47 minutes, 59 seconds
in a context where there were no voting rights. That's right. That's right. Flash forward.48:07
48 minutes, 7 seconds
Willa is now married homemaker with two small children in South Philadelphia.48:14
48 minutes, 14 seconds
And in the 1950s, before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, before the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Willa got off48:23
48 minutes, 23 seconds
her butt and went around her neighborhood and signed up her neighbors to vote. That's right.48:31
48 minutes, 31 seconds
Willa canvased her South Philadelphia neighborhood.48:35
48 minutes, 35 seconds
She said, "We cannot do anything unless we can vote." She knew something. She knew something.48:41
48 minutes, 41 seconds
She knew something. Somebody say with me, "She knew something." She knew something. She knew something. She knew something.48:48
48 minutes, 48 seconds
Now, my family members, people I knew, lived in prevoting rights America. They suffered the violence and the48:57
48 minutes, 57 seconds
indignities that pushed millions to break up black families a second time.49:03
49 minutes, 3 seconds
Mama.
Mama. They suffered the dehumanization of Jim Crow laws that declared
to these people made in the image of God that they were not created49:12
49 minutes, 12 seconds
to exercise dominion. They were not created to exercise agency in this land.49:18
49 minutes, 18 seconds
No, they were created to be exploited for rich people's gain.49:24
49 minutes, 24 seconds
They survived the targeted racialization, racialized violence of fascism. They survived and overcame49:32
49 minutes, 32 seconds
having never really experienced freedom before. Consider that.49:39
49 minutes, 39 seconds
They had never experienced freedom before. At least not for 246 years.49:48
49 minutes, 48 seconds
That's right. That's right.49:49
49 minutes, 49 seconds
And yet And yet they marched.49:52
49 minutes, 52 seconds
And yet they could taste freedom.49:55
49 minutes, 55 seconds
And yet they could see freedom. The Voting Rights Act is dead today, but we are not.50:04
50 minutes, 4 seconds
That's right.50:05
50 minutes, 5 seconds
The Voting Rights Act is dead today, but we are here.50:11
50 minutes, 11 seconds
My grandmother's blood courses through my veins. That's right.50:14
50 minutes, 14 seconds
Your grandmother's blood courses through your veins. That's right.50:18
50 minutes, 18 seconds
Then my government grandmother calls me to gird up. to stand down fascism in its snarling face. To walk forward together,50:28
50 minutes, 28 seconds
not one step back in faith. We cannot freeze, people.50:34
50 minutes, 34 seconds
No. No, we cannot freeze. We must act.50:37
50 minutes, 37 seconds
We cannot freeze. We must gather the community.50:41
50 minutes, 41 seconds
We cannot freeze. We must knock on the doors.50:44
50 minutes, 44 seconds
We cannot freeze. We must hold community meetings.50:49
50 minutes, 49 seconds
We cannot freeze. We must listen to each other's stories and dreams for our families and our nation. Yes. Yes.50:57
50 minutes, 57 seconds
We have an opportunity. We must get ready for this opportunity. Yes.51:05
51 minutes, 5 seconds
It has all crashed to the ground.51:08
51 minutes, 8 seconds
My friends, it has all come down.51:12
51 minutes, 12 seconds
And as Latasha Brown Yes.51:15
51 minutes, 15 seconds
says, "We are the architects. of the next America. That's right. That's it. That's it.51:24
51 minutes, 24 seconds
Now, in this 250th year of our nation, the founders flawed blueprint for slaveocracy jerryrigged into a51:34
51 minutes, 34 seconds
multi-racial democracy. The whole thing is tumbling down. And now is the time to dream and design and build the next America.51:45
51 minutes, 45 seconds
Amen. Amen. Amen.51:49
51 minutes, 49 seconds
You know, the moral Monday movement in 2013 started calling for a third reconstruction.51:57
51 minutes, 57 seconds
That's right. Yes.52:00
52 minutes
One of the great sins of this time is that in 2020,52:07
52 minutes, 7 seconds
many of you standing here after Biden, Harris were elected, came here, and you stood out in front of the52:15
52 minutes, 15 seconds
Supreme Court and protested and called on three things to happen. Pass CO relief, passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act,52:24
52 minutes, 24 seconds
passed living wages, and some said no. M some with us said no. They said no,52:31
52 minutes, 31 seconds
don't do that. Let's just pass CO and we'll come back to voting rights.52:36
52 minutes, 36 seconds
Well, what we have learned in this moment is there'll never be a comeback. You got to get it while you can get it.52:44
52 minutes, 44 seconds
Some
say that we uh Voting Rights Act is under attack. Well, it's been under
attack since June 25th, 2013 when section 5 was gutted.52:54
52 minutes, 54 seconds
We
filed the first case in North Carolina against the worst voter
suppression bill. We were people were getting arrested and folk would
say to us, "Why are you all getting arrested?"53:02
53 minutes, 2 seconds
We would say, "Why aren't you?" Our great repentance is that we should have been in the streets long before now.53:11
53 minutes, 11 seconds
But here is the great grace of God. One more chance. One more chance. One more chance.53:19
53 minutes, 19 seconds
Somebody
the other day said, "You know, Reverend Barbara, we need to have a
march on Washington." I said, "No, we don't. We need to have a march to
the polls.53:28
53 minutes, 28 seconds
We
don't need to put millions of dollars bringing people to DC. We need to
take those millions of dollars and put it in buses in every community
throughout the53:36
53 minutes, 36 seconds
South and throughout the community. We need those buses to run to the poll. We need to have a march, the first day of53:43
53 minutes, 43 seconds
early voting in every city, in every state. Amen. That's right. 1963 was not an election year.53:52
53 minutes, 52 seconds
In ' 64, an election year, they mobilized in the community. Remember the strategy, you all. All right.53:58
53 minutes, 58 seconds
The authoritarians want us to miss what Lisa just said. But we cannot freeze,54:07
54 minutes, 7 seconds
especially when God has given us all the power we need.54:12
54 minutes, 12 seconds
Turn to somebody and say, "It's time to use it." And that's what preaching does. that cause us to use what we have. And54:19
54 minutes, 19 seconds
there's nobody better to tell us that than these next three, f four preachers who have been on the front line. Uh I I54:27
54 minutes, 27 seconds
almost
call them elders among them, but they might get mad with me for saying
that. So, I'm just going to introduce them. The Reverend Dr. Alvin
O'Neal54:34
54 minutes, 34 seconds
Jackson
that just keeps showing up and showing up. Come on, Doc. And preach to
the nation from this pull pit. Let's welcome him. Come on, welcome him.54:45
54 minutes, 45 seconds
Thank you, Bishop Bober, Dr. Broom. I stand here today with all of you54:53
54 minutes, 53 seconds
in the spirit of that bold, brash, bodacious Sarapheneician woman who was so determined and desperate55:01
55 minutes, 1 second
about her daughter that she went to Jesus. Yes, that's right.55:05
55 minutes, 5 seconds
Hollering and demanding that he heal her gravely ill daughter.55:09
55 minutes, 9 seconds
Yes. Yes. Jesus rather strangely dismisses her demand and says to her, "It is not right to55:17
55 minutes, 17 seconds
take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." But she with her bold, brash, bodacious55:24
55 minutes, 24 seconds
self said back to Jesus, "Even with the children being fed first, the dogs also get some benefit, some benefit,55:32
55 minutes, 32 seconds
if only incidentally the crumbs from the table." And Jesus apparently moved by her words or reminded by her of his own55:42
55 minutes, 42 seconds
previous miracles essentially says good point. You get the same food as all of God's other children.55:49
55 minutes, 49 seconds
So why not just have a seat at the table? He promptly heals her child.55:54
55 minutes, 54 seconds
And never again in Mark's gospel does he refer refuse to heal anyone or question anyone's worthiness to be healed. Yeah.56:02
56 minutes, 2 seconds
Bold, brash, and bodacious. A hollering Sarapheneician woman. She wouldn't let go.56:10
56 minutes, 10 seconds
Wouldn't let go. She wouldn't let Jesus go. She refused to give up. She broke the rules. She did whatever was necessary.56:19
56 minutes, 19 seconds
No timidity. No moderation.56:23
56 minutes, 23 seconds
She prayed and pleaded and hollered until she got an answer. so determined to see her daughter's life transformed56:31
56 minutes, 31 seconds
that she would dare challenge the very system of salvation.56:36
56 minutes, 36 seconds
Jesus tried to run her away by implying that there was a limited supply of help, healing, and and hope.56:43
56 minutes, 43 seconds
And this shortly after he had managed to feed thousands. But there's plenty for everybody. There's plenty of food. Plenty.56:51
56 minutes, 51 seconds
There's plenty of money. Amen.56:53
56 minutes, 53 seconds
There's plenty of money for education and housing and living wages for everybody and paid family leave and health care and57:02
57 minutes, 2 seconds
protection
of the environment and voter right protection and healing and hope for
our immigrants. There's plenty good room. We don't suffer from scarcity.57:12
57 minutes, 12 seconds
Scarcity is a lie. There is abundance.57:15
57 minutes, 15 seconds
All
we lack is the will to do what's right. spending a billion dollars a
day on an illegal immoral war and can't do healthcare. Something wrong
with that.57:28
57 minutes, 28 seconds
No. Every now and then, we got to stand up and howl against the night57:35
57 minutes, 35 seconds
and the people who would impose it. We got to raise our voice and holler like that Sarapheneician woman until our57:43
57 minutes, 43 seconds
voice
and our votes and our prayers and our petitions and our protest and our
persistence and demands brings about the change we seek.57:55
57 minutes, 55 seconds
We
got to leave our pull pits, the precincts of the sanctuary, the temple
and the mosque and take it to the streets. And so here we are.58:07
58 minutes, 7 seconds
We've come in the spirit of that Sarah Phoenician woman. And we've come like that other woman, Dr. Dela, who never58:15
58 minutes, 15 seconds
gave up. Though she was facing an uncorrupt and unjust judge, but she kept on going. And the judge58:23
58 minutes, 23 seconds
just
gave her justice just to get rid of her. My Lord, we got to holler like
Pamela Rush who exposed the injustices of poverty in rural Alabama
until our dying day.58:35
58 minutes, 35 seconds
We got to holler like Cali Gria from Alabama who mourn for our children because they are no more. We got to58:43
58 minutes, 43 seconds
holler like Pam Garrison of Charleston, West Virginia, who refuse to shut up even in the face of no. Holler like58:52
58 minutes, 52 seconds
Danielle Holmes from Mississippi. Holler like those preachers in Memphis last night who came together and said,58:59
58 minutes, 59 seconds
"Though you have the unmitigated goal to divide our one city up into three59:07
59 minutes, 7 seconds
different congressional districts, we not going to take it lying down. We going to organize, mobilize, and vote59:17
59 minutes, 17 seconds
like we've never voted before." And so we will be here Monday after Monday,59:25
59 minutes, 25 seconds
Monday after Monday, standing, preaching, praying, demanding and hollering. That we stop the madness of this war.59:36
59 minutes, 36 seconds
That we stop the madness of MAGA.59:39
59 minutes, 39 seconds
That we stop it and save and protect lives and save and protect the life of our democracy. Yes, sir. We'll be right here.59:49
59 minutes, 49 seconds
Right here. You ought to join us every Monday.59:52
59 minutes, 52 seconds
Standing, preaching, praying, demanding until change comes.59:58
59 minutes, 58 seconds
And no matter how much madness, how many distractions come from this White House, we going to be right here, right here,1:00:06
1 hour, 6 seconds
standing, preaching, praying, demanding, hollering, hollering until change comes.1:00:14
1 hour, 14 seconds
Yes.1:00:17
1 hour, 17 seconds
Somebody say, "Hollering." Hollering. Hollering. Hollering. Hollering. Hollering.1:00:22
1 hour, 22 seconds
And the good thing about this movement is our hollering is not just words, but it's words with flesh on it.1:00:30
1 hour, 30 seconds
Words with flesh on. What do we mean this coming weekend? Next weekend, we're training 2,000 men, black men.1:00:37
1 hour, 37 seconds
All right. All right.1:00:39
1 hour, 39 seconds
Because just men on this occasion. She said just men. But there's a strategy behind it.1:00:43
1 hour, 43 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. It's tragic because 21% of black men voted for Trump just like a large number of Hispanic men voted for Trump1:00:51
1 hour, 51 seconds
just like a large number of white women voted for Trump.1:00:54
1 hour, 54 seconds
I'm we not going to tell them who to vote for. But what we're doing is we got to mobilize in those places.1:01:01
1 hour, 1 minute, 1 second
You got to specifically and you got to raise up and train people who can speak to those communities.1:01:07
1 hour, 1 minute, 7 seconds
You
can't go into poor communities and not have poor people leading it.
That's right. So we're also having training massive numbers of poor and
low-wage1:01:15
1 hour, 1 minute, 15 seconds
people
who will be training and going in and raising up in because the number
one reason poor low-wage people are not voting who have the greatest
potential1:01:24
1 hour, 1 minute, 24 seconds
to change the country is nobody's talking to them.1:01:27
1 hour, 1 minute, 27 seconds
So what's happening in a public pull pit is not only do we have the words but we do the work. That's right.1:01:36
1 hour, 1 minute, 36 seconds
Somebody say do the work.1:01:37
1 hour, 1 minute, 37 seconds
Do the work. See, I come from a preaching tradition. Sunday, you hear the word. Monday you do the work.1:01:43
1 hour, 1 minute, 43 seconds
Y'all don't hear what I'm saying. Sunday you do the you hear the word. Monday you do the work.1:01:49
1 hour, 1 minute, 49 seconds
Tuesday you do the work. Wednesday you come back and hear the word. Thursday you do the work.1:01:54
1 hour, 1 minute, 54 seconds
Friday
you do the work. Saturday you do the work. Sunday you come back and
hear the word. Monday you do the work. We got to do the work.1:02:03
1 hour, 2 minutes, 3 seconds
And the word. Say work and word. Work and work. Say word and work.1:02:06
1 hour, 2 minutes, 6 seconds
Word and work. Faith without works is dead, but faith with works is powerful and dynamic and1:02:13
1 hour, 2 minutes, 13 seconds
transformative. And if we've ever needed to work and have the word is been is right now. Right now. Am I right about it?1:02:21
1 hour, 2 minutes, 21 seconds
Right now.1:02:22
1 hour, 2 minutes, 22 seconds
Thank you, Dr. Jackson. As we holler and we holler and we holler and we organize, we cannot have empty words this time.1:02:32
1 hour, 2 minutes, 32 seconds
Never again. Somebody say never again. Never again. Well, there's this guy.1:02:36
1 hour, 2 minutes, 36 seconds
Every
time we go around, I call him Reverend Abby. That's enough right there.
He's always present. He's my Unitarian teacher, and we want to invite
him to come to this sacred pull pit.1:02:46
1 hour, 2 minutes, 46 seconds
Come on, Reverend Abby. Bless.1:02:56
1 hour, 2 minutes, 56 seconds
Good evening. Amen.1:02:59
1 hour, 2 minutes, 59 seconds
I am a Hindu Unitarian Universalist Indian immigrant preacher from Maryland.1:03:06
1 hour, 3 minutes, 6 seconds
Go ahead.1:03:09
1 hour, 3 minutes, 9 seconds
I'm Abby Janami. I serve Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland.1:03:16
1 hour, 3 minutes, 16 seconds
There's an ancient story from the Hindu tradition. It's about 3,000 years old. Mhm.1:03:24
1 hour, 3 minutes, 24 seconds
There's a river in India called the Yamuna River.1:03:28
1 hour, 3 minutes, 28 seconds
And the story goes that it was poisoned by a great serpent named Kalia1:03:36
1 hour, 3 minutes, 36 seconds
who has taken up presence and residence in its depths.1:03:40
1 hour, 3 minutes, 40 seconds
Dead fish rise to the surface. Cattle collapse along the banks. And the villagers do what frightened people1:03:47
1 hour, 3 minutes, 47 seconds
often do. They warn each other and they stay back and they organize their grief at a distance. Mama mama at a distance.1:03:56
1 hour, 3 minutes, 56 seconds
And then Krishna who is God incarnate.1:04:01
1 hour, 4 minutes, 1 second
He's a young boy. He wades in the water and he finds Khalia coiled in the1:04:08
1 hour, 4 minutes, 8 seconds
darkness. And when that serpent rises up to crush him, Krishna does something no one expects. He begins to dance.1:04:18
1 hour, 4 minutes, 18 seconds
right there in the poison river on the heads of the serpent dancing until the river clears until the water1:04:26
1 hour, 4 minutes, 26 seconds
runs clean again. Now I find myself coming back to this story because we are1:04:34
1 hour, 4 minutes, 34 seconds
standing right next to a poison river right now.1:04:40
1 hour, 4 minutes, 40 seconds
And our faith is not asking us to stay on the bank and organize our grief at a distance.1:04:48
1 hour, 4 minutes, 48 seconds
Mama faith is asking us to wade in the water. Wade. All right. Now, all right. All right.1:04:56
1 hour, 4 minutes, 56 seconds
Now, all right. Now the Quran, yes sir, says it this way in Surah al-M. Yeah. Yeah.1:05:04
1 hour, 5 minutes, 4 seconds
Have you seen the one who denies the faith? Yes, sir.1:05:09
1 hour, 5 minutes, 9 seconds
It is the one who repulses the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the poor. My God.1:05:17
1 hour, 5 minutes, 17 seconds
The Quran asks us not what we believe. Uhhuh. But whether we can still see. Whoa. God.1:05:24
1 hour, 5 minutes, 24 seconds
Whoa. Because faith begins when we refuse to look away. And here we're not looking away.1:05:31
1 hour, 5 minutes, 31 seconds
No sir.1:05:32
1 hour, 5 minutes, 32 seconds
And that is why we are here standing here.1:05:36
1 hour, 5 minutes, 36 seconds
Because the question before us is the same question that the Khalia story asks and the same question the Quran asks.1:05:44
1 hour, 5 minutes, 44 seconds
Who do we still see as human? And what are we willing to do about it?1:05:50
1 hour, 5 minutes, 50 seconds
Ah. Now, two weeks ago, this White House published its counterterrorism strategy.1:05:58
1 hour, 5 minutes, 58 seconds
It says the government will target people whose ideology is, and I quote, radically pro-transgender.1:06:08
1 hour, 6 minutes, 8 seconds
That it will map them. It will identify their membership and use law enforcement to erase them.1:06:18
1 hour, 6 minutes, 18 seconds
Now, this is Pride Month.1:06:20
1 hour, 6 minutes, 20 seconds
a time we celebrate the courage, dignity, and divinity of our LGBTQ plus siblings and we affirm a simple truth.1:06:32
1 hour, 6 minutes, 32 seconds
They belong.1:06:35
1 hour, 6 minutes, 35 seconds
And yet this government chooses this moment to place a target on the backs of our trans siblings. Yes.1:06:43
1 hour, 6 minutes, 43 seconds
And then last week, the Department of Defense removed 180 religious affiliation codes, Dr. Barber.1:06:51
1 hour, 6 minutes, 51 seconds
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. From our military records.1:06:54
1 hour, 6 minutes, 54 seconds
My unitarian universalists. Yes, sir.1:06:57
1 hour, 6 minutes, 57 seconds
Humanists, atheists, practitioners of earth- centered religions now listed simply as other.1:07:08
1 hour, 7 minutes, 8 seconds
I want to say that word other. Other.1:07:12
1 hour, 7 minutes, 12 seconds
Now, history teaches us that before people are erased, they are labeled.1:07:17
1 hour, 7 minutes, 17 seconds
Before
they are denied protection, they are denied recognition. And before
they are pushed to the margins, they are told they do not belong.1:07:25
1 hour, 7 minutes, 25 seconds
And we say no. No. To all of it. Yes. Yes.1:07:33
1 hour, 7 minutes, 33 seconds
That's right.1:07:35
1 hour, 7 minutes, 35 seconds
Because when we forget this truth, people suffer.1:07:39
1 hour, 7 minutes, 39 seconds
Yes. That's right. And these are things we hold today. And our every tradition says it that every person counts.1:07:49
1 hour, 7 minutes, 49 seconds
Every person belongs. Amen. Amen.1:07:52
1 hour, 7 minutes, 52 seconds
Every person deserves to live with dignity and without fear. And that is the vision of the beloved community that1:08:00
1 hour, 8 minutes
is still struggling to be born. And to that we say amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.1:08:09
1 hour, 8 minutes, 9 seconds
Amen. Amen.1:08:11
1 hour, 8 minutes, 11 seconds
My brothers and sisters, when you dare to come in the public square, sh y'all need to listen up.1:08:18
1 hour, 8 minutes, 18 seconds
This
is not fellowship. We got to stay and pay attention. There's a
discipline to nonviolence. That's right. Because you will have
distractions.1:08:27
1 hour, 8 minutes, 27 seconds
You got to look out for each other. That's right.1:08:29
1 hour, 8 minutes, 29 seconds
You got to pay attention to what's going on around you.1:08:32
1 hour, 8 minutes, 32 seconds
There's nothing fun and games about this.1:08:34
1 hour, 8 minutes, 34 seconds
Last week, we were out here and the Secret Service started talking to our security. Yeah.1:08:39
1 hour, 8 minutes, 39 seconds
Don't think this is just some little gathering. People are paying attention and rightfully so.1:08:45
1 hour, 8 minutes, 45 seconds
Cuz we want attention to be paid because the truth must be heard.1:08:50
1 hour, 8 minutes, 50 seconds
But let us be be focused at all times. How many of you, by the way, as you're standing here will come1:08:57
1 hour, 8 minutes, 57 seconds
back
next week and organize at least 20 people? How? I I I need some folk
that don't just talk but will work. Everybody here will bring this. Say
20.1:09:07
1 hour, 9 minutes, 7 seconds
Say
go get your 20. Go get your 20. Go get your 20. Whoever they are, go
get your 20 and bring them right back for this pull pit in the public
square. How many of y'all are glad about this?1:09:18
1 hour, 9 minutes, 18 seconds
Now, we got a sister that has a convocation, a whole convocation going on in in Dallas, but she took for left1:09:25
1 hour, 9 minutes, 25 seconds
her convocation of churches to come here. She's a lawyer and a preacher. My dear friend, the Reverend1:09:32
1 hour, 9 minutes, 32 seconds
Dr. Deseline Kibbru. She is here and she's coming right now to preach from this pull pit.1:09:45
1 hour, 9 minutes, 45 seconds
Greetings. I'm Reverend Dr. Dleselyn Kibbru from the state of Missouri.1:09:51
1 hour, 9 minutes, 51 seconds
And
uh standing with me are my parents, Bishop Vernon Kibbru and Mary
Kibbru, and the national convocation of the Christian Church, Disciples
of Christ.1:10:02
1 hour, 10 minutes, 2 seconds
I pledge allegiance to the flag that is supposed to represent all the citizens1:10:09
1 hour, 10 minutes, 9 seconds
of these United States of America. I pledge allegiance especially to those whose home is on the streets, in a1:10:17
1 hour, 10 minutes, 17 seconds
hotel, under a bridge, in their car, unaffordable, about to be evicted. Just one or two paychecks away from having no1:10:26
1 hour, 10 minutes, 26 seconds
address. structured with boxes shaped like tents vulnerable to the elements at the park or a shelter trying to figure1:10:36
1 hour, 10 minutes, 36 seconds
it out. Maxed out, taxed out, capped out, rained out, snowed out, forced out,1:10:42
1 hour, 10 minutes, 42 seconds
voted out, tapped out, trapped out, and ripped out of safety and security by1:10:50
1 hour, 10 minutes, 50 seconds
this system's lack of integrity. Listen, I pledge allegiance to support affordable housing, living wages,1:10:59
1 hour, 10 minutes, 59 seconds
compassionate public policies, and courageous public servants. I pledge allegiance to the neighbors who speak1:11:06
1 hour, 11 minutes, 6 seconds
up, activists who show up, families who need to be helped up, and those in positions of power who will cover the1:11:15
1 hour, 11 minutes, 15 seconds
cost to build up communities, neighborhoods, city blocks, schools, corner stores, and even more. Yet, let1:11:23
1 hour, 11 minutes, 23 seconds
me be clear, be clear.1:11:25
1 hour, 11 minutes, 25 seconds
I do not pledge allegiance to inconsistencies with liberty and justice for all people. And I reject the idea1:11:33
1 hour, 11 minutes, 33 seconds
that the unhoused are all thieving, vagrants, or lazy people.1:11:38
1 hour, 11 minutes, 38 seconds
I do not pledge allegiance to politicians, corporations, economic influencers who are careless and could1:11:44
1 hour, 11 minutes, 44 seconds
care less about the welfare of others. I do not pledge allegiance to waiting and waiting and waiting for the right time1:11:54
1 hour, 11 minutes, 54 seconds
because the right time for all to be housed, for all to eat, for all to earn a living wage was yesterday.1:12:01
1 hour, 12 minutes, 1 second
Yesterday.1:12:02
1 hour, 12 minutes, 2 seconds
However, I do pledge allegiance to those who love like this. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.1:12:09
1 hour, 12 minutes, 9 seconds
I
was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed
me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took
care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.1:12:21
1 hour, 12 minutes, 21 seconds
I was unhoused and you gave me a place to lay my head. For I assure you that when you have done it for one of the1:12:29
1 hour, 12 minutes, 29 seconds
least of these brothers or sisters or siblings of mine, you have done it for me.1:12:34
1 hour, 12 minutes, 34 seconds
I pledge allegiance to the flag that is supposed to represent all the citizens of these1:12:41
1 hour, 12 minutes, 41 seconds
United States of America. even when we have way too much evidence that it doesn't.1:12:49
1 hour, 12 minutes, 49 seconds
My my So, so maybe I'll pledge my allegiance to the people1:12:58
1 hour, 12 minutes, 58 seconds
until the flag has the depth, the width, the breadth to cover, to feed, and house us all.1:13:08
1 hour, 13 minutes, 8 seconds
Amen. And a Go ahead. Yes.1:13:18
1 hour, 13 minutes, 18 seconds
That is this is prophetic imagination. This is reshifting the narrative.1:13:26
1 hour, 13 minutes, 26 seconds
Somebody say this is this is telling the truth.1:13:30
1 hour, 13 minutes, 30 seconds
This is This is getting our allegiances right. getting our allegiances right.1:13:35
1 hour, 13 minutes, 35 seconds
And before we bring on this last preacher today, we want everybody out there to Where is it Hannah? to either go to the QR code.1:13:45
1 hour, 13 minutes, 45 seconds
Is it on this on this sign? The QR code or to text the number 32846.1:13:51
1 hour, 13 minutes, 51 seconds
32846. Text moral m o r e l to 32846.1:13:57
1 hour, 13 minutes, 57 seconds
32846. So we can join up. So we can turn words into work.1:14:04
1 hour, 14 minutes, 4 seconds
We can turn prayers into legs. We can turn faith into action. Yeah.1:14:10
1 hour, 14 minutes, 10 seconds
But
because because the one thing we know that we come from a tradition the
prophets always believed in putting flesh on the word.1:14:22
1 hour, 14 minutes, 22 seconds
Say putting flesh putting flesh on the word. On the word.1:14:27
1 hour, 14 minutes, 27 seconds
We speak to the death of these times and we put flesh on the word. That's the difference1:14:35
1 hour, 14 minutes, 35 seconds
between prophetic preaching and just saying something. Well, saying something ends with saying something.1:14:42
1 hour, 14 minutes, 42 seconds
But prophetic preaching and teaching puts flesh on the word and has the audacity to believe that1:14:50
1 hour, 14 minutes, 50 seconds
what is declared can become reality when we join with God in the work.1:14:59
1 hour, 14 minutes, 59 seconds
Well, I w walk walked with this sister all the way over to the Vatican.1:15:03
1 hour, 15 minutes, 3 seconds
She's Bishop Tanya Raw. She's a dear sister and a powerful voice. We want to ask her to come and close us out today.1:15:11
1 hour, 15 minutes, 11 seconds
Bishop Ross. Bishop Ross. Amen.1:15:17
1 hour, 15 minutes, 17 seconds
Amen. Winner, brother. Oh, I'm a birthday.1:15:21
1 hour, 15 minutes, 21 seconds
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.1:15:25
1 hour, 15 minutes, 25 seconds
My name is Bishop Tanya RWS and I am founder of the Freedom Center for Social Justice.1:15:30
1 hour, 15 minutes, 30 seconds
Yes. and chancellor of the newly established Black Mountain School of Theology and Community both in1:15:37
1 hour, 15 minutes, 37 seconds
Charlotte, North Carolina, and also uh community leader and pastor of um Sicker Souls United Church of Christ. I'm the1:15:46
1 hour, 15 minutes, 46 seconds
daughter also of Josephine and Aristotle RS, a child of the 70s, and I celebrate my birthday today on June 8th. I count1:15:55
1 hour, 15 minutes, 55 seconds
it an honor to be with my brother, Bishop Barber. We've been arrested together. There's been a bunch of stuff1:16:02
1 hour, 16 minutes, 2 seconds
together
here. And so many other colleagues and friends I have fought for
justice and freedom with over these years. In preparation for this
message,1:16:11
1 hour, 16 minutes, 11 seconds
I had to own that first. I have to acknowledge I owe some debt. My god.1:16:18
1 hour, 16 minutes, 18 seconds
I
owe a debt first to those native siblings who lost their land because
it was stolen that this land right here might be established. Come on.1:16:29
1 hour, 16 minutes, 29 seconds
Oh, thanks to those many hidden histories that will only be saved by those of us1:16:36
1 hour, 16 minutes, 36 seconds
who will no longer stand by and watch truth get whitewashed.1:16:41
1 hour, 16 minutes, 41 seconds
My first debt is also owed to my ancestors who were stolen from the land of Nigeria in my case survived the middle passage,1:16:51
1 hour, 16 minutes, 51 seconds
slavery and Jim Crow so that their seed could pass to me. They lived long enough so that someone like me, this bred1:16:59
1 hour, 16 minutes, 59 seconds
creation of colonism, colonialism, created me, that I could walk to this microphone1:17:08
1 hour, 17 minutes, 8 seconds
without fear and equipped for the task that is at hand. I owe thanks to the natives, but also I owe thanks to1:17:15
1 hour, 17 minutes, 15 seconds
Benjamin Banaker. I owe thanks to this black man who was self-taught as a mathematician and an astrologer and he1:17:24
1 hour, 17 minutes, 24 seconds
was
given a charge by the president at that time to actually survey the
land so we could know where our nation's capital would be. But something
interesting1:17:32
1 hour, 17 minutes, 32 seconds
happened
after the survey. What happened after the survey was the guy that was
supposed to complete the project, build everything, left and stole all
the plans.1:17:41
1 hour, 17 minutes, 41 seconds
Benjamin Banaker, however, y'all with his photographic memory. Come on now, somebody. That's it. That's it.1:17:47
1 hour, 17 minutes, 47 seconds
Wound up replicating what was built and took it to another level.1:17:51
1 hour, 17 minutes, 51 seconds
So now what was built was something that could truly be called the people's house.1:17:57
1 hour, 17 minutes, 57 seconds
I owe a debt of gratitude also to Ruby Bridges who walked to school with men with guns having to flank her that she could go1:18:05
1 hour, 18 minutes, 5 seconds
and integrate school so that I could then go and walk without fear onto a predominantly white campus. Amen1:18:13
1 hour, 18 minutes, 13 seconds
somebody. many years ago without having to have gun nor shield. I thank Reverend Jiren Lee, y'all.1:18:22
1 hour, 18 minutes, 22 seconds
I
owe her a debt of gratitude. The first woman preacher ordained in the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, she proclaimed as a woman, y'all,1:18:30
1 hour, 18 minutes, 30 seconds
that
if she could not be allowed to preach, come on, talk about public
square. But that sister said, "What I'm going to do is I'mma preach to
these1:18:38
1 hour, 18 minutes, 38 seconds
rocks until y'all tell me it's okay for me to preach in your pullpit." And somebody said the pull pit is wherever we go.1:18:46
1 hour, 18 minutes, 46 seconds
And I thank God for that today.1:18:48
1 hour, 18 minutes, 48 seconds
I also am owed some things. However, America has some unpaid debts, too.1:18:55
1 hour, 18 minutes, 55 seconds
Debts that are owed not just to other nations, but to her own citizens and residents.1:19:02
1 hour, 19 minutes, 2 seconds
She
owes a special debt to the descendants of slaves who gave this nation
free and lowcost labor for hundreds of years. We bought her beauty.1:19:12
1 hour, 19 minutes, 12 seconds
We gave her style and our swag. Amen, somebody. The brilliance and the entertainment, the means to grow1:19:19
1 hour, 19 minutes, 19 seconds
globally in such a record amount of time. We gave America that. And she owes us every group at the very least equal1:19:28
1 hour, 19 minutes, 28 seconds
protection
under the law and access to resources and wealth that their labor
helped produce. When thinking of our themes today, it is1:19:36
1 hour, 19 minutes, 36 seconds
quite obvious that the prophet Jeremiah knew that the behavior of bad kings would be continuing even until today.1:19:45
1 hour, 19 minutes, 45 seconds
Ah, and might be replicated if we don't do our work right.1:19:49
1 hour, 19 minutes, 49 seconds
He could look at Jeremiah 22 and we think about those words that were written and this was 600 BC. You can1:19:57
1 hour, 19 minutes, 57 seconds
read those same words and say, "Was he talking about 2026?" That's it. Oh my. Was he was he warning1:20:04
1 hour, 20 minutes, 4 seconds
us ahead of time before the trouble came? Was he trying to encourage us to look a little broader and dig a little1:20:11
1 hour, 20 minutes, 11 seconds
deeper? Woe to him, he says, who builds his ballroom. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. His palace. That's it. That's it.1:20:18
1 hour, 20 minutes, 18 seconds
By unrighteousness.1:20:20
1 hour, 20 minutes, 20 seconds
His upper rooms by injustice. Making his own people work for what? For nothing.1:20:26
1 hour, 20 minutes, 26 seconds
For nothing. God warned through Jeremiah about kings who were only interested in their own dishonest gain,1:20:34
1 hour, 20 minutes, 34 seconds
like crypto deals or watches that are made in funky kind of ways or construction deals around the world and1:20:42
1 hour, 20 minutes, 42 seconds
pay for pay tactics that turn the people's house into little more than a common brothel. Oh my god.1:20:49
1 hour, 20 minutes, 49 seconds
There are those who are pimping our our resources, information and bodies for war, oppression and harm to the most1:20:58
1 hour, 20 minutes, 58 seconds
vulnerable among us. I close these comments in saying this. This is our moment.1:21:03
1 hour, 21 minutes, 3 seconds
If you're still alive, you are alive for such a time as this for a reason.1:21:08
1 hour, 21 minutes, 8 seconds
And it is time for us to take that which we have been gifted with by others who paid the price for us. It is now our1:21:16
1 hour, 21 minutes, 16 seconds
season. Get up. Go out, vote, and never shut up.1:21:21
1 hour, 21 minutes, 21 seconds
Because when we fight, we win. When we fight, we win. When we fight, we win. Amen, somebody. Amen.1:21:29
1 hour, 21 minutes, 29 seconds
Amen.1:21:31
1 hour, 21 minutes, 31 seconds
The bishop just said something. Those who are pimping our resources,1:21:38
1 hour, 21 minutes, 38 seconds
which means they have no right to be doing it.1:21:44
1 hour, 21 minutes, 44 seconds
And if we let them do it, then we become an accessory to pimping.1:21:52
1 hour, 21 minutes, 52 seconds
Come on now. Come on. Okay. A brothel.1:21:55
1 hour, 21 minutes, 55 seconds
And somebody must refuse when you decide you going to make the nation a brothel rather than a democracy.1:22:03
1 hour, 22 minutes, 3 seconds
Oh God, there's been some word here today.1:22:06
1 hour, 22 minutes, 6 seconds
If you don't want to work now, I don't know what's wrong. My God today.1:22:11
1 hour, 22 minutes, 11 seconds
This two early voting started today in DC. Yeah. And the primary is next Tuesday. Yeah.1:22:19
1 hour, 22 minutes, 19 seconds
My brothers and sisters, voting is not all we have to do, but it is something we have to do. That's right. That's right.1:22:24
1 hour, 22 minutes, 24 seconds
We can never have a democracy where strong men or strong women authoritarians come into office and 90 million people stay home.1:22:36
1 hour, 22 minutes, 36 seconds
Every time I say that, somebody cusses when I say, and my wife said it first.1:22:40
1 hour, 22 minutes, 40 seconds
She said, "The Congress we have is the Congress we have because of only 7,000 votes.1:22:48
1 hour, 22 minutes, 48 seconds
In a country where 90 million people stayed home, it's all right to say, "What the hell?" Hallelujah.1:22:59
1 hour, 22 minutes, 59 seconds
And so our preaching here is not just as I said about the building and what the1:23:06
1 hour, 23 minutes, 6 seconds
people are doing to us, but what political apathy allowed to happen.1:23:18
1 hour, 23 minutes, 18 seconds
But we got one more chance. Amen.1:23:21
1 hour, 23 minutes, 21 seconds
As the Theo Music College has come to close us in song, all right, I want to say one last word, Dr.1:23:29
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Jackson, to us who are gathered here in the scriptures. I think it's Psalm 78.1:23:38
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There's a word, Bishop Ross. There's a word uh to the preachers who came today.1:23:45
1 hour, 23 minutes, 45 seconds
It says that the tribe of Ephraim1:23:53
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and the tribe of Ephraim is the tribe that brought us Joshua. That's right. That's right. The liberator.1:24:00
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And
in a real sense, we are like the tribe of Ephraim because we are the
children of the liberators. We are the sons and daughters of Mother
Jones1:24:08
1 hour, 24 minutes, 8 seconds
and Martin and Ketta and Fanny Lou and Dorothy Day and Francis Aissi and and so many1:24:17
1 hour, 24 minutes, 17 seconds
others. Call their names. Your your people that you know in history. Call their names.1:24:21
1 hour, 24 minutes, 21 seconds
Call
Call the name of the liberator. The liberators. The liberator. Come on.
Call their name. Huh? Jerina Lee. Jesus. Call their name.1:24:28
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Liberators. People that you know.1:24:31
1 hour, 24 minutes, 31 seconds
The Ephraim Bay Rustin. But here's what it says. It says that the ch the children of Ephraim1:24:40
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in the day of battle had everything they needed to win but chose not to fight. That's right.1:24:51
1 hour, 24 minutes, 51 seconds
It is the worst uh epitath that could ever be put on somebody's grave.1:25:00
1 hour, 25 minutes
My God. that God gives us everything we need to fight. Yeah.1:25:08
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And we choose not to. Wow.1:25:12
1 hour, 25 minutes, 12 seconds
Let me say to everybody that's listening online, thousands of people all across post.1:25:20
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This is the moment. Yeah. That we change that story. Yes.1:25:28
1 hour, 25 minutes, 28 seconds
That one day it must be written that in the day of battle we chose to fight.1:25:35
1 hour, 25 minutes, 35 seconds
All right. All right.1:25:37
1 hour, 25 minutes, 37 seconds
When God gave us all the love we needed, all the truth we needed, all the political power we needed, all1:25:46
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the grace we needed, all the mercy we needed, and we used it.1:25:51
1 hour, 25 minutes, 51 seconds
Yes. in the day of battle and chose to fight.1:25:57
1 hour, 25 minutes, 57 seconds
That scripture goes on to say the reason they chose to fight is because they forgot how God had delivered the people time1:26:05
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and time again. We close today. Look at your neighbor and say, "Don't forget.1:26:10
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Don't forget that every time evil has stood up, God has always re raised up people to take1:26:18
1 hour, 26 minutes, 18 seconds
it on." Don't forget. Don't forget that people face things worse than we face now and they won against that. Don't forget.1:26:26
1 hour, 26 minutes, 26 seconds
Don't forget.1:26:26
1 hour, 26 minutes, 26 seconds
Don't
forget the battles that women had to fight. The battles that indigenous
people have had to fight. The battles that workers have had to fight.
The1:26:34
1 hour, 26 minutes, 34 seconds
battles
that black people have had to fight. The battle that that that poor
white men have had to fight. The battles that Latinos have had to fight.
The1:26:43
1 hour, 26 minutes, 43 seconds
truth of the matter is we've always had to fight. And there's no need for us to stop now.1:26:50
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Especially now that we've got each other, do you realize that 50, 60 years ago, this very crowd would be illegal?1:27:00
1 hour, 27 minutes
Well, yeah. This kind of diversity would be illegal.1:27:04
1 hour, 27 minutes, 4 seconds
But in this moment, we've got everything we need if we will just1:27:13
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fight for what is right. Yes.1:27:16
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And we don't have to fight with violence. We don't have to fight with hate.1:27:21
1 hour, 27 minutes, 21 seconds
We don't have to become like that that's fighting us.1:27:25
1 hour, 27 minutes, 25 seconds
We can stand in truth and love and nonviolence and win. Amen.1:27:30
1 hour, 27 minutes, 30 seconds
Not just go back to what was, but win a new future for this nation.1:27:38
1 hour, 27 minutes, 38 seconds
Is there anybody here that's ready to do what the HIMYM writer says? I'm on1:27:45
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the battlefield for my Lord and I promised God that I would fight and I would do it till I die. I'm on the1:27:54
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battlefield.
Is anybody ready to be on the battlefield for truth and the battlefield
for voting rights and the battlefield for peace1:28:02
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and the battlefield for justice and the battlefield for mercy and the battlefield for love and the battlefield1:28:09
1 hour, 28 minutes, 9 seconds
for caring for all people. Then let it be heard by saying forward together. Forward together.1:28:16
1 hour, 28 minutes, 16 seconds
Not one step back. Not one step back. Forward together. Forward together. Not one step back. Not one step back.1:28:23
1 hour, 28 minutes, 23 seconds
Forward together. Forward together.1:28:28
1 hour, 28 minutes, 28 seconds
Not Not one one step step back. Come on singers. Are they still here?1:28:36
1 hour, 28 minutes, 36 seconds
Amen. Amen.1:28:38
1 hour, 28 minutes, 38 seconds
Where are they? Where are they? I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:28:46
1 hour, 28 minutes, 46 seconds
I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:28:54
1 hour, 28 minutes, 54 seconds
And I promise him that I would serve him till I die.1:29:03
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I'm on battlefield for my Lord.1:29:09
1 hour, 29 minutes, 9 seconds
Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:29:18
1 hour, 29 minutes, 18 seconds
I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:29:25
1 hour, 29 minutes, 25 seconds
And I promise him that I will fight on.1:29:30
1 hour, 29 minutes, 30 seconds
We'll fight on till I die. Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:29:40
1 hour, 29 minutes, 40 seconds
Lift your voices. Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:29:48
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Yes, I am on the battlefield for my Lord.1:29:58
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And I promised him that I would fight until I die.1:30:06
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Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:30:14
1 hour, 30 minutes, 14 seconds
Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:30:21
1 hour, 30 minutes, 21 seconds
Oh yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord1:30:30
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and I promise him that I would fight till I die.1:30:39
1 hour, 30 minutes, 39 seconds
Yes, I'm on the battlefield for my Lord.1:30:51
1 hour, 30 minutes, 51 seconds
Everybody be still for a second as we hear the sounding of the chauffar that is only sounded when there's a breach in1:30:59
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the wall and there is a need for the people to come together and stand together and fight for what's right.1:31:27
1 hour, 31 minutes, 27 seconds
Yes. Yes.1:31:39
1 hour, 31 minutes, 39 seconds
See you next Monday. See you next Monday at1:31:51
1 hour, 31 minutes, 51 seconds
5:00 right here. Amen. I'll take my time.
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