In a powerful call to action, former North Carolina NAACP President Rev. Dr. William Barber II put pressure on the spirit of unity among all people during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.
While appearing on Roland Martin’s Unfiltered, Rev. Barber touched on the March on Selma, Alabama, in 1965. That year, a diverse group of people and advocates, led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Sen. John Lewis, marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to protest for the rights of African Americans to vote.
Lives were lost at the hands of the racist police and Selma residents; the group’s persistent unity resulted in then-President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, banning poll taxes and literacy tests, and mandating a federal overview of voter registration. “If Black and white folk and women and gay and straight and Christian and Jews and Muslim and unitarian could do it 60 years ago in Selma, if they could stand tall and advance and never sound retreat, then surely we can stand tall now and intensify and increase and embolden our agitation,” Barber said.
“We must do it in our organizing. We’ve got to increase and increase and embolden our agitation. We’ve got to stand tall because bowing down is not an option.”
To heighten his viewpoint, Barber laid out a plan for what fed-up individuals could do to fight back
, including “mass call-ins,” “mass non-violent sit-ins,” “mass pray-ins,” and “labor strikes on election days so labor workers can get people to the polls,” but he says, “whatever it takes.” “It may take massive lawsuits and class action lawsuits of the people, but we gotta stand tall. If we stand tall, their plans won’t work,” he continued.“As long as we stick together and stand tall, stand tall in every precinct, stand tall in every voting district, stand tall in every city, stand tall in every state, stand tall because what has been created and done can be undone if we stand in the truth, stand in love, stand in justice, the God of the universe will be with us and change will come.”
Since Trump won the White House again in November 2024, Barber has been candid about the next steps people can take to combat the changes ahead. According to CNN, he wants the American people feeling despair to “grab on to our foreparents,” similar to his unity call on Martin’s show. “They didn’t
have the luxury to go anywhere. It is not a moment to walk away. It is not a moment to say this is all of America. All of America’s voice wasn’t even heard (in this election),” the pastor said.“We can’t blame it all on Trump. If less people voted, we got to own that. A democracy demands engagement. It’s built on ‘we the people.’”
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