Moral Monday leader inspires protests, arrests and action

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http://www.wral.com/moral-monday-leader-inspires-protests-arrests-and-action/14796161/



By MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — The Rev. William Barber walks gingerly with a cane, in a hunched-over posture, yet here he is on a recent Monday, leading 3,500 protesters on a downtown street.

He says God must have a sense of humor to call on a man who has such difficulty walking to lead the Moral Monday protests that began in North Carolina two years ago.

Barber's speeches and his throwback tactics — in vogue again following several deaths of black men at the hands of police — draw comparisons to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. More than 1,000 demonstrators have been arrested for civil disobedience in North Carolina since Barber, president of the state NAACP, started the legislative protests.

The demonstrations have spread to at least half a dozen other states and given him minor celebrity status. Supporters wear "I went to jail with Rev. Barber" buttons. Barber, 51, has been jailed five times himself.

"What I know is what we are in is a time when we can't afford to be silent," Barber said, perched against a tall stool in his office at his church in Goldsboro. "We are battling for the soul and consciousness of this country."


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