Bishop William Barber | Love Forward Together Mass People’s Assembly | Repairers Of The Breach

The march directly challenged gerrymandering in North Carolina's first congressional district, which aimed to dilute Black and Democratic votes. The strategy involves mobilizing infrequent voters (Black, Brown, poor) whose collective turnout can 'foil those plans' and disrupt political calculations.

The legislature redrew the map to try to make it easier for Republicans to pick up a seat and for Donald Trump control over a Republican House. If more black, brown, and poor voters who've stayed home in previous elections show up, it can foil those plans of the Republican legislature as well as President Donald Trump.

Reverend Barber stressed the importance of articulating a clear, positive vision for the future, rather than merely resisting the Trump administration. This vision includes multi-racial democracy, advocacy for the poor, and fighting for healthcare, living wages, and public education.

This is not a rally that is about despair. This is not a rally that is about resistance, but rather this is a celebration and is a fight for vision moving forward. He wants to hear a clear vision, not just the resistance they want to have to the Trump administration, but he also wants to hear what we are standing for, what we are fighting for.

The movement frames 'love forward together' as a powerful, persistent force against political oppression. Bishop Barber draws parallels to St. Valentine defying Emperor Claudius and Frederick Douglass's enduring love, suggesting that love is stronger than authoritarian power and fuels sustained agitation for justice.

A priest in Rome named Valentine, a bishop of the church, who believed that love was more powerful than an empire's army. When things got bad, Frederick Douglas said this to the nation: 'Even though these things are happening, the time is now for us to intensify and embolden our agitation.'

Bishop W. Darren Moore emphasized that 'showing up is 50% of the battle' and makes a tangible difference. He challenged listeners to consider their presence in current civil rights moments as a reflection of where they would have stood historically, countering apathy by demonstrating collective power.

Showing up is 50% of the battle. All of us may not be articulate. All of us aren't able to contribute huge numbers of dollars. All of us may not be able to have a legal understanding, but when we show up, we make a difference. The best way of knowing where you would have been then is where are you now?

Reverend Barber highlighted North Carolina's history of progressive victories (same-day registration, defeating voter suppression bills, electing progressive governors) despite gerrymandering. He argued that mobilizing poor and low-wage people in battleground southern states can lead to national transformation, not just incremental change.

In 2007, 2008, we the only state in the south that expanded same day registration, early voting. If you want to see transformation, you know, we we talked to one politician and he said to us at a big rally one day in a church. The consultants tell politicians, 'Don't even talk about poverty.'

Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist, described a 'tremendous crisis of character' among elite classes and politicians who capitulate to 'fascism' for selfish reasons. He contrasted this with the rising 'American coalition' of ordinary people across political and racial lines, demanding real reform.

We have a tremendous crisis of character in this country in the elite classes, the Epstein class. And the cowardice is extraordinary but not ahistoric. What you're seeing is for selfish reasons, personal ambition, uh people genulecting, getting on their knees to what they know is wrong for convenience.