A Moral Monday Letter to Ferguson

In Ferguson, MO, faith leaders led a Moral Monday civil disobedience action today. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, chief architect of the Moral Movement in North Carolina, sent the following letter of support, encouragement, and lessons from the struggle.

My brothers and sisters,

I bring you greetings and offer solidarity from the Forward Together Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina. I so wanted to be there with you as you take this bold step toward addressing injustice, racial profiling, and systemic inequality. We are in Ohio, helping to train the organizers of this state’s Moral Movement, gearing up for the Long March to Justice here.

I know that you know this, but you are right to protest and to build a movement and not a moment. You must ensure that, as Jeremiah said, the cry of Rachel mourning over her children is heard throughout America. You must, like Jesus in the gospel of Luke, refuse to accept the untimely deaths and killing of our children. Just as Jesus shook the casket, you must shake the conscience of this nation.

We must declare that if death by police and mass incarceration and economic exploitation are the continuing forms of crucifixion, the crucifixion demands a witness against it. Someone must expose it for what it is and lift up a vision of a better way. We must bear witness to the resurrection.

You have said that your actions today are modeled after the Moral Monday events in North Carolina. Let me lift up just a few key elements that we have learned.