This week, thousands showed up at the U.S. Capitol and online in a unified stand against immoral budget cuts as a part of the “Moral Mondays” gathering in D.C.
Moral Mondays, born in North Carolina and founded in 2013 by Bishop William J. Barber, II, is a protest movement that centers impacted people, people of faith, and moral leaders who hold elected leaders and government accountable to enacting a moral agenda that responds to the urgent needs of the poor.
On Monday, nine clergy and moral leaders were arrested for praying in the Capitol rotunda. When they were released, we asked each person about their moral witness. You can watch their responses in the video below.
During the Moral Monday protest rally, impacted people shared about why critical funding is life and death for their communities and families.
Sloan Meek, a disabilities rights activist, shared about how cuts to Medicaid would impact people with disabilities.
“The way I move around in the world, the way I communicate, the people who help me do all the things I want for my life, it is all supported by Medicaid,” he said. “Proposing to cut Medicaid is a death threat to me and my friends with disabilities. Without Medicaid supporting my home and my community, I will be forced into a nursing home to spend the rest of my life in a hospital bed until I die.”
Courtney Hester Grena told us how Medicaid cuts in the spending bill that passed the House would impact her 5-year-old daughter and thousands of children like her across the country.
“If we don’t stand up for Medicaid now, hundreds of thousands of children like her will die with much more common conditions than hers,” she said. “Much more common. Treatable. Preventable.”
Syvah Carroll, a disabilities rights activist, shared about how budget could impact her and other people with disabilities.
“What would we do if these resources get taken away from us? How would we live, be safe, healthy and well if we don’t have the resources we have to live?” she said. “It is not easy waking up with our bodies in pain. We don’t know what our day is going to look like every day with aches. But when we have a procedure that needs to be done, how will that be paid for? How will Sloan and I get the support that we need if this is taken away?”
If you missed the Moral Monday gathering, you can watch the full video below. ICYMI, be sure to check out coverage in the Guardian, Common Dreams, MSNBC, WRAL, DemocracyNOW, and the Grio.
Please also join us for our next Moral Monday protest-rally in Washington D.C. Learn more by clicking here.