Bishop Barber Delivers National Sermon

Contact:

Marissa Sanchez: Marissa.Sanchez@berlinrosen.com

Yolanda Barksdale: YBarksdale@breachrepairers.org

Sermon at Cascade United Methodist Church part of nationwide push to reach 5 million people ahead of Election Day 

ATLANTA - As part of a nationwide push to mobilize poor and low-wage people to the polls, Bishop William J. Barber II, President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, delivered a National Sermon today from Atlanta’s historic Cascade United Methodist Church.

Titled “Voting: We Know What to Do and Why We Must Do It,” the sermon was a culmination of weeks of voter mobilization rallies across the country to underscore the power of poor and low wage voters in states like Georgia where elections often come down to just a few percentage points.

 In his sermon, Bishop Barber urged that poor and low-wage people have the power to change the direction of the nation, and that we must elect policymakers who promote economic justice. 

“If poor and low-income people don’t vote and determine who is in office and policymakers don’t change course from one-shot policy activism, we will face even greater economic peril,” said Bishop Barber. “What we need is long-term economic policy that establishes justice, promotes the general welfare, rejects decades of austerity, and builds strong social programs that lift society from the bottom.”

 According to a study by the Poor People’s Campaign released last year, over 20 million poor and low-wage people left their votes on the table in the 2020 election - signifying potentially transformational numbers across the nation.

 Bishop Barber also discussed the ongoing effort by extremist politicians to polarize poor and low-wage voters and sow division across race and and region. Bishop Barber urged voters to instead elect officials who will enact just policies and turn the demands of the people into realities, including a living wage, healthcare for all, protecting women’s rights and more.

 “We are not trying to stay at the pool of misery, we are not trying to be at a stand still. We’re not trying to get back to normal; we’re pressing on toward the finish line of the kind of society God would want,” said Bishop Barber. “People without healthcare aren’t voting for a return to normal. Coal miners in West Virginia aren’t trying to get back to normal. Poor farmers aren’t voting for normal…essential workers who didn’t have living wages, sick leave, decent unemployment aren’t voting for normal. It’s not normal that we want - it’s justice, mercy, love, and truth.” 

 The sermon was held in Atlanta where the stakes could not be higher ahead of the midterms: housing, living wages, healthcare costs, voting rights and more are on the ballot. 49 percent of people in Georgia are poor or low-wage—a total of 4.9 million residents. This includes 60 percent of children (1.5 million), 50 percent of women (2.6 million), 62 percent of people of color (2.9 million) and 37 percent of White people (2 million). 1,265,600 Georgians are uninsured, the fourth highest in the country. The only way to fix this is to vote.

“Until sick folk are healed, let’s vote,” said Bishop Barber. “Until low wage workers are organized and paid, let’s vote. Until affordable housing is real, let’s vote. Until voting rights are expanded and protected, let’s vote. Until saving the world is more important than blowing up the world, let’s vote.”

Full video of the sermon can be viewed here.

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