Latest news with #WilliamBarber
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
‘This isn't just about Trump': the Rev William Barber arrested after prayer-protest against Republican-led budget
A police officer's sense of timing seemed to illuminate the Rev William Barber's moral mission with startling clarity. During a prayer vigil on Monday in the Capitol rotunda, close to the very heart of US democracy, Barber was lamenting that Congress starts each day with its own prayers to the almighty even while preying on the poor. Capitol police captain, John Hersch, serendipitously choose that very moment to intervene. 'Your activity right now is taking the form of a demonstration,' Hersch told Barber and an accompanying gathering of clergy. 'It is unlawful to demonstrate in the Capitol Rotunda. If you do not cease your demonstration at this time, there is a possibility you will be placed under arrest.' Moments later, after two further warnings, Barber and seven accomplices – standing in front of the portrait of three 19th century women's suffrage campaigners – were arrested as police sealed off the rotunda. The arrests marked the climax of the latest Moral Monday protest organised by Repairers of the Breach, a group founded by Barber that's trying to derail Donald Trump's planned tax and spending bill on the grounds that it will slash vital health and social services to lower income Americans. It was the third Moral Monday Barber had led at the Capitol since April – and the third time he and his cohorts had been arrested. Barber, a social activist and founding director of Yale Divinity School's centre for public theology, had earlier led a rally outside the US supreme court attended by an estimated 2,000 protesters. As a band belted out gospel songs, demonstrators held signs with slogans such as 'Slashing the safety net is moral murder' and 'Don't cut Snap for 40 million poor people.' Wearing a white robe emblazoned with the words 'Jesus was a poor man,' Barber – the son of civil rights workers who campaigned for racial desegregation – enjoined demonstrators to crusade against legislation that the US president has termed his 'big, beautiful bill' and deemed essential to extending his massive 2017 tax cuts, which are due to expire this year. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill last month by a single vote, 215 to 214. It now goes forward to the Senate against a chorus of criticism about over its potential impact on the most vulnerable. Passage would result in 13.7 million people losing access to Medicaid and health insurance, Barber said. 'This bill represents the worst kind of evil, which is the love of money … the root of all evil,' he said 'This isn't just about Trump. Two hundred and fifteen Republicans in the House voted for this bill – and now every senator is going to decide whether they're going to vote for the 'we're all going to just die' approach to politics.' Barber was referring to remarks by Joni Ernst, a Republican senator for Iowa, who faced criticism for telling a town hall last week that 'we're all going to die' after a constituent warned that health cuts could result in some people dying. Ernst doubled down by issuing a mock 'apology' filmed in a cemetery, saying: 'For those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.' Barber compared Ernst's rhetoric with justifications used by slaveowners. 'That's the same language that slave masters used to tell slaves,' he said in an interview. 'They would say: 'Don't fight for freedom, but believe in Jesus so that in the eternal life.' 'It's so cynical. What she said was one of the most contradictory misinterpretations of faith I've ever heard. It's theological malpractice. 'As Dr [Martin Luther] King once said, we're not talking about over yonder. We're talking about over here and people need healthcare over here. People need food over here. For her to bring up religion and bring up Jesus – if Jesus did anything, he provided everybody he met free healthcare. He never charged a leper, or a sick person, or a blind person, for their healing.' The Moral Monday protests have been adapted from similar demonstrations Barber started in North Carolina in 2013, following the election of rightwing Republican Pat McCrory as governor. The protests lasted two years, recalled Barber, resulting in thousands of arrests for civil disobedience but also spurring thousands more to register to vote. As protests against Trump ramp up, Barber is vowing to make Moral Mondays a regular feature of the landscape of dissent. 'Moral Monday is not a one-time event,' he said. 'If this budget passes the way it is, it will have a negative impact on this country for 10 years. It could possibly not be fully reversed for up to 50 to 60 years. This is serious business.' The protests are likely to expand to encompass a broader pro-democracy agenda. 'Our role is not just the budget passing or not passing, but mobilizing poor and low wage folk. We stand against any attacks on voting rights, on public education, [or] on healthcare,' said Barber. 'Poor and low wage people now represent 30% of the electorate in this country, and in battleground states, over 40%,' he said, making them the largest potential expansion for voting power in the country. In an acknowledgement of Moral Monday's growing significance, this week's rally was addressed by Ezra Levin, co-executive director of the progressive Indivisible movement, which spearheaded nationwide Hands Off protests in April that drew millions of participants. Levin praised protesters for having the courage to overcome fear. 'People see us organized, and they say, wow, you are fearless,' he said. 'Oh no. If you are fearless in this moment, you're not paying attention. The authoritarians over there, they're taking over our democracy.' But congressional Republicans, too, felt fear, he said. 'They are projecting strength right now. They're acting as if this is inevitable. They're acting as if they have the power, you know, passing a bill through the House in the middle of night. [But] that's not strength, pushing it through before the public can comment on it 'The truth is, they're terrified. They are terrified their voters are going to see what they're doing. They're terrified they're going to lose their majority. And you know what? They should be terrified.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Video shows pastors arrested in Capitol Rotunda prayer-against-Trump encore
Several religious activists were arrested in the Capitol Rotunda Monday for demonstrating against planned GOP cuts to Medicaid for the second time in as many months. The Rev. William Barber led a group of clergy in several minutes of prayer in front of a statue of suffragettes inside the Rotunda building just after noon before the group was advised by a senior officer with the US Capitol Police that they were in violation of the building's prohibition against demonstrations. Barber and several others can be seen continuing to pray as they are led away in zip-ties, in video taken by The Independent at the protest. As Barber and his group received their first warning, a large group of at least two dozen Capitol Police officers formed a line separating the group from the visiting tour groups proceeding around the room. Other officers quickly began directing those tours out of the room. Within minutes, the group received their second warning, and officers in the police line began ordering reporters in the room to exit as well, or risk arrest. 'We're going to pray. if they arrest us, that's on them,' Barber had told The Independent ahead of his arrest. His words touched repeatedly on the Republican budget reconciliation bill passed by the House of Representatives last month, which is now in the Senate where upper-chamber lawmakers will begin debating changes to Donald Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill' — including splitting it up into multiple packages. At the core of the legislation is an effort to fund an extension of the 2017 tax cuts passed during Trump's first administration, and Republican lawmakers are doing so by adding work requirements that experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, estimate will endanger the eligibility of millions of Americans. This was the second time Barber and his organization, Repairers of the Breach, were involved in a prayer demonstration against the GOP budget bill, and it was evident in the mannerisms of Capitol Police officers who participated in the arrests. Barber's first arrest occurred in late April. One source familiar with the operations of the building told The Independent that Capitol Police were expecting the group's demonstration on Monday. Barber and his group walked from the Supreme Court, where a rally was held ahead of the demonstration. Several officers were holding zip-tie handcuffs before the arrests began, and in pairs the group were led out of the room with their wrists bound, with reporters now watching from afar. The reverend, who was walking gingerly with the aid of two canes, was the last — along with a woman in a wheelchair — to be restrained and led from the room. The Independent witnessed Barber being led into a side corridor, away from view. A total of eight people were arrested, per a representative for Repairers of the Breach. In an interview Monday morning, Barber said that the GOP budget bill's planned changes to Medicaid and food stamps, including work requirements and changes to SNAP for families with children, constituted a moral issue that should transcend typical Washington party divisions. 'Interestingly enough, we were arrested for just praying,' Barber said of his demonstration in May. 'They are passing a bill that's preying — p-r-e-y-ing — on the poorest of us, and we were arrested for praying. 'Clergy have said this is a moral issue. It's not a Republican or Democrat. It's a moral issue,' he continued. He had stinging words for House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans who have claimed that analyses of the budget bill indicating that millions are at risk of losing Medicaid eligibility should it pass are false. Barber said that the disproportionate benefits of the 2017 GOP tax cuts for wealthier Americans amounted to the 2025 reconciliation bill being the largest robbery of wealth from lower-income Americans in history, with the exception of slavery. 'These folk get up every morning and decide the way to use power is to hurt people,' he said. 'There's no reason for them to even be touching Medicaid. That's the whole point. The only reason they're doing this is because they're trying to get the money for the tax is for those tax cuts to the wealthy and the greedy.' The reverend is a longtime activist for low-income Americans and raising the federal minimum wage through his organization and a larger group he is part of, the Poor People's Campaign. His Moral Monday rallies, held in DC, his home state of North Carolina and elsewhere, have rallied left-leaning faith leaders on issues that affect low-income communities across the country for more than a decade. Barber also rallied voters to support former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. More recently, the 61-year-old was accused of directly moving funds from Repairers of the Breach into a personal shared bank account, which he then used for an alimony payment. His attorney told a local newspaper, the Raleigh News and Observer, that her claims 'are not true.'
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Video shows pastors arrested in Capitol Rotunda prayer-against-Trump encore
Several religious activists were arrested in the Capitol Rotunda Monday for demonstrating against planned GOP cuts to Medicaid for the second time in as many months. The Rev. William Barber led a group of clergy in several minutes of prayer in front of a statue of suffragettes inside the Rotunda building just after noon before the group was advised by a senior officer with the US Capitol Police that they were in violation of the building's prohibition against demonstrations. Barber and several others can be seen continuing to pray as they are led away in zip-ties, in video taken by The Independent at the protest. As Barber and his group received their first warning, a large group of at least two dozen Capitol Police officers formed a line separating the group from the visiting tour groups proceeding around the room. Other officers quickly began directing those tours out of the room. Within minutes, the group received their second warning, and officers in the police line began ordering reporters in the room to exit as well, or risk arrest. 'We're going to pray. if they arrest us, that's on them,' Barber had told The Independent ahead of his arrest. His words touched repeatedly on the Republican budget reconciliation bill passed by the House of Representatives last month, which is now in the Senate where upper-chamber lawmakers will begin debating changes to Donald Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill' — including splitting it up into multiple packages. At the core of the legislation is an effort to fund an extension of the 2017 tax cuts passed during Trump's first administration, and Republican lawmakers are doing so by adding work requirements that experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, estimate will endanger the eligibility of millions of Americans. This was the second time Barber and his organization, Repairers of the Breach, were involved in a prayer demonstration against the GOP budget bill, and it was evident in the mannerisms of Capitol Police officers who participated in the arrests. Barber's first arrest occurred in late April. One source familiar with the operations of the building told The Independent that Capitol Police were expecting the group's demonstration on Monday. Barber and his group walked from the Supreme Court, where a rally was held ahead of the demonstration. Several officers were holding zip-tie handcuffs before the arrests began, and in pairs the group were led out of the room with their wrists bound, with reporters now watching from afar. The reverend, who was walking gingerly with the aid of two canes, was the last — along with a woman in a wheelchair — to be restrained and led from the room. The Independent witnessed Barber being led into a side corridor, away from view. A total of eight people were arrested, per a representative for Repairers of the Breach. In an interview Monday morning, Barber said that the GOP budget bill's planned changes to Medicaid and food stamps, including work requirements and changes to SNAP for families with children, constituted a moral issue that should transcend typical Washington party divisions. 'Interestingly enough, we were arrested for just praying,' Barber said of his demonstration in May. 'They are passing a bill that's preying — p-r-e-y-ing — on the poorest of us, and we were arrested for praying. 'Clergy have said this is a moral issue. It's not a Republican or Democrat. It's a moral issue,' he continued. He had stinging words for House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans who have claimed that analyses of the budget bill indicating that millions are at risk of losing Medicaid eligibility should it pass are false. Barber said that the disproportionate benefits of the 2017 GOP tax cuts for wealthier Americans amounted to the 2025 reconciliation bill being the largest robbery of wealth from lower-income Americans in history, with the exception of slavery. 'These folk get up every morning and decide the way to use power is to hurt people,' he said. 'There's no reason for them to even be touching Medicaid. That's the whole point. The only reason they're doing this is because they're trying to get the money for the tax is for those tax cuts to the wealthy and the greedy.' The reverend is a longtime activist for low-income Americans and raising the federal minimum wage through his organization and a larger group he is part of, the Poor People's Campaign. His Moral Monday rallies, held in DC, his home state of North Carolina and elsewhere, have rallied left-leaning faith leaders on issues that affect low-income communities across the country for more than a decade. Barber also rallied voters to support former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. More recently, the 61-year-old was accused of directly moving funds from Repairers of the Breach into a personal shared bank account, which he then used for an alimony payment. His attorney told a local newspaper, the Raleigh News and Observer, that her claims 'are not true.'
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Quote of the Day: For Catholics, He Is a Holy Father. For the World, He Is a Robust Voice.
'We're in a moment when the moral forces of the world and religious forces of the world have a deep responsibility to say it doesn't have to be this way.' REV. DR. WILLIAM J. BARBER II, of the Yale Divinity School, on how the papacy remains a global platform, even for non-Christians, so the issues Pope Leo XIV chooses to focus on can resonate far beyond the church.
Newsweek
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Capitol Police Arrest Pastor During Prayer Protest
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Rev. William Barber was arrested Monday in the Capitol Rotunda while leading a prayer protest against Republican budget cuts. He and two others were charged with "crowding, obstructing, and incommoding" by the Capitol Police. Newsweek has contacted Barber's group, Repairers of the Breach, via email, for comment. Why It Matters Barber is a North Carolina progressive activist known for his Moral Monday movement—weekly sessions of civil disobedience in a "moral critique" of state policies. His arrest has intensified the national debate on religious expression and protest rights in government spaces. The incident comes just days after President Donald Trump's task force on anti-Christian bias had its first meeting on April 22. Newsweek has contacted Attorney General Pam Bondi, who chairs the group, via the Florida Attorney General's Communications Office, for comment. What To Know Barber was arrested alongside Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Steve Swayne, director of St. Francis Springs Prayer Center, in the Capitol Rotunda on April 28, according to the Religious News Service (RNS). The Capitol Police told Newsweek: "They were arrested for demonstrating inside the Congressional Buildings, which is not allowed in any form, to include but not limited to sitting, kneeling, group praying, singing, chanting, etc. "In this case they started praying quietly and then began to pray out loud. That is when we gave them multiple warnings to stop or they would be arrested. Three people didn't stop. "The charge is 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding. There are other spots on Capitol grounds where this type of demonstrating is allowed." The group's protest was aimed at highlighting severe budget cuts feared to jeopardize programs such as Medicaid and Social Security. The three men frequently chanted "Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of your mercy," RNS reported. "To think that we went in to pray against the budget, but to pray nonetheless—and the order now is that, evidently, if you pray, you are seen as violating the rules of the Rotunda," Barber said. Barber has previously delivered sermons on the Capitol steps and addressed a Moral Monday gathering at the Supreme Court. From left, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Rev. Dr. William Barber, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., conduct a livestreamed conversation with Americans focused on "our common values, our faith traditions and the moral moment... From left, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Rev. Dr. William Barber, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., conduct a livestreamed conversation with Americans focused on "our common values, our faith traditions and the moral moment facing our nation," on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, April 27, 2025. More AP What People Are Saying Rev. William Barber told RNS: "To think that we went in to pray against the budget, but to pray nonetheless—and the order now is that, evidently, if you pray, you are seen as violating the rules of the Rotunda … What we hope is that folks will see this and it will begin to remove some of the fear, and people will understand that this is the time—now—that we must engage in nonviolent direct action to register our discontent." Barber's group, Repairers of the Breach said in a statement: "Bishop Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove were among those arrested this afternoon while praying in front of a statue that honors suffragettes in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. "The arrests occurred after an interfaith gathering of leaders from across the nation delivered a moral message to the nation this morning at the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to sound the alarm on the immoral budget cuts and proposed budget cuts being pursued in Washington D.C. at the expense of the poor, working people, children, women, and families." A U.S. Capitol Police spokesperson said: "They were arrested for demonstrating inside the Congressional Buildings, which is not allowed in any form, to include but not limited to sitting, kneeling, group praying, singing, chanting, etc. In this case they started praying quietly and then began to pray out loud. That is when we gave them multiple warnings to stop or they would be arrested. The[y] didn't stop." What Happens Next Barber told RNS he intends to continue demonstrating in the weeks ahead.
