The Moral Monday protest for equal and human rights for all people evolved in North Carolina and became a prominent social media news story a few years ago after North Carolina residents began getting arrested for peacefully protesting the new Republican-led voter suppression laws, the attacks on women’s reproductive rights, education cuts and a plethora of other social issues. Once the outspoken anti-Obama Republicans took majority in the state’s House, Senate, Governor’s office and NC Supreme Court, concerned citizens took to the streets and have only grown—to the tune of over 100,000 supporters. The North Carolina Moral Monday movement has been led by Reverend Dr. William Barber II who is now the NC President of the NAACP. Many will remember Rev. Barber spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support the rights of all people, and thus in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Last week the first Moral Monday took place in Austin, Texas, and will continue with the same hopes of creating positive social change in a state that is candy-apple Red. One of the new Austin Moral Monday leaders is Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby, whose background in the human rights is astounding. He is pro-choice and pro-LGBT, pro-Separation of Church and State. Not your average faith leader. Rev. Rigby has served on the Governor's Task Force on Teenage Pregnancy and worked to help victims of rape and domestic violence. The list goes on (no, really, it goes on). Needless to say Rev. Rigby is favored among women’s rights organization and has been honored by TARAL/Texans For Choice among others.
The Moral Mondays often focus on certain issues each weak. Last week in Austin, Rev. Rigby focused on labor and the rights of workers. Here is the transcription of the speech sent to me by Rev. Rigby (via my brief online meeting with him) and Moral Monday supporter Martha Hannah. Rev. Rigby begins: If an enlightened alien species looked down upon our planet from outer space, they would probably rationally conclude that the earth belongs equally to us all. They would never expect that most of us were taught that we were born as renters in a world that belongs to someone else, and that other people were taught they were born to be our landlords and employers.
"Isn't it strangre that we should have to gather here? Isn't strange that people who work hard all week should have to come to the halls of power and beg for the fruits of their labor
A reasonable being would never assume that any of us was born to be an underpaid employee, and that someone else was born to be our employers with a right to determine how much life, liberty and happiness we would receive.
Because I am a person of faith, I believe in social justice. What sense would it make for me to speak of love and then to be silent when workers from my human family were exploited? What sense would it make to speak of love and then be silent when wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while many languish?
Cornell West said, “justice is what love looks like in public,” and as Person of faith, I have come here today to affirm the right of every person to a decent job and a living wage. I am honored to join my local clergy colleagues, the "Fight for Fifteen activists, Rev. Barber and the good people of Moral Mondays all over this nation today. Our message is simple. We are proclaiming as people of faith we believe fair wages are a moral issue; and as Americans we believe it is the constitution, not the corporations, that will determine how much life, liberty and happiness we all deserve."
Though his work involves many social causes, I asked Rev. Rigby how he came to be involved in labor issues.
“I got involved in issues of worker exploitation a while back through an organization called ‘The Religion and Labor Network.’ I didn't realize before that how undocumented workers were routinely used for weeks or months at a time and then not paid. The purpose of that organization was to recover wages. When the Worker's Defense Project grew out of that, I was thrilled to be a part of that as well. The workers are the real heroes in this struggle and I am honored to work with and learn from them."
It’s more than refreshing to know Reverend Rigby will be helping to lead Moral Monday's in Texas. If you’ve ever attended a Moral Monday event, you will probably find it to be positive and stunning; positive in that people are smiling because they know they are making a difference, and stunning because you see people of all colors, races, religions/non-religions, ages and even varied political parties coming together for common causes. It’s not meant to be partisan, it just seems many of the social issues Moral Monday protests advocate happen to be Democratic causes. They are causes for the people and this is one more reason it’s so important for all Americans to register to vote and then show up to polls. With the help of Rev. Barber, Rev. Rigby and thousands of concerned people in Texas, North Carolina and around the country, more Red states will be Blue by the morning of November 9. It’s an exciting thought and a more than realistic thought.
I have no footage of Rev. Dr. Rigby speaking last week’s Moral March in Austin, but I found this powerful speech on YouTube posted by Social JusticeNOW in 2011. In the short speech, Rev. Rigby is speaking out against the occupation and treatment of Palestinians in Gaza. This was considered extremely controversial five years ago, but today, more lawmakers are bringing up the issue and their disdain for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom some consider to be a war criminal. Rev. Rigby quotes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his speech.
"They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government." -MLK Jr
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