Lots of disappointing (but not unexpected) news today with the release of the FBI “investigation” into Ford-Kavanaugh, which was anything but an investigation. GOP senators are going to act like GOP senators.
So instead, know that there’s some justice in the world: Rev. William Barber is one of this year’s recipients of the MacArthur Foundation so-called genius grants.
The long-time activist and North Carolina pastor who founded the “Moral Mondays” movement in 2013 marked the occasion of his award by getting arrested at a protest. As he told the Raleigh News & Observer:
When the award was announced, Barber was in Chicago at a protest for raising the minimum wage.
“I’ve just been arrested in Chicago and I’m waiting on their process,” he said in a call to the News & Observer. “For minimum wage, in front of McDonald’s headquarters.”
Barber, pastor of the Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, N.C., is one of the 25 annual winners of the MacArthur Foundation awards. The award comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000 paid over five years.
“It’s a gesture of support, to do more of what you’re trying to do,” Barber said. “It doesn’t say rest on your laurels, but to keep on pushing. In this work, sometimes you get heavy criticism. People do say ugly things, ‘You just want money.’ I just want other people to have health care. You know, Jesus healed everybody and never charged a co-pay.” …
“My drive comes from a number of places,” Barber said in a YouTube statement about the award. “My father early on taught me that the only purpose of life is to make a difference in the lives of others and to stand up for what is right and just and full of love and full of compassion.”
What is there to add but a big “AMEN.”
Here’s a list of all 25 winners.