Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Calls on Americans to Fight Poverty Across Racial Lines

Speaking at Stanford just over a week after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II called for Americans to overcome the forces of division and to instead listen to each other, act on their consciences, and unite across racial lines.

Barber was on campus to deliver Stanford’s 2024-25 Tanner Lecture, an event co-sponsored by the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society and the Office of the President. Stanford President Jonathan Levin provided opening remarks at the event, along with Tiffany Steinwert, dean for Religious & Spiritual Life. The audience was then led by singer Yara Allen in her call-and-response song, “Somebody’s Hurting My Brother.” The attendees were soon on their feet, singing and clapping, and ready for Barber’s inspiring lecture to begin.

A Call for Unity

Dressed in clerical garments and wearing a large, gold cross, Barber left no doubt that his years of crusading on behalf of racial minorities, immigrants, and the poor have been shaped by his Christian faith. An ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination, he is a powerful speaker in the tradition of Black preachers. He is also a professor at Yale Divinity School.

Barber ‒ recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant” and author of five books – asked the audience to understand the ongoing struggles for poor and low-income residents of the U.S. He emphasized how racism and segregation have been used in America to divide Black and white citizens so that they don’t unite to demand better treatment for the poor. For example, by framing poverty as primarily an issue for Blacks, he said, Republicans in state legislatures have justified rejecting Medicaid expansion even though it would also help large numbers of poor whites.

“We need to become united!” he insisted, pressing for a movement – not of racial groups, but of “the rejected … a movement of those left behind.”

His speech to the over 400 people attending the lecture outlined the nation’s history of marginalizing the poor and neglecting to provide even such basics as a living wage and health care. As leader of today’s Poor People’s Campaign and of Repairers of the Breach, Barber was armed with a barrage of statistics backing his contention that poverty in America has been ignored and even justified for too long.

Systemic racism, systemic poverty, and a false moral narrative of nationalism blind too many people to the reality of poverty, he said, describing poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, 500 Americans died a day from the disease – but 800 died per day from the effects of poverty.

Yet, Barber said, the media and politicians ignore these facts, noting that child poverty wasn’t mentioned at all during this year’s presidential debates.

He called for a social justice movement that will “fight poverty, not the poor,” one that “keeps putting the pain and the people in front of the public.”

Faith in Social Movements

Early in his speech, Barber noted that Martin Luther King Jr. often quoted a verse from the Old Testament book of Amos (“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:24). But before we get to that, Barber said, we must pay attention to God’s command in Amos 5:14-15: “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good …”

“I want people who will seek good and not evil, who will hate evil, love good, and work it out in the public square,” Barber added.

Barber next quoted Luke 4:18, where Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”

Those same values, he said, are found in the Declaration of Independence’s list of “unalienable rights,” including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Future of Democracy

Returning to the topic of the election, Barber said millions of poor and low-income Americans of all races didn’t vote because the candidates and their campaigns didn’t speak to them or for them. Barber offered plenty of phrases for candidates of the future to use if they want to represent what he described as the largest potential swing vote in the country:

“The system is immoral and lazy, not the people.”

“Rather than an insurrection, we need a resurrection.”

“The central question is not Right or Left ‒ but right or wrong.”

And “stop spending money to blow up the world and start spending money to save the world,” a line that inspired enthusiastic cheering and a standing ovation.

Dorian Warren, who delivered brief comments on Barber’s speech, admitted he had a hard act to follow. Warren is co-president of Community Change and Community Change Action and co-founder of the Economic Security Project.  

An enthusiastic proponent of labor unions, Warren mentioned the tentative agreement reached just a couple of days before with Stanford’s unionized graduate student workers that averted the possibility of a strike that could have resulted in picketing on campus.

Unions, he said, build solidarity across racial and immigration lines and reduce the divisions that prevent the construction of a functioning multi-racial democracy.

Warren and Barber then engaged in a conversation in which they emphasized the need for a new movement for social justice, with Barber summing up the current situation:

“There are moments that force us to reassess who we are. Poor and low-income people must come together, not to save democracy, but to create the kind of democracy we want to have.” 

Updated Dec. 16, 2024: Make sure to visit our YouTube channel, to listen to the full audio recording of the 2024-25 Tanner Lecture. 

Barbara J. Egbert is a freelance writer with a background in print journalism. A former Stanford News Service editor, she lives in the East Bay.

The McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society collaborates with the Office of the President to host the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Stanford.

Stay up to date on upcoming events by subscribing to our newsletter.