On Monday, July 5, 2021, Bishop William J. Barber II, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, delivered an impassioned Moral Monday Message to the Nation, declaring, “Democracy vs. autocracy is the battle of our time. We must engage and escalate the nonviolent moral direct action struggle for a Third Reconstruction,” through mass nonviolent direct moral action, mass voter participation, more litigation, and meaningful legislation in the fight for a Third Reconstruction. He also announced a series of Moral Mondays.
On Monday, July 12, at a press conference in Washington, DC, Rev. Barber announced that the Poor People’s Campaign was launching a Season of Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Disobedience to demand four things by August 6, the 56th anniversary of the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act: 1) End the filibuster; 2) Pass all provisions of the For the People Act (written by the late John Lewis); 3) Fully restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act and expand it; and 4) Raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour. Supporting this call for a Season of National Moral Mondays is a growing list that includes the Poor People’s Campaign’s 42 State Coordinating Committees, SEIU, the National Council of Churches, the Institute for Policy Studies, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Transformative Justice Network, Forward Justice, Indivisible, the Sunrise Movement, the National Welfare Rights Union, Black Voters Matter, the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, the Red Letter Christians, and several major religious denominations. United for Peace & Justice is proud to be among the organizing partners. The press conference was accompanied by a massive national call-in to every U.S. Senator.
On Monday, July 19, the anniversary of the Women’s Convention at Seneca Falls, nonviolent moral direct action in took place in DC, led by women from all 50 states.
On Monday, July 26, Moral Monday Actions will take place at Senate offices across the Nation. Targeting all Senators regardless of party, people in at least 45 states will engage in nonviolent moral direct action.
