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Rev. Barber, hundreds more arrested at DC protest for voting rights, higher wages

The Rev. William J. Barber II is arrested by U.S. Capitol Police during a protest in Washington Monday.

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II was arrested with others in Washington on Monday while demanding federal action to preserve voting rights and raise the minimum wage.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson also was arrested, along with the Rev. Liz Theoharis.

Theoharis is co-founder with Barber of the National Poor People’s Campaign, which led the protest Monday as part of a “Season of Nonviolent Moral Direct Action” it launched in July.

The Poor People’s Campaign, which has committees in states across the nation, wants Congress to restore the full Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 but weakened by a 2013 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The group also is calling for:

  • Passage of the For the People Act, which would make it easier to vote in federal elections, end congressional gerrymandering and overhaul federal campaign finance laws.

  • An end to the federal filibuster, which can be used by the minority party to prevent passage of laws favored by the majority.

  • Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

  • Fair treatment of immigrants.

  • An extension of the moratorium on evictions.

Thousands of people from 47 states, including faith leaders from 37 denominations and low-wage workers, many of them considered “essential” during the pandemic, attended Monday’s protest, Barber said. A spokesperson for the Capitol Police said Tuesday that 204 people were arrested during the protest after being told three times to leave the street.

Barber, 57, was charged along with others with obstructing traffic during a protest in Washington in June. On July 26, Barber, Jackson and others were arrested during a sit-in outside Sen. Krysten Sinema’s office in Phoenix, Ariz., in protest of Sinema’s refusal to vote to end the filibuster.

On Monday afternoon, Barber retweeted a post from Repairers of the Breach, of which he is president, that said Jackson, Theoharis and he “have all been arrested fighting for the soul of our Democracy!”

Barber also tweeted, “We’re out here in Washington, DC, today to call on Sen. [Joe] Manchin, Sen. Sinema, and others to say: Which side are you on? Get on the justice side! Get on the freedom side! Get on the side of voting rights & economic justice! This is your moment.”

Barber is the longtime pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, and former president of the North Carolina NAACP. He founded the “Moral Monday” movement in North Carolina in 2013 to protest what he called “the regressive policies of extremist lawmakers,” which he said had disproportionately harmful effects on poor and low-wealth people.