U. hosts Bishop William Barber II for lecture on low-income voters

On Wednesday, the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program hosted the eighth annual Richard D. Heffner Open Mind Lecture titled "How Old Myths Keep Us From Seeing the Biggest Swing Vote in America." 

The lecture was presented by Bishop William J. Barber II, founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School and the former president of the North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

The main takeaways of the lecture were how low-income voters are the largest swing vote population in the United States and that the turnout among low-income voters is much lower than that of higher-income voters.

Barber began his speech by remarking on the U.S.' high level of gross domestic product and asking the question of whether it is the moral responsibility of the country to end poverty.

Barber said there are 87 million poor and low-wage voters in the U.S.

"Of the 1.3 million likely non-voters in Georgia, 746,000 would likely vote for (Kamala) Harris. Of 1.1 million in North Carolina, 594,000 would likely vote for Harris. In short, progressives could have a huge advantage among this demographic if they are able and willing to vote," he said.

Barber said that discussions of poverty in the U.S. are often centered around race. This is then used to demean Black people and ignore poor white people.

"Eight hundred people are dying a day from poverty … In any other reality where 800 people were dying a day, it would be presidential-level discussion," Barber said.

Barber listed four myths surrounding the U.S. today: that people belonging to a certain race only care for people of the same race, that only Black people are concerned with social change, that poverty is predominantly an issue in the Black community and that it is impossible for the United States to overcome its divisions.

He explained the history of voting rights in the U.S., using a quote from W. E. B. Du Bois to articulate that the U.S. has labeled certain groups as "problem people." Included in this group have been women, Black people, Mexican people and poor white people.

Barber made clear that the history of social change in the U.S. is intersectional, explaining how famous Black abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth aligned themselves with women's suffrage and the movement against Chinese oppression because they understood the dangers of discrimination of any kind.

"Black women put themselves in line with white women because they knew that the policies that were being passed … were hurting all poor and low-wage people," he said.

Barber said the purpose of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was not only to give Black people the opportunity to be elected to political office but also to create a fusion between Black and white voters so they could elect better representation.

He talked about how during former President Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, advisors Kevin Phillips and Pat Buchanan devised a plan to win the election by sowing division in the country, namely between poor Black people and poor white people.

Barber said that the unification of low-wage workers of different races is happening all over the country, citing the "Fight for $15 movement," a social movement fighting for a $15 minimum wage and unions for workers, as well as expanded union membership and representation.

Barber also reflected on the Moral Monday movement, a series of protests from 2013 to 2017 in reaction to laws passed by a Republican government in North Carolina.

"Two thousand people got arrested, 62 percent of them were white. From the mountains to the coast, Black and white people came together … We never endorsed on a partisan level, but we were very political," he said.

Barber ended his speech by saying that campaigning about and bringing attention to poverty could be the beginning of a third reconstruction period for the U.S.

"If hands that look like mine can join together with white hands and Asian hands and poor hands … and gay hands and straight hands and trans hands, and we come together and use the power that we have, we can revive this democracy," Barber said. "We can not only save democracy, we can have a democracy worth saving."