William Barber listed on the Politico 50.
September 2018 – The Rev. Dr. William Barber II T’03 continues to be recognized as a political force.
His Poor People’s Campaign earned him and co-director Liz Theodaris a place on the Politico 50, which features those behind the most influential ideas driving politics. The campaign, which revives a movement started by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, seeks to bring moral urgency to the realities of economic inequality, systemic racism and environmental destruction.
“We need not just a Democratic agenda but a moral agenda,” Barber said in Politico. “If we do that, we can turn the Southern strategy upside down.”
This year, Barber also received the Spiritually Guided Social Activism Award from Unity Magazine, which honors those who use “empowering spiritual ideas and philosophies to change lives and make our planet a better place to live.”
Unity described him as “a key catalyst in the resurgence of moral political activism, inspiring progressive interracial ‘fusion’ politics to push for voting rights, public education, universal health care, environmental protection and the rights of women, laborers, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community.”
Barber has established himself as a national leader in his commitment to social justice as an integral part of spiritual life. He often returns to campus to speak to students, such as at Drew’s 2017 Commencement at which he encouraged graduates to “choose to stand for what is right against what is wrong.”
