A4 I OCTOBER 18,2017
BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE
Opinion
One-on-one
Taking Moral
Mondays...
Is the Rev. William Barber, leader of North
Carolina’s Moral Monday protests, going to
take the movement to the rest of the coun
try?
Beginning in 2013, the Goldsboro min
ister has led demonstrations at the state’s
legislative building and in other state offices
and properties. The groups he led often used
civil disobedience to protest against actions
that he said resulted in unfair treatment,
discrimination, voting suppression, damage
to the environment, unfair taxes and cuts to
public education.
The fabric of Bertie County since 1832
"I have always
wondered
about Barber's
lumbering
style..."
- D.G. MARTIN
He ex
plained
in a lec
ture at
the Uni
versity
of North
Carolina
at Chapel
Hill last week that he plans a series of Moral
Monday-type protests and civil disobedi
ence that will occur in public buildings and
facilities across the country next year.
Barber’s Chapel Hill speech was this year’s
Weil Lecture on American Citizenship, part
of a series that began in 1915 when former
President William Howard Taft gave the
first lecture. The prominent Goldsboro Weil
family founded the series and continues to
support it and other public causes. Gertrude
Weil (1879-1971) is the subject of a biogra
phy, “Gertrude Weil: Jewish Progressive in
the New South,” written by Leonard Rogoff
and published this year by UNC Press.
In his stirring speech. Barber shared his
plans for 40 days of protests, beginning on
Mothers’ Day next year and continuing until
the beginning of summer. The name of the
organizing entity is “The Poor People’s Cam
paign: A National Call for Moral Revival.”
According to the campaign’s web site,
“By engaging in highly publicized civil
disobedience and direct action over a six-
week period in at least 25 states and the
District of Columbia during the spring of
2018, the campaign will force a serious na
tional examination of the enmeshed evils
of systemic racism, poverty, militarism
and environmental devastation.
1 have always wondered about Barber’s
lumbering style of walking.
He explained that when he was 30 years
old, a medical condition almost paralyzed
him. Afterwards, he was confined to a
wheelchair for 12 years, and then only
gradually learned to walk again. “But 1 am
a fighter,” he said, as he promised to keep
getting better and better.
People ask if Barber is trying to be the
new Martin Luther King. Barber only ac
knowledges that the new campaign is
inspired by King, but it is not the same
thing.
Barber views the upcoming season of
protest as part of a third Reconstruction.
The first Reconstruction came after the
Civil War and ended with the establishment
of Jim Crow white control. The second Re
construction came as a result of the Civil
Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s led
by King and others. It has been brought to
an end, Barber says, by the current times
of backlash and retrenchment.
Barber hopes next year’s campaign will
bring about a third Reconstruction, with its
leaders inspired by King, but using modern
tactics and strategies that were not avail
able in King’s time.
Barber may not be another Martin Lu
ther King, but if the new Poor People’s
Campaign mounts a successful 40-day ef
fort next year, he will become North Caro
lina’s best-known national figure.
D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Book
watch, ” which airs Sundays at noon and
Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.
Reader Advisory Board
The following individuals comprise the Reader
Advisory Board membership for the Bertie Ledger-
Advance.
Bud Lee, Perrycown
R.O. Dentdn, Askewville
Dana Cobb, Windsor
John Holley, Merry Hill
Jon Powell, Windsor
Charles Harden, Windsor
Bobbie Parker, Aulander
Marshall Cherry, Lewiston
Linda Speller, Windsor
Taylor Wilson, Windsor
O
Farm life wife
Memories of Halloween
In honor of Halloween, here is a
memory called up from the cob
webs in my mind.
When my older sister and 1 were
6 and 4, respectively, we liked to
spook ourselves by listening to a
recording of a little-known book
by Dr. Seuss.
We listened to the soundtrack
on my grandmother’s stereo-style
record player. (Yikes, that dates
me!)
We would gingerly lay the nee
dle down onto the spinning vinyl,
then hastily dive onto the golden-
tweed couch, bury ourselves be
neath Gramma’s hand-crocheted
afghans, then wiggle and giggle,
trying our hardest to be brave.
We both our hearts pounding,
no matter how hard we tried, we
would get terrified, anyway. Look
ing back, 1 guess that is what we
were after.
The name of the recorded book
was, “Why Was I Scared?” but
some will know it better by what
the book is about: “The Pale Green
Pants with Nobody Inside Them.”
1 don’t know if it was the narra
tor’s intonation, or if it was the
subject matter that truly scared
us.
We never owned the book, so
it was left up to our imaginations
to illustrate the scenery in our
minds, which was much scarier.
"I found the
very recording
we listened to
as children..."
- DEBORAH GRIFFIN
My imagination has always been
a bit overactive. If I’m left alone
with my thoughts long enough,
just about anything can seem
scary.
1 found the very recording we
listened to as children. (The Inter
net is nothing short of amazing.)
1 can see why it petrified me as a
child - it still creeps me out.
With spooky music playing with
our minds in the background, the
tale is told of a pair of pale green
pants (with nobody inside them)
that seemingly stalk the author.
Not the most pleasant thought
for two impressionable little
girls.
The pale pants show up, first in
the deep woods - at night. Why
the author feels the need to be
out in the deep woods - at night -
is not addressed.
Next, the pants show up pedal
ing a bicycle, almost knocking the
storyteller over.
The very next night the pants
show up rowing a boat straight
toward the frightened (and prob
ably, by now, neurotic) author as
he fishes.
How pants (with nobody in
side them) can row, or ride a bike
never crossed our young minds,
we just felt like they were coming
straight for us.
The scariest moment is yet to
come.
Our pursued author thinks he is
alone in a field of “Snide” (a Seuss-
ism), nine miles wide, when those
pants show up right beside him.
One mommy-blogger recently
wrote about the book:
“The tale was a simple fable
about the importance of not judg
ing others for being different; the
narrator is initially afraid of the
pants and tries to avoid them,
but then he discovers that they’re
afraid of him as well. They both
get over their fear and become
friends.”
The moral of the story was lost
on us - as 1 still have an aversion
to vomit-colored pants.
You can listen to this scary tale
at the following link; http://www.
dadazi.net/audioryms/aud_sto-
ry/afraid/scared.html
Deborah Griffin is Staff Writer
for the Bertie Ledger-Advance.
She can be reached at dgriffin®
ncweeklies.com or 252-792-1181.
Out here in left field
If we loved one another...
“Before you speak to me about
your religion, first show it to me
in how you treat other people;
before you tell me how much you
love your God, show me in how
much you love all His children;
before you preach to me of your
passion for your faith, teach me
about it through your compas
sion for your neighbors. In the
end. I’m not as interested in what
you have to tell or sell as I am in
how you choose to live and give.”
- Cory Booker
Saturday night I was fortunate
enough to be in church where Fa
ther Joe Cooper shared a sermon
with those of us gathered for eve
ning prayer at St. Mark’s Episco
pal Church in Roxobel.
Father Cooper talked about the
love of Christ, and the Episcopal
church’s doctrine that all of us
have sinned, and we are all in need
of God’s love. He spoke about the
need for a place of love and ac
ceptance, a place where flawed
people come together to thank
God for his unwavering love.
We sang our hymns, read the
Biblical passages, prayed and
then spent time as a congregation
eating and spending time togeth
er.
"This is v/hy
we can't
get people
to attend
church..."
-THADD WHITE
4..
I truly look forward to our ser
vice each month, as do many oth
ers.
It was a stark contrast to the
scene in our humble church just
moments before.
See, a pastor -1 will decline to
mention his name - took it upon
himself to come to our church
and condemn the beliefs we have
that God loves everyone and wel
comes us all to himself.
I could share with you some of
the issues he took with the con
gregation with which I worship
regularly, but I won’t.
Instead, I’ll say what I said to
others: This - this right here, this
thing - is why we can’t get people
to attend church, and why they
don’t believe in the message of
Christianity.
It’s why Christian people are of
ten seen as a group that promotes
hatred and intolerance, rather
than the love always taught by
Jesus Christ. It is why Christian
people are too often known by
what they are against rather than
what they are for. And what they
are for is supposed to be sharing
the love God has for all people.
The meeting Saturday night was
not that of a witch’s coven or Sa
tan worshipers or even a division
of Westboro Baptist Church. In
stead, it was a meeting of people
doing their best to serve Jesus
and proclaim his love-just people
who didn’t do it to suit the person
who showed up at our doorway.
All Christian people don’t hate
those who are different than the
ones they gather with on Sunday
mornings - or indeed Saturday
nights. They love God with all
their hearts, they love their neigh
bor as themselves and they are in
deed their brother’s keeper.
In short they obey Christ’s com
mand, “By this all men will know
you are my disciples, if you love
one another.”
Thadd White is a fallible person
living life as best he can, and is
thankful for God’s love and grace.
He can can be reached via email
at twhite@ncweeklies.com.
Bertie
Ledger-Advance
The fabric of Bertie County since 1832
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HERITAGE OF THE WINDSOR LEDGER AND ThE AuUNDER ADVANCE.
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AS THE Windsor Herald and Bertie County Register
Kyle Stephens Deborah Griifin
Group Publisher Staff Writer
kstephens@ncweeklies.com dgriffin@ncweeklies.com
Angela Harne
Group £ditor
ahame@ncweeklies.com
Thadd White
Editor
cwhiEe@ncweeklies.com
Leslie Beachboard
Staff Writer
ibeachhoard@ncweeldies.com
Jim Green
Sports Editor
Jgreen@ncweekiies.com
Michelle Leicester
Creative Services
mleicesEer@ncweeklies.com
Jessica Mobley
Advertising Manager
jmobley@ncweeklies.com
Lanny Hiday
Copy Editor
bertienews@ncweeklies,com
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