A Call to Action

The people who packed Duke Chapel Sunday did not sit quietly when the keynote speaker called on them to move forward as one to break down barriers of poverty and inequality in North Carolina and across the country.

Rather, the crowd enthusiastically applauded when the Rev. William J. Barber II urged people to help bring awareness to ending poverty, fighting for labor rights, expanding Medicaid and reforming healthcare. Barber, the president of the North Carolina NAACP, started the Forward Together Moral Movement in 2013, prominently advocating in North Carolina and nationally for economic justice and empowerment.

Speaking during Duke’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration service, Barber said he is concerned that poverty remains a major problem, especially in the South, with major gaps existing between rich and poor.

“By some estimates, the gap today is twice as large as it was two decades ago. And rising income inequality breeds more inequality in educational opportunity that, in turn, translates into a waste of human talent, a less educated workforce, slower economic growth and even greater income inequality,” he said.

Rev. William Barber greets Duke sophomore Hannah Beiderwieden and junior Jalen Phillips, both public policy majors, after the service. Photo by Jared Lazarus/Duke University Photography

During Sunday’s service, Barber reminded the crowd that civil rights movements of the past were not popular, but pushing for change could make a big difference.

“There is a better way. We can pay hard-working people living wages and ensure their human rights to collective bargaining and working rights. We can help the unemployed who lose their jobs at no fault of their own,” said Barber, who earned a Master of Divinity degree from Duke.

Benjamin Reese, co-chair of Duke’s MLK committee, said Barber’s message is particularly fitting for this year’s service because of everything happening nationally around issues of social justice.

“This is a real opportunity to reflect on things that are occurring and to really, hopefully, stimulate some real action,” said Reese, vice president of Duke’s Office for Institutional Equity.

Duke President Richard Brodhead echoed the importance of reanimating. King’s push for equality in today’s world. Brodhead said for many years Duke had been on the wrong side of history by closing its doors to black students in the days of segregation. He said an important lesson has been learned since the Civil Rights Movement.

“When we welcome and seek talented people from every corner of the world’s experience, the benefits flow not just to those newly admitted, but to everyone. All of us are enriched. There’s no going back and aren’t we lucky we came forward through that history,” Brodhead said.

Duke’s MLK service also honored the legacy of Duke historian John Hope Franklin as the university observes the 100th anniversary of his birth. Franklin is best known for his work “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans," first published in 1947, and continually updated. In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Below: Members of the Collage Dance Company members proceed into the chapel at the start of the service. Photo by Jared Lazarus