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With its broad sweep, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us into an unprecedented national emergency. This emergency, however, results from a deeper and much longer term crisis — that of poverty and inequality, and of a society that ignores the needs of 140 million people who are poor or a $400 emergency away from being poor.

— William Barber II

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Source, in full

Letter to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Members of the 116th Congress, Poverty Amidst Pandemic: A Moral Response to COVID-19 (March 19, 2020), co-written with Liz Theoharis, Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival

More quotes by William Barber II

As school buildings in poor communities crumble for lack of investment, America’s billionaires are paying a lower tax rate than the poorest half of households.

Why do we hear so much about crime rates and opioids and gun violence in America, but poverty kills more people than all of those things?

We forget that it was the religion of abolitionists that led them not to pray against slavery but to stand against slavery.

We must learn from those who’ve gone before us as we strive to build a movement that can tackle today’s injustices—and help all of us survive.

The Real Epidemic is Poverty (2020)

It doesn’t say rest on your laurels, but to keep on pushing. In this work, sometimes you get heavy criticism. People do say ugly things, ‘You just want money.’ I just want other people to have health care. You know, Jesus healed everybody and never charged a co-pay.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Barber II (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.