“We Too Are America!” The We Must Do MORE Tour in Greenville and Greensboro, North Carolina

Kairos Center
Category: Events

On the weekend of Friday, Sept. 27 to Monday, Sept. 30, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival made our second stop on the We Must Do M.O.R.E. Tour (Mobilize, Organize, Register, and Educate) in Greenville and Greensboro, North Carolina. The National M.O.R.E. Tour highlights the work of the Poor People’s Campaign on the ground in 20+ states from September 2019 to May 2020, and will culminate in the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20, 2020, where thousands of poor people and moral agents will gather at the nation’s capitol to demonstrate our power.
For the first leg of the We Must Do M.O.R.E. Tour in North Carolina, the Campaign partnered with the Coalition Against Racism (CAR) in Greenville, NC. The day started in the West Greenville neighborhood for a rally, to hear stories of ongoing struggles with militarized police violence in the community. Over the next few days, there were many events such as canvassing to register people for a movement that votes, and a free screening of the Aretha Franklin film, Amazing Grace. The Campaign arrived in Greensboro, NC for a Mass Meeting on Sept. 30 at Shiloh Baptist Church, joining with friends and family like Rev. Nelson Johnson and Joyce Johnson of The Beloved Community Center in Greensboro.
The following are some of the powerful images captured on the tour by Steve Pavey, #HopeInFocus.

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Dedan Waciuri of CAR leads a canvassing group educating about the Sterling Point neighborhood that black people have been forced to move to because of the gentrification and policy violence causing displacement and dispossession.

Steve Pavey

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One resident, Bryant, says he is all for a movement led by the poor and the issue most pressing for him is the way the system continues to punish former felons and is built to keep them from getting a good job upon release. He calls the political powers in place now the Triple Stages of Darkness because they are Dead, Dumb, and Blind to the facts. This photo includes Bryant (left) and in the middle on the right is local organizer Dedan Waciuri.

Steve Pavey

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Dedan Waciuri speaks at the rally, sharing many stories of recent police violence including in the house behind them where police threw sound grenades into the house with 2 children present. Waciuri challenges us, 'We must devise new structures and new institutions. The values of this society support a racist system and our goal as black and brown people must not be to assimilate into this rotten system, but to overturn it. And the only way to do that is by people power from the bottom up!'

Steve Pavey

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Beatris Rosas speaks of her family's recent experience of militarized police violence. Her cousin was profiled and murdered by three police who also shot 6 bullets into her house. She introduces herself, 'I am a survivor of racism, a survivor of a corrupt system developed to keep black and brown people enslaved.'

Steve Pavey

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A man carries a child to the Greenville rally on Sept. 27th.

Steve Pavey

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Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis speaks with CAR organizer Dedan Waciuri.

Steve Pavey

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Folks sing songs of protest with Yara Allen before the movie screening of Amazing Grace on Sept. 28 in Greenville.

Steve Pavey

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'Here in Greensboro, we commit to rising up for justice! We pledge to do MORE! We sign up to be ambulance drivers until we solve the emergencies of voter suppression, of welfare cuts, of white supremacist violence and policies!' —Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

Steve Pavey

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The indigenous people of North Carolina are 'the past, the present, and future caretakers of this land. I am personally honored to acknowledge the four directions—the land, our people, the rivers, & the Creator of it all.' —Crystal Cavalier

Steve Pavey

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'We are here today to say, that poor people? We too are America! Queer people? We too are America! Young people, we too are America! Women, we too are America! Immigrants, we too are America!' —Raina Lee

Steve Pavey

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'I have singlehandedly registered 500 people to vote because we need to do MORE!' —Brenda Caldwell

Steve Pavey

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'If there was ever a time a place and a state that needed a moral movement, that time is now!' —Rev. Nelson Johnson & Joyce Johnson, who lived through the Greensboro massacre in 1979 & continue to organize with the NC Poor People's Campaign today.

Steve Pavey

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'It's always taken a moral movement to change America! Let's do MORE, let's make America see the error of her ways! It's not the waking, it's the rising!' —Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II

Steve Pavey

Join us as the We Must Do M.O.R.E. Tour continues across the country, leading to the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20, 2020! Find a tour stop near you!