“‘We’,” says Rev. Barber, “is the most important word in the social justice vocabulary.” The old “fusion politics” joined political parties together. The new form of “fusion politics” joins people together. Where “identity politics” was used to divide people along the lines of race, gender, class, and orientation, the new “fusion politics” unites people by encompassing those categories, turning into shared concerns issues that have been treated as separate.The attacks on gender rights, reproductive rights, gay rights, voting rights, environmental justice, education equality, Medicaid, livable wages, and programs that help the poor all come from one political source. The progressives must unite to fuse political issues usually seen as separate and competing against each other.
Each Monday focused on one or two issues, such as voting rights, but wrapped them all into the same context. Crowds have been "40 percent white and 30 percent young" and made up of a wide spectrum of people -- "black, white, Latino, young, old, gay, straight, labor, faith, people coming out everywhere."
Though the participants are diverse, nobody minds that the message is distinctly Christian. This message is reclaiming the words of the Bible from the Fundie rhetoric to power progressive causes. These values transcend different faiths. Barber starts with the first verses of Isaiah, chapter 10:
Woe to those who make unjust laws,Where conservatism demonizes and justifies punishment of the poor, Moral Mondays have been emphasizing the need to protect and defend the poor. "You can't love God on one hand and hate your brother on another." Barber is seizing the moral high ground.
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
There are no legislative victories yet. The GOP controlled legislature is unmoved. But opinions of voters are changing and approval ratings are plummeting. And that without actually demonizing Republicans, a central part of Barber's message.
The NC legislature has gone home. The Moral Monday protesters have too. Heath asks what's next? His answer: "The Moral Mondays movement is what’s next." In North Carolina, it has shifted to the local town square. And though the name may not have caught on (yet), the ideas, which Heath calls Dandelion Moments, have already been spreading around the country and world.
One of those Dandelion Moments is happening in Florida.
The George Zimmerman verdict was delayed so that police could prepare for the riots conservative were sure would happen. Riots didn't happen (leaving conservatives to invent fake riot videos). Peaceful demonstrations did.
That included the Dream Defenders. They occupied Gov. Rick Scott's office for a few days until he agreed to meet with them. He essentially said what they want needs to come from the legislature.
Small problem: the legislature isn't in session (and it sounds like it might be a long time before it is in session -- Florida might be one of those states with a part-time legislature). The legislature would have to be called into a special session. So the Dream Defenders occupied the Capitol. They held a mock special session to show legislatures how it is done (great PR!). They began petitioning lawmakers. They even drafted the legislation, which they are calling Trayvon's Law. C'mon, guys. We've done the work. Just show up. At least 15 of them stay in the capitol overnight, sleeping on sheets because sleeping bags and mattresses aren't permitted. They've been there for over two weeks now.
Trayvon's Law has three parts: (1) Repeal of Stand Your Ground. (2) End racial profiling. (3) End the zero-tolerance school policing policy which contributes to the "school to prison pipeline" that easily incarcerates young people of color.
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