“Telling the truth in a time of lies is one of the greatest forms of civil disobedience you could ever engage in,” he said. “One of the best things that can happen for you right now in this moment in America is to wake up tomorrow morning and still be clear that what’s going on is wrong.”

Barber — who is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit that advocates for voting rights, access to education, labor rights and health care — argued that poverty, inequality and unjust policies have created deep suffering and “political and social murder” that must be confronted through moral dissent and nonviolent civil disobedience. 

“It’s bigger than Democrat versus Republican,” Barber said. “This is not merely a crisis of democracy, it’s not merely a crisis between two parties, it’s not merely a crisis of one person being elected or another person being elected, because there are some realities that have existed in America quite some time.” 

In a wide-ranging, sermon-style presentation, the prominent civil rights leader recalled activists from U.S. history, including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Coretta Scott King, and drew parallels to the daunting, historic struggles for civil rights and women’s right to vote. He recalled Martin Luther King Jr.’s work to unite masses of low-income people of all races “to come together and form a voting coalition that could fundamentally shift the economic architecture of the nation,” Barber said. “And that’s why he was killed.”

Barber said it’s critical for people to learn from each other, lessen division and differences, and use the power of one’s voice to be strong and forthright.

“We have to come together across all of the lines that tend to separate us because [injustice] operates off of positive polarization,” Barber said. “This threat to civilization operates off of division, it lives in the division, it wants division so much.”

The event included a powerful performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Shades of Brown, a multicultural and multi-ethnic student a cappella group, and was followed by a Q&A moderated by Associate Professor of Religious Studies Andre Willis. Organized by Brown’s Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, the Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture is an annual University event that was established in 1996. 

Barber concluded his remarks with a rousing call to action, drawing an analogy between the U.S. and a person in need of a heart transplant whose life is saved by an entire team of medical professionals and caregivers, noting that “no one person can do this alone.”

“We know what’s right versus what’s wrong,” Barber said. “We need to… come together… You can change the trajectory of this country and stop this moment in crisis of civilization. History is calling you.”