Beloved Community Center’s Co-Executive Directors, Rev. Nelson  Johnson, and Joyce Hobson Johnson spoke in support of POOR & MARGINALIZED NORTH CAROLINIANS at the “Moral March on Raleigh and to the Polls” with the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign on Saturday, March 2.

Over 5,000 gathered outside the General Assembly, representing the diversity of streamlets that make up the growing social justice movement in NC flowing together to create a powerful river for people’s justice. Standing together were advocates for wage equity and workplace safety; authentic democracy and an end to voter suppression; LGBTQIA+ rights; immigrant rights; equitable access to education, housing, food, and healthcare; sustainable environmental justice policies and other life-sustaining issues — all while demanding together an end to poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in our nation.

“Today marks a solemn assembly dedicated to the 800 people who will succumb to poverty and low wages today,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, President of Repairers of the Breach and Co-Chair of the National Poor People’s Campaign. Thousands of impacted North Carolinians, faith and community leaders, partners, organizers, volunteers, and advocates united to tell the NC General Assembly that we will not accept poverty as the fourth leading cause of death.

With Beloved Community Center (BCC) staff and partners in the crowd, Mrs. Johnson advocated for the need for change, stating, “Poor people and low-wage workers don’t have to accept what the current situation is … the people united will never be defeated!”

Joyce Hobson Johnson Speaks at Mar 2 Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Moral March

Rev. Nelson Johnson of Beloved Community Center and Rev. Cardes Brown of Greensboro’s New Light Baptist Church helped wrap up Saturday’s powerful gathering with inspiring words and calls to action. Rev. Johnson urged the lively crowd “to walk together, Children … victory will ultimately be ours!”

On the following Monday, March 4, the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign delivered letters with the demands of the National PPC: A National Call For Moral Revival to the offices of all 170 North Carolina Representatives and Senators.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is a national campaign organizing poor people and low-wage workers, along with our moral allies, to challenge the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, and the denial of healthcare, militarism, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism.

Click here to read the full letter.

As a proud mobilizing partner, BCC looks forward to continuing to further our work at our Saturday, April 13 Leadership Conference in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Beloved Community Center, visit belovedcommunitycenter.org and review our

2023 End of the Year Report.

BCC Staff Members pose with representatives of two of its partners as the Moral Rally wrapped up. Pictured on the left back is a worker representative of UE-150 labor union; pictured on the back right is Rev. Glencie Rhedrick, representing clergy leaders of Charlotte, NC | Photo By Fidel E. Benton