JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local Jacksonville clergy spent Saturday morning with a national organization planning the launch of a movement that aims to address social and political issues throughout the country.
Poverty, limited access to health care, and systemic racism are just some of the issues that pastors, church leaders, and community members are trying to address.
“Every month, 30 days, 24,000 people die from poverty, that doesn’t have to exist, because of policy violence and policy failure. This is what we must wrestle with," Bishop William J. Barber II, founder and president of Repairers of the Breach, said.
Bishop William Barber is Launching the 'Justice Love in Action Ministry and Movement’ and calling for religious leaders to bring attention to inequalities that he feels have been forgotten by politicians.
“Do you think we should be arguing about taking history out of books, and blocking folks from healthcare, and standing against people because of their sexuality when 9 million plus people are poor and low wealth?" Bishop Barber said.
Bishop Barber and his group spent time in Jacksonville after a racist shooting left three people dead at a Dollar General, for the ‘Take Back the Mic” campaign where hundreds came out and called for change on a political level.
The group believes that the calls for change that came after that tragedy must continue.
“We’re not saying that that is a moment, but it has to be a movement. That it has to continue, cannot put a common or a period but we must continue to move forward," Pastor David Green Sr, with St. Stephens AME Church, said.
The discussions and solutions presented here in Jacksonville will be part of a national movement calling on religious leaders to come together in their communities.