After march, focus turns to ballot and economic justice

MATT LACZKO | THE CHARLOTTE POST

The Bishop William Barber II, president and founder of Repairers of the Breach, led a 50-mile march from Wilson, North Carolina, to Raleigh, kicked off the Love Forward Together movement to raise awareness of voter suppression and intimidation

The march to Raleigh is over. 

The business of strengthening voting rights and economic empowerment for lower-income North Carolina is underway.

A three-day, 50-mile procession from Wilson to the state capitol led by Bishop William Barber II, founder and president of Repairers of the Breach, coincided with the start of early voting and highlighted extreme gerrymandering of the state’s congressional districts. The trek, which launched the Love Forward Together movement, aims to raise awareness of voter suppression and intimidation leading to the 2026 election cycle.

“Love has always won,” said Barber, who founding director of the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. “Not because it’s never been battered or bruised, but because it endures, it’s remembered, and it remains strong. Those who came before us fought to make this nation live up to its promises on paper, and we continue that struggle today because we love unity, truth and justice.”

Marchers rallied to raise awareness of how Republican-led gerrymandering in the 1st congressional district in northeastern North Carolina stripped Black communities of political power by spreading them into the 3rd District, a GOP stronghold. The march through Bailey – which is part of the 1st District – brought together clergy and impacted voters. The march ended on Feb. 14 with a Mass People’s Assembly & Moral March at the state capitol.

A federal court on Nov. 26 upheld North Carolina’s new map, which gives Republicans a chance at holding 11 of the state’s 14 congressional seats. The panel voted to allow the redrawn lines, which changes Districts 1 and 3 and improves the chances of bouncing U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a Black Democrat, from the 1st by adding more Republican voters.

The previous 1st District was 40% Black, 47% white and skewed slightly Republican.

A lawsuit filed in October sought to block the changes by arguing the remap disproportionately impacts Black voters. Davis introduced the Restoring Electoral Stability to Enhance Trust, or RESET, Act of 2025, a bill that would prohibit statewide mid-decade redistricting legislation unless mandated by a state independent redistricting commission created through a state constitution, a court order on constitutional grounds, or state referenda.

Voters and pro-democracy advocacy groups challenged the redraw, arguing lawmakers intended to nullify Black voting power, especially in the northeast, where District 1 has elected Black Democrats to Congress since 1992. The federal court cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP, which raised the standard to show racial bias in voting rights. 

The movement, which includes clergy, organized labor and human rights advocates, focuses on North Carolina's 3.4 million poor and low-income voters and their struggles to access health care insurance and food. Activists argue are directly impacted by policy decisions without their input or representation at the ballot box.

“We're focused on love and loving forward together,” Barber said. "That is why we are Black, we are white, we are indigenous, we are poor, we are working, we are wealthy conscious, we're young, we're old, we're straight, we're gay, we're from the east, we're from the west, we're from the North, we're from the South. But we are most of all lovers of justice and truth and lovers of humanity. We are not going anywhere.”

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