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william barber
Bishop Barber Eulogizes Tens of Thousands of Americans Who Will Die Because of GOP Healthcare Cuts
"We will not let them die ignored," said the Repairers of the Breach president. "We will not let their deaths go unregistered on the conscience of this nation and this state, and among the people."
Nov 24, 2025
Surrounded by cardboard "tombstones" that displayed likely causes of death of thousands of people in the United States under Republican policies, Bishop William J. Barber II on Monday gave a eulogy in Raleigh, North Carolina, honoring those who are being directly targeted by the Trump administration's cuts to healthcare, public health funding, and other essential government programs.
The word "eulogy," he said, comes from the Greek word "eulogia," and means "good words."
"But the question is, what is the 'good word' when people shouldn't be dead?" asked the president of the grassroots group Repairers of the Breach and the co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, adding that the people he was speaking about are projected to die in the coming year solely due to "policy violence."
"We will not let them die ignored," said Barber. "We will not let their deaths go unregistered on the conscience of this nation and this state, and among the people."
Barber spoke at the flagship event of Repairers of the Breach's regular Moral Mondays prayer protest, while supporters in more than 15 states including Alabama, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas also delivered eulogies for those who are expected to die as a result of the $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, and funding slashed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was passed in July.
Roughly 51,000 people are expected to die annually as they lose access to SNAP and Medicaid, as well as those whose healthcare costs will skyrocket if Affordable Care Act subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of the year. People with disabilities and low-income senior citizens are also expected to be impacted by OBBBA provisions that will make it harder for them to access Medicare Savings Programs.
"We are fighting for the life of those who yet remain," said Barber. "When they passed the Big Ugly Deadly Destructive Bill—don't ever call it the Beautiful Bill—when they passed it, it represented a death sentence."
Standing Against Deadly Policy Violence | National Moral Monday Flagship Broadcast 11-24-2025 https://t.co/uFk1mNdse3
— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) November 24, 2025
Barber noted that Republicans were able to pass the law after lying about "waste and fraud and abuse" in the federal programs that rely on them for healthcare and food assistance.
"They had to tell a lie to keep their promise to the wealthiest people in America," said the bishop, referring to thousands of dollars in annual tax cuts for the richest households that are included in the OBBBA.
Sloan Meek, who has cerebral palsy and relies on Medicaid, also gave a statement.
"I feel a lot of fear and worry right now that every cut and rate reduction to Medicaid will change my whole life," said Meek. "Having disabilities does not mean I am sick, but it does mean I need consistent treatment and care to stay healthy. I do not want to become sick. I do not want to lose my community. I do not want to lose my voice. I do not want to be forced out of my home to live and receive care from a bunch of strangers. I do not want to die because of a political issue. These are the fears I share with every disabled person using Medicaid in North Carolina right now. I would like to ask every legislator to please see us as having valuable and important lives that are worth supporting."
The event also took aim at the Trump administration's actions weakening the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—with the federal government denying and delaying states' disaster assistance requests—and President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, which most recently unleashed federal agents on North Carolina communities from Charlotte to Raleigh.
The tombstones that flanked Barber read, "I lost Medicare," "I was disappeared," "I lost medical research," "FEMA did not respond."
“The big, bad, deadly budget bill proved that Washington lawmakers are more than willing to kill tens of thousands of people to line the pockets of the wealthy—but now even that level of destruction and death wasn’t enough,” said Barber in a statement ahead of the event. “Lawmakers are now allowing healthcare subsidies to expire, forcing millions of people to come up with more money for health plans—or die trying. And the Trump administration just unleashed its masked army of ICE agents to terrify and abduct immigrants in Charlotte and Raleigh."
“One of the grandest, cruelest ironies is that many of the leaders greenlighting these deadly policies profess to be Christian. I’m not sure what Bible they’re reading, but my Bible tells me to protect all people—including poor people and foreigners—without condition or judgment," Barber continued. “We cannot stay silent in this moment."
Barber said the event was being held two days before Repairers of the Breach was preparing to send an open letter to every member of the North Carolina General Assembly, calling for the body to hold an "emergency session and vote to tell Congress and the president to take hands off the people of North Carolina, to reverse policies that will hurt 307,000 North Carolinians that will lose Medicaid, that will cause 375,000 to lose food stamps."
On Monday evening, the organization was planning another event to call on Congress and the White House "to immediately cease and desist" their attacks on Latino and immigrant communities across the country, deploying "Liberty Vans": mobile rapid-response command centers staffed by volunteer lawyers and campaigners to provide support to communities targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
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'Our Democracy Is Not for Sale': Bishop Barber Sues Over NC GOP's Gerrymandering
“We’ve seen this pattern before—the use of redistricting and voting laws to divide, diminish, and deny," said Bishop William Barber II.
Oct 23, 2025
Calling the North Carolina Republican Party's new congressional district map "surgical racism with surgical precision," Bishop William J. Barber II of Repairers of the Breach was in Raleigh Thursday announcing a lawsuit challenging the redistricting effort—pledging that the state's voters will "challenge gerrymandering in the courts, in the streets, and at the ballot box."
"This is a direct attack on the state's Black Belt district and marginalized communities," said Barber at a press conference announcing the legal challenge, a day after the state House of Representatives approved the new map in a party-line vote.
The new map, which was passed by the state Senate earlier this week and cannot be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein under state law, will likely give the GOP an additional seat in the US House after the 2026 midterm elections.
President Donald Trump has called for mid-decade redistricting efforts by the GOP in states including Missouri and Texas as well as North Carolina, with state Republicans heeding his demands.
North Carolina's new map will likely give Republicans 11 of the state's 14 districts, by moving some Black voters out of the 1st District and into the 3rd District. Had the new map been in place in 2024, Trump would likely have won 55% of the vote in the new 1st District in 2024, up from the 51% he won.
Barber denounced the redistricting efforts across the country as "political robbery" by a party that wants "to rob people of their rights through this racially based gerrymandering... so that they can give power or keep power in the US Congress to engage in political violence," including by cutting healthcare and blocking the passage of living wages.
“We’ve seen this pattern before—the use of redistricting and voting laws to divide, diminish, and deny," said Barber. "But the truth is simple: When you steal people’s representation, you steal their healthcare, their wages, and their future. That’s why we will fight back... to make clear that in North Carolina, and across America, the people’s will cannot be gerrymandered out of existence."
Barber said Republicans in the state Legislature are "gambling" in order to win another seat, instead of trying to win over voters.
"They're saying, 'Let's move this county over here, let's move this county over here,' he said at the press conference. "Black voters in Congressional District 1 make up approximately 40% of the population, and there's a growing Latino population that makes up 7%... Black communities, Latino communities, and rural, working-class, poor white voters, if the districts are fair, have the power to build a fusion electorate that can overcome the greedy oligarchs' will to control elections in our state."
Along with filing a legal action against state lawmakers to challenge the legality of the map, Barber said Repairers of the Breach will hold a "Mass Moral Fusion Meeting" and public hearing on November 2.
“If they won’t hold public hearings, we will,” said Barber. “This is our Edmund Pettus Bridge moment... Black, white, and brown together—because our democracy is not for sale.”
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Moral Monday Protests Decry 'Leaders Manipulating Christianity to Push Deadly Policies'
“When poor families are stripped of healthcare and lifesaving resources—when the vulnerable are sacrificed for greed—we cannot remain silent," said Rev. Dr. Hanna Broome.
Sep 29, 2025
As the United States faces looming Republican government shutdown and as harmful impacts of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July by President Donald Trump begin to affect millions of Americans, clergy and impacted people and rallied Monday in eight states "to expose how leaders are twisting and warping Christianity to push policies that hurt poor and vulnerable communities."
The latest round of Moral Monday rallies—led by Bishop William J. Barber II and Repairers of the Breach—took place across the US South to highlight the deadly impact of the OBBBA, which organizers are calling the "Big Ugly Destructive Deadly Bill."
The law, which was signed by Trump on July 4, made the deepest cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in history while slashing billions from other essential social programs to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires and corporations. The OBBBA ends health coverage and food assistance for millions of Americans at a time when more than 47 million Americans—including 1 in 5 US children—are living in food insecure households.
Experts say the cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other social safety net programs will lead to 17 million people losing healthcare and 51,000 deaths. To highlight this staggering figure, faith leaders delivered 51 caskets to lawmakers' offices across the South.
Speakers at Moral Monday rallies also underscored how GOP policymakers and right-wing commentators "are increasingly pushing a warped version of Christianity to advance policies that hurt the poor and vulnerable."
"In just the past few weeks, especially following the horrific death of Charlie Kirk, our nation has seen an even greater surge in this weaponization of faith," said Repairers of the Breach. "Left unchecked, leaders will continue to use the banner of 'Christianity' to consolidate power and pursue their deadly agenda."
Barber said: "Nearly every senator who voted for Washington’s big, deadly, destructive bill identifies as a Christian. But when I read the Bible, I see nothing that would support stripping people of basic healthcare or food. I see words that tell us to love our neighbors and uplift the vulnerable."
"Policymakers have made clear that they are willing to sacrifice the poor for the consolidation of power," he added.
Speaking in Montgomery, Alabama, Repairers of the Breach national director of religious affairs Rev. Dr. Hanna R. Broome said that “when poor families are stripped of healthcare and lifesaving resources—when the vulnerable are sacrificed for greed—we cannot remain silent."
“My faith calls me to love my neighbor, not abandon them to suffering," Broome added. "Nations will be judged by how we treat the poor and vulnerable, not by our military might or [gross domestic product]."
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