Who Is A Conversation with Rev. Dr. William Barber II

10/30/20 • 32 min

“Nobody would be fighting this hard to suppress the vote—the lie about voter fraud—if the vote was not powerful.” - Reverend Doctor William Barber II

Bonus episode!

If you listened to “Who Is Electoral College,” you heard from Reverend Doctor William Barber II. Reverend Doctor Barber is a major civil rights leader, organizer, and also a certified genius: he got the MacArthur grant in 2018, which is unofficially called the 'Genius Grant.' Rev. Barber is the founder of Repairers of the Breach, and runs the revitalized modern version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign. For a special bonus episode of "Who Is?" we’re sharing our unedited interview with Rev. Barber, as he shares his thoughts on democracy, power, and the importance of voting.

Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign

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“Nobody would be fighting this hard to suppress the vote—the lie about voter fraud—if the vote was not powerful.” - Reverend Doctor William Barber II

Bonus episode!

Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Who Is Electoral College?

In 2000 and 2016, the candidate who lost the popular vote was elected president. Somehow, that’s democracy at work, and it’s thanks to a baroque institution called the Electoral College. Born out of the same contentious negotiations in 1787 that gave America the Three-fifths Compromise and the structure of the Senate, which bestows equal representation on Wyoming (the least populated state) and California (the most), the Electoral College remains with us today despite numerous attempts to abolish it. That’s because the Constitution is almost impossible to change, and because the Electoral College ultimately values some votes more than others. But America is changing, and as the composition of the electorate shifts as America grows more diverse, is the Electoral College a symbol of the insurmountable structural problems embedded in our democracy or a distraction from the power we exercise when we all vote?

Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign
Alexander Keyssar, the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. professor of history and social policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government
Sanford Levinson, the W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School
Mark Hugo Lopez, director of global migration and demography research at the Pew Research Center
Representative Emilia Sykes, who represents Ohio’s District 34 in the Ohio House of Representatives, where she is Democratic Minority Leader

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Next Episode

Coming Soon: Who Is? The Podcast: Season Three

"Who Is?," an original podcast from NowThis News that explores the lives of the powerful, is back for a third season. On "Who Is?," host and NowThis correspondent Sean Morrow dives deep into the stories and backstories of the politicians, donors, media moguls, movements, and ideas that shape our lives, from Ronald Reagan to Inherited Wealth, and Domestic Violent Extremism to Police Unions. Featuring conversations with the reporters, biographers, colleagues, confidantes--and occasionally adversaries--who know these world molders and big ideas best, "Who Is?" is back for another season of sixteen episodes. There's a new guy in the White House, and we're still living through a pandemic. Who knows what could happen next?

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