Rev. William Barber II demands focus on poverty, proposes debate format to 'put facts out' [View all]
Source: USA Today
Published 5:13 a.m. ET Oct. 3, 2024 | Updated 7:04 a.m. ET Oct. 3, 2024
As the nation reviewed the vice presidential debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Tuesday night, Rev. William J. Barber II noticed one group of people missing from the conversation: the poor.
The founder of Repairers of the Breach, The Poor People's Campaign and the Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale told USA TODAY in an interview Wednesday that the presidential race, and by extension the vice presidential debate, was not revealing solutions for the nearly 38 million people living in poverty in the country.
"We're talking about poverty that is not an anomaly among one group of people. But in fact, is across the country, in every community, in every city," Barber said. "We should really be talking about how to abolish the majority of poverty, because we know what would happen if we did have serious living minimum wage and health care."
Barber was unsparing in his criticism of statements made by Vance during the debate, including those on the Affordable Care Act and on his position on abortion. "I saw some of the un-Christian type statements coming out of Vance's mouth. He wasn't hollering, he wasn't cussing, he wasn't being belittling. He was doing it with a smile, in some sense, makes it worse," Barber said.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/03/william-barber-ii-vp-debate/75488286007/
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