AMY GOODMAN: Protestant minister and president of the North Carolina NAACP, the Reverend William Barber, also delivered a moving speech calling for love, mercy and justice for all.

REV. WILLIAM BARBER: When we fight to reinstate the power of the Voting Rights Act and we break the interposition and nullification of the current Congress, we in the South, especially, know that when we do that, we are reviving the heart of our democracy. When we fight for 15 and a union and universal healthcare and public education and immigrant rights and LGBQT rights, we are reviving the heart of our democracy. When we develop tax and trade policies that no longer funnel our prosperity to the wealthy few, we are reviving the heart of our democracy. When we hear the legitimate discontent of Black Lives Matter and we come together to renew justice in our criminal justice system, we are embracing our deepest moral values and reviving the heart of our democracy. When we love the Jewish child and the Palestinian child, the Muslim and the Christian and the Hindu and the Buddhist, and those who have no faith but they love this nation, we are reviving the heart of our democracy. When we fight for peace, and when we resist the proliferation of military-style weapons on our streets, and when we stand against the anti-democratic stronghold of the NRA, we are reviving the heart of our democracy.