Susannah Tuttle is a realist: whatever North Carolina faith activist groups have been doing hasn’t been working.
Tuttle, North Carolina Council of Churches eco-justice connection director, never thought it would get this bad. Christian nationalists in the top circles of power. A conservative overhaul of the federal government guided by Project 2025. Minnesota ICE protests turning violent.
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a celebration of a faith activist who helped lead the modern civil rights movement with nonviolent resistance. The state’s faith activist groups are marking this anniversary by considering how to build a similar movement in a different age, one where social media, near-unlimited campaign money and political polarization may obscure their message.
It’s a long game, Tuttle said. Almost everything needs to change. However, a few starting blocks may coalesce around another holiday, Valentine’s Day.
Locally, the NC Council of Churches is helping voters send Valentines to state lawmakers, with the hopes of forming a relationship built upon mutual respect. From Feb. 11 to 14, a group led by Repairers of the Breach President Rev. William J. Barber II will walk from Wilson to Raleigh in the “This is Our Selma” march, culminating in a Raleigh rally. Nationally, a group of Buddhists travelling 2,300 miles from Texas to Washington D.C. on a Walk for Peace will complete their journey around the holiday.
