Bishop Barber, and others pre…

Bishop William J. Barber II delivered his sermon, “The Promise of the Vote,” on Sunday, August 23, inside one of Atlanta’s oldest Black churches in one of Atlanta’s former old all-Black neighborhoods. He was fully aware of where he was, who was in front of him, and why he was in Atlanta not long after traveling to Europe and around the United States on business.

“The hour has already come for you to wake up,” he said from the pulpit. “The word tonight is wake up.”

Big Bethel AME Church has been the scene for many sermons, but for the past few years, both the pulpit at the Auburn Avenue church and outside of the sacred walls, has also been a stop on many a campaign trail. Though Barber III isn’t running for political office, he was interested in talking about the Black vote heading into Election Day, November 3.

“Tonight, as we sit here, it is 407 years since the first ships brought enslaved Africans to Virginia. 239 years from when we were fractionated in the United States Constitution, 177 years since Harriet Tubman escaped slavery, 163 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and 72 years since Brown v. Board of Education,” Barber said.

“The right to vote is sacred.”

In 2020, 8% of Black voters voted for the current President of the United States, according to Pew Research Center data. In 2024, 15% of Black voters voted for that same president in 2024. With highly publicized elections taking place around the country, including a gubernatorial and senatorial race here in Georgia, the Black vote has once again been called to the front of the church to testify.

Barber III took to the pulpit in Atlanta as part of a 12-city tour to get the word out that the Black vote is more “sacred” now than ever before. “We have to understand one thing about voting, the voting didn’t come from the government, the vote came from God,” Barber said.

Former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell said, “The vote was never given to us, but rather, it was won in blood.” Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

This appearance by Barber, former Atlanta Mayors Andrew Young and Bill Campbell, and current Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, comes on the eve of Atlanta not making the list of top three cities for the Democratic National Convention in 2028.

Willis, who has come before the congregation at Big Bethel in the past to air her grievances with the current presidential administration, said, “Here in Georgia, we see exactly what we’re up against. How many of y’all know that the Black church has always been more than just a place of worship?”