Video transcript:
Good morning everyone. Today is Monday, March the 30th, 2026. This is Wes Fryer in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is about 7:20 in the morning before school, and I want to talk about “fighting with your camera.”
This is a video about the photojournalist Charles Moore, who was a photojournalist that documented the US Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s for Life Magazine, as well as some other newspapers, periodicals, and journalism outlets.
This weekend was our No Kings 3 protest. It was the largest peaceful civil rights protest in the history of the United States in 250 years of existence. One of the things that surprised me was to see, when I posted about how many folks showed up for the protests, there were probably about five or six different comments that were all very negative — from people saying we don’t have any kings. They’re basically pro-MAGA, pro-king, or in denial of the fact that we have a king today.
I’m sharing this Charles Moore video because I think it is really important for us to share with our camera, to document, to be digital witnesses of the things that we see and experience. The photographs of Charles Moore were pivotal in the civil rights movement, drawing attention to horrific acts of violence, but also awakening the minds and spirits of our fellow citizens to evil that was in the land — bad things that were happening, abuses of police power, gatherings of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina in 1965. That’s one of the scenes in this video about Charles Moore.
I am very thankful for so many things, but one of them is to be in partnership and community with other people who are bearing witness to what is happening today in our country, building community so that we can build personal resilience and strength and hope to keep the light on and to remain hopeful in this time.
One of the other videos I watched this morning was our lead Pastor John Cleghorn’s sermon from two Sundays ago. (direct link, starts at 36:35)
Dot Killian, who is officially an interim pastor but our co-pastor with John at Caldwell Presbyterian, gave a sermon this past Sunday that was so strong, inspiring, and thought-provoking. (direct link, starts at 29:52)
The United States today is acting like an empire, and the United States has been an empire for many years. That’s not a reality that I think we’ve necessarily taught overtly in civics and history classes in the United States, but the unprovoked war of aggression in violation of international law that the United States continues to promulgate — now over a month old in Iran — is terrible, and there’s a lot going on in the world.
What I want to share before I go get ready for class is hope. I was very inspired to be gathered together with thousands and thousands of other Charlotteans in First Ward Park in Uptown Charlotte on Saturday. I was inspired by the words of Dr. Kendi, who was our keynote speaker. You can watch the full video of his approximately 20-minute speech at our No Kings 3 rally in Charlotte.
I was also able to buy a last-minute ticket and hear him talk about his new book at the Carolina Theater.
I believe that we can gain inspiration and hope from history, because many people have struggled for many years in this country for the values of equal rights, of justice, of the right to vote, the right to be treated equally because of our humanity, and the right for all people to enjoy the protections of the rule of law — and not be subject to arbitrary and capricious kidnapping and imprisonment by the government.
So I hope that you’re having a wonderful week. We are about to start the month of April. This is Holy Week — we had Palm Sunday last Sunday. I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to attend our Maundy Thursday service. As a follower of Jesus, it’s a challenging day, because there are folks who are masquerading as angels of light that are not speaking for Jesus Christ. We need to listen to the words of Jesus, which are to care for our neighbor, to love our neighbors, to carry out the mandates of the Sermon on the Mount — not to hate, but to love and to lift up and to pray unceasingly.
So I pray for the healing of our nation, and I pray for the healing of our spirits, and I pray for hope this day. I hope you have a wonderful week. Take care. Bye bye.
This video is also available on YouTube.
Please join me in advocacy for human rights, representative democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of church and state.
