David LaMotte, the Council’s Consultant for Peace, celebrated Father’s Day last Sunday with his four-year-old son and 82-year-old dad. David then traveled to Raleigh with his father so that the Rev. Dr. John LaMotte could become one of those arrested at Moral Monday.
Having already been arrested in an act of conscience, David explained in his blog the significance for his father, a third-generation North Carolinian.
He wrote, in part:
Tomorrow, I will take my father to jail, and I’ve never been prouder of him than I am right now.
The Rev. Dr. John H. LaMotte is my dad. He’s an 82 year old retired Presbyterian minister. He volunteers at a local elementary school helping kids who are struggling with their classwork, as well as every Thursday afternoon at the local thrift store. He was recently the president of his Kiwanis Club. He is active in his church. He has donated untold gallons of blood. In short, he’s a good guy, pretty mainstream, and a generous soul .
He has never been arrested before, but he will spend Monday night at the Wake County Detention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, sporting zip tie handcuffs.
At this point, almost 500 people have been arrested at a Moral Monday protest, and thousands more have shown up to support them. All are opposed to the current Legislature’s regressive actions. Those being arrested are overwhelmingly from North Carolina, and many are clergy or other people of faith committed to a more compassionate world where all are valued equally as beloved children of God.
Moral Mondays continue on June 24 with an emphasis on labor, women and economic justice.
–Aleta Payne, Development and Communications
I am so proud of you and your father. The witness of both of you is so meaningful to us Presbyterians in the pew. Your dad’s statement is so Presbyterian–wants to make me look up the scriptures to which he refers. AND I love your word smithing of compassion–so applicable. Thank you. Thank you. Peace, Sandy