Rev. Barber: Conviction after NC protest ‘badge of honor’

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A civil rights leader says he won’t stop raising his voice for the poor, uninsured and downtrodden, although his trespassing conviction for a demonstration at North Carolina’s Legislative Building has been allowed to stand. The Rev. William Barber II of Goldsboro spoke on Tuesday outside the building where he was arrested in 2017. The state Supreme Court refused last week to hear Barber’s appeal after the Court of Appeals in December upheld his misdemeanor conviction for second-degree trespassing following a jury trial. He says he wears the conviction “as a badge of honor” and that people have the right to bring grievances to lawmakers.