Originally broadcast at 2:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday, August 3, 2016.

The Rev. William J. Barber II passionately discusses his view of the Third Reconstruction period in American history — we're living it. He highlights the first two reconstruction periods, and draws the parallels to the current civil and political unrest in the U.S.

Barber, the president of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, led the NAACP’s efforts to develop a new 21st-century voter registration/voter participation system that has registered more than 442,000 new voters.

“Progressives [are] finally getting their backbone to stand up and declare some issues are not liberal vs. conservative but right vs. wrong,” Barber says. “I really believe we are in the adolescent stages of a third reconstruction in America, and if we can fully grasp the power of a moral fusion intersectional movement, we can see it come to full adulthood.”

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.