David LaMotte

Who is David LaMotte?

David LaMotte, born on April 25, 1968 in Norfolk, Virginia, is a singer-songwriter based in Black Mountain, North Carolina. His work includes original folk music, children's music, lectures and peacemaking. He also directs a non-profit corporation he created to aid Guatemalan schools, PEG, as well as serving as a consultant on peace issues for the North Carolina Council of Churches and serving on the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nomination Committee.

LaMotte is a Rotary World Peace Fellow, and holds a Masters Degree in International Relations, Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. As part of that degree, he spent three months in rural Andhra Pradesh, India working with a Gandhian non-governmental organization, Arthik Samata Mandal. In 2007 he was nominated as a "Hero of Humanity" in Heifer International's magazine World Ark. He was also named a Madison World Changer by his alma mater, James Madison University.

In May 2011, he was among seven activists arrested at the North Carolina General Assembly, protesting actions by the NC legislature that they believed to be immoral, including a proposed repeal of the NC Racial Justice Act, proposed restrictive voting laws and deep cuts to public education. Charges were later dismissed. He was also arrested in 2013, along with his father, Rev. Dr. John H. LaMotte, as part of the Moral Mondays protest movement.