(Photos from Mega Moral Monday Protest – June 3, 2013, NC,
facebook page Heather Rattelade)
Civil disobedience is a time honored tactic in our struggles over the years for civil and human rights. Sunday, I wrote about the Moral Monday Movement in NC, and the upcoming June 3rd “Mega Moral Monday” protest, and had to follow up today to report on how things went.
Happy to share some good news. The movement is growing, and arrest numbers are mounting.
Be sure to check out and rec ludkmr’s Daily Kos post from this morning:
151 arrested at protests at North Carolina legislature
151 people were arrested at the NC General Assembly during this week’s Mega Moral Monday protest, bringing the total arrested in the past five weeks to 306. An estimated 1,600 people attended in support.
Visit the Mega Moral Monday facebook page.
Movements are successful when they bring together broad segments of a population in coalition. Activists in North Carolina are building that coalition.
Founded on the fundamental right to vote, the movement represents issues affecting multiple sectors of the population.
There were young people represented, like the young man shown above holding up a copy of the constitution, and there were many older folks too, like members of The Raging Grannies.
This growing movement is being well-covered by local progressive and Democratic blogs and student newspapers, but I thought it would be a good idea to see what local MSM television coverage looked like.
Here’s a report from the local ABC affiliate:
MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry has also been filming at the protests. She is no stranger to NC, having attended Wake Forest University, and she received her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University. Be sure to tune in to her show this weekend.
NC public radio has been there as well:
By the time NAACP state president Reverend William Barber started speaking, the crowd was enormous. As Barber stood on a makeshift stage, surrounded by faith leaders, community organizers and professors, he said they’re not planning to scale back their efforts any time soon.
“Don’t ask us when we’ll stop. Ask Tillis and Berger and the man in the Governor’s mansion- when will they stop. When will they stop hurting children? When will they stop hurting the sick? When will they stop hurting our public schools? When will they stop hurting our economics? Because if they stop, we’ll stop. But we can’t stop as long as people are being hurt,” said Barber.
Barber and other organizers want Republican Speaker of the House Thom Tillis and Senate President Phil Berger to stop their chambers from passing bills they say would restrict voting rights, shorten unemployment benefits and cut funding for education, among others.
Barber told the crowd he’s especially opposed to Republican plans to revamp the tax code by lowering personal and corporate income taxes and broadening the sales tax base.
You can get involved even if you aren’t in NC. Donate to the NC NAACP , and Democracy North Carolina.
This quote from Rev. Dr. William Barber, head of the NC NAACP bears repeating:
We’ Is the most important word in the social justice vocabulary. The issue is not what we can’t do, but what we CAN do when we stand together. With an upsurge in racism/hate crimes, criminalization of young black males, insensitivity to the poor, educational genocide, and the moral/economic cost of a war, we must STAND together now like never before.’
On a side note, since I’m on the topic of Rev. Barber, I’ve become increasingly annoyed by certain comments I’ve read (yet again) from those professing to be left of center, who have been south bashing, and along with that bashing there is a clique bashing and blaming “the blacks” (a rehash of the ugly racist prop 8 debacle which Shanikka challenged so admirably) for state failures to enact marriage equality legislation.
Rev. Barber is an evangelical Christian minister. Before some folks on the left make the mistake of writing off all evangelicals, and engaging in black blaming it might be time to hear his message.
Take a listen to him preaching and teaching. This is what he had to say when he received a Special Award for Extraordinary Leadership, from Equality North Carolina last year.
We need fusion politics to make change happen.
So let’s take those steps forward together.
Cross-posted from Black Kos
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