Weekly Protests Planned in NC: 50 arrested so far that include

[mnhtnbb]

an internationally known AIDS researcher from UNC.



The historians, doctors, preachers, lawyers, raging grannies, students and others gathered around the second-floor fountain inside the Legislative Building and belted out “This Little Light of Mine” and other songs.

They were diverse in age and backgrounds but united in voice as part of a protest movement gaining numbers in recent weeks.

<snip>

The dissenters plan to gather weekly at the state legislature for “Moral Mondays” – a series of demonstrations that have resulted in 50 arrests so far. They acknowledge that their concerns might be tuned out by the supermajority against them. But the protesters hope to persuade others to rise up with them and raise their voices to a future that might bring a political shift in 2014.

Thirty demonstrators were taken to the Wake County jail on Monday after capital police cited them for trespassing and disorderly conduct. A week before that, 17 people were arrested at the demonstration organized by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/10/2883118/nc-protesters-willing-to-risk.html#storylink=cpy



I posted another thread yesterday with the opinion piece detailing the protests/arrests written by two NC Historians (Professors at Duke and UNC) that appeared in yesterday's N & O. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251304297

Nice to see that this movement is gaining steam. NC is one of 12 states with no recall process so the first opportunity to reverse
the trend of all this regressive legislation will come with the election of 2014.

[Locrian]

1. article is big on 'protests - protests - protests' but not 'why'

Not being from NC had trouble with this article - there's a scant two paragraphs with a hint of the sneaky crap the GOP is trying to pull:

In the four months since North Carolina Republicans took control of both General Assembly chambers and the governor’s mansion, the lawmakers have proposed rapid and sweeping change to the state’s electoral processes, health care policies, welfare management and publicly-funded education systems.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/10/2883118/nc-protesters-willing-to-risk.html#storylink=cpy

But Van Der Horst, a physician who has traveled the world to advocate for preventive health care policies, had become alarmed by the GOP leadership’s refusal to accept a Medicaid expansion under federal health care reform that would limit health care access for nearly half a million people. He also was disturbed by legislation that requires voters to show identification at the polls but also decreases the number of days ballots can be cast before Election Day.

He complained about legislators who advocate for restrictions on abortion and contend they are “pro-life” but then support bills to cut early childhood education programs and access to Medicare.


Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/10/2883118/nc-protesters-willing-to-risk.html#storylink=cpy

[mnhtnbb]

2. Good comment. The NC NAACP is organizing the protests

Good summary from their website on actions already taken by this Legislature:




Deny federal funds for Medicaid to 500,000 poor North Carolinians.

Take unemployment benefits from 165,000 North Carolinians.

Raise taxes on 900,000 of North Carolina's poor and working poor by ending the Earned Income Tax Credit to pay for tax cuts to 23 millionaires.

That took over a billion dollars last year from public education, made plans to implement a voucher plan to hand out public money to private schools, and reduce eligibility to preschool for poor children.

To re-start the death penalty and repeal the Racial Justice Act that has exposed the racially discriminatory application of the death penalty.

To codify anti-labor language in our state constitution.

To roll back Early Voting, ban Sunday Voting, end same-day registration and impose an unneeded poll tax disguised as Voter ID bill that will cost the state millions, deny student ids from private schools,
increase disenfranchisement of formerly incarcerated, charge parents a $2500 tax (poll tax) if there college student votes at college and not at home, and leave us with voting laws more restrictive than Alabama and South Carolina; when you pursue policies that hurt most voters, you can't afford a big turnout.

Many of those pushing this agenda got into public office because of a race-based redistricting plan that is the most discriminatory since the 19th century. Its racial impact is undeniable. And the
Voter ID bill is simply a modern poll tax in disguise, even more restrictive than the ones passed in Alabama and South Carolina. Ending the popular Early Voting and Sunday Voting is an outrage. They do not want the people to vote.

And this is only the first 50 days of their work, and we haven't even seen the final budget.

The policies pursued in these chambers will devastate hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who are already suffering. The leadership of this Republican "super-majority" are deaf to the cries of those whom Jesus called "the least of these."

http://www.naacpnc.org/