Moral Monday protests gain momentum in North Carolina

<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsWNwFDljhnwZTYe7PucGGLImGYLBdqQ4uJyIevjAS0YgfMAmxX4nsq50u40gaB3BYf5XixdGCqLUW6fr83Emqt9PgSvS4slVjsUyJ2EOq8abQpwIRpZSLfBxBQQMToy2XjIIT7Ezrtz4/s1600/9-16moralmonday1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="They marched around the governor's mansion in Raleigh." border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsWNwFDljhnwZTYe7PucGGLImGYLBdqQ4uJyIevjAS0YgfMAmxX4nsq50u40gaB3BYf5XixdGCqLUW6fr83Emqt9PgSvS4slVjsUyJ2EOq8abQpwIRpZSLfBxBQQMToy2XjIIT7Ezrtz4/s400/9-16moralmonday1.jpg" title="Students held signs protesting the policies of Gov. McCrory and the Legislature." width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Students took the lead on the march around the governor's mansion.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two Moral Monday events drew more than 500 people who protested North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and his legislative allies for curbing voting rights, slashing education spending and refusing federal dollars to expand Medicaid. The rallies held yesterday marked the 18th week since late April that North Carolinians gathered to protest the state</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> government’s actions. About 925 people were arrested during the demonstrations for nonviolent civil disobedience. <o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At a </span><a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/16/3202013/college-naacp-groups-bring-new.html" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">youth-led demonstration in Raleigh</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, some 250 people marched around the governor’s mansion to demand a roll back on </span><a href="http://www.teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/teamsters-participate-in-largest-moral-monday-protest.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the voter suppression and education cuts enacted</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in July. Some also carried three children’s coffins to honor the memory of four little African-American girls killed in a Birmingham, Ala. church bombing 50 years ago yesterday during the height of the civil rights movement in the South.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>College students from around the area came to the protest to show they are concerned about the state’s future. They held signs reading “We will fight for our future,” “Reinvest in public education,” and “Take your hands off our voting rights.” Dylan Su-Chun Mott, a member of the University of North Carolina’s Student Power group, said </span><a href="http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/09/moral-monday-0917#print" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">students need to stand up and be heard</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[The UNC-system Board of Governors] is trying to tell us that the only thing we are in school for is to get jobs. … More importantly, we are learning to be fully participatory citizens in this, our great democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Meanwhile, </span><a href="http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/article_8a8ab91c-1f3e-11e3-bf27-001a4bcf6878.html" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">about 300 people gathered in the small town of Wentworth</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in north-central North Carolina. to protest education and Medicaid cuts. The event was held in the district of Senate leader Phil Berger.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rev. Nelson Johnson of Greensboro’s Beloved Community Center said that Berger and other elected officials have forgotten the main purpose of government:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Mr. Berger, government and our democracy is supposed to work for the people and not against the people.</blockquote> Week after week, North Carolina residents are pushing back on an agenda crafted by <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/02/heres-billionaire-trying-to-destroy.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">state budget director Art Pope</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, a multimillionaire who helped underwrite the campaigns of Gov. McCrory and his cronies in the Legislature. It is largely modeled on the pro-corporate, anti-worker platform of the </span><a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">American Legislative Exchange Council</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">McCrory says the changes will help everyone in the state, </span><a href="http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/09/12/your-handy-guide-to-the-seven-most-common-myths-from-the-gop/print/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the numbers just don’t bear this out</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In fact, they show the state spent $100 million less on public schools, cut taxes only on out-of-state corporations and the wealth and made benefit cuts that hurt low-income citizens, not help them.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ncnaacp" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">next rally is scheduled for Yadkinville</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> on Sept. 23.</span></div></span></div></span>

ALEC art pope education cuts Gov. McCrory Medicaid Moral Monday North Carolina voter suppression Moral Monday protests gain momentum in North Carolina

 Students took the lead on the march around the governor's mansion. Two Moral Monday events drew more than 500 people who protested Nor...

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