700 arrested in North Carolina battle for “moral high ground”

Latest

A broad coalition of the poor, civil rights leaders, ministers, educators and union members are standing up to resist what they see as a moral atrocity by the wealthy.  PHOTO/MATTHEW LENARD
A broad coalition of the poor, civil rights leaders, ministers, educators and union members are standing up to resist what they see as a moral atrocity by the wealthy.
PHOTO/MATTHEW LENARD

ATLANTA— We are all aware that throughout the country the corporations and the wealthy have taken over government and continue to enact a program that serves their interests at the expense of the majority, who are being pushed more and more into joblessness and poverty. Nowhere is this more the case than in the South. Now, the people of North Carolina are rising up and challenging this mean-spirited agenda.
For the first time in more than 100 years Republicans have gained a majority in both houses of the state legislature, and in 2012 they increased their majority and added a Republican governor. They have been pursuing an agenda of a tax plan that would cut income taxes on the rich and the corporations and drastically increase the sales tax, cut unemployment benefits, expand school vouchers for private schools, refuse Medicaid expansion and pass a package of voting changes that would restrict the votes of minorities and the poor.
A broad coalition of representatives of the poor, civil rights leaders, ministers, educators and union members are standing up to resist what they see as a moral atrocity. “These people have lost their constitutional minds and their moral minds,” says NAACP president Rev. William Barber. For the past 6 weeks a series of “Moral Monday” demonstrations have been conducted, when crowds of up to a thousand file onto the floor of the state legislature and remain until they are arrested. Over 800 have been arrested so far, and the number continues to grow. Says Rev. Barber, “If you are going to change the nation you have to change the South, and if you are going to change the South, you are going to have to focus on these legislatures.”
“The states are the new front line in politics,” says professor Jedediah Purdy. The fight to turn around the political trends in this country that are designed to strengthen the hold that the corporations and the wealthy have over our lives, and to maintain control over a growing restive mass of those who are being excluded and left out of the main stream of society, proceeds on many fronts. North Carolina is one of those fronts, and all of us can take inspiration from their courageous action. It gives us hope that if we can stay the course we can win not only the battles but the war.

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Immigrants Begin 13th Hunger Strike This Year at Tacoma Detention Center

More than 40 migrants held at ICE's infamous Northwest Detention Center in Washington state have begun a hunger strike to protest conditions there.

The Right Wants to Divide Rural People and the Working Class. Here’s How We Unite.

The director of the Appalachia People's Union speaks on why the South is ready to stand up to Trump.

A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs, Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments

Thirty-five-year-old Porsha Ngumezi’s case raises questions about how abortion bans are pressuring doctors to avoid standard care even in straightforward miscarriages.

‘Who Was Officer?’: Family Still Seeks Answers From Jackson Police a Year After Son’s Burial

Dexter Wade, killed by off-duty officer, was mistakenly buried by Hinds County, Mississippi in a pauper’s field. His mother seeks answers to what happened to her son.

Students Walk Out Across the Country to Protest Trump’s Election

Read the speech delivered by a student at the student walkout at MSU two days after the Presidential election. Thousands of students nationwide walked out to protest Donald Trump's election and his policies on the same day.

More from the People's Tribune