Two NC Moral Monday protests draw hundreds

Hundreds of Moral Monday demonstrators turned out in two North Carolina counties yesterday to demand better wages and an end to attacks on workers, voter suppression and education cuts.



Protesters want to clean up the state capital.

Some 300 people turned out at a protest in Southern Pines in the central part of the state, while about 30 gathered in Jacksonville, in eastern North Carolina. In both places, people said they want their voices heard in Raleigh. They said they felt locked out of the legislative process, which resulted in cuts to unemployment benefits and Medicaid as well as tax increases for the middle class.

Chris and Katherine Stevenson, who attended the Southern Pines event, were both arrested during protests at the Statehouse earlier this year. Mrs. Stevenson said it is important to let lawmakers know that people across the state want change:

What is happening now is not going to solve the problems.

Greg Humphries, who came to the Jacksonville rally, agreed. Jobs and equality are essential, he said:

There ought to be equality in all aspects of government especially in pay. I believe that all people ought to get a good salary.

The demonstrations were just the latest in the effort to bring the Moral Monday movement statewide. The protests began in April in the state capital and continued through July, resulting in about 925 arrests. The state chapter of the NAACP, which served as main organizer, then took the rallies across the state to both rural and urban locations. An event held in Asheville last month drew about 10,000 people.

Gov. McCrory and the Legislature are fulfilling the corporate policies pushed by greedy billionaire Art Pope, an ALEC disciple and Benedict Arnold Koch brothers buddy who got himself appointed state budget director after financing a number of radical politicians’ campaigns.

The Legislature's attacks on middle-class North Carolinians are spreading through the state. A small coastal hospital announced it was closing down in the coming months because Gov. McCrory decided not to expand Medicaid. The expansion would have been funded by the federal government.