North Carolina's Republican legislature continues to clash with local activists
theGRIO REPORT - The list of conservative proposals undertaken by McCrory and the North Carolina general assembly is long, including the decision to reject federal funds to expand Medicaid...
Voting measures called ‘regressive’
Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project, a national civil rights group that works with local and state partners on racial justice issues, is assisting North Carolina organizers on legal analysis and communications, and called the grassroots campaign a “perfect” fit. “It’s so inspiring to see the clergy and all the other people of all races coming week after week after week and saying ‘no, we can’t tolerate this in our state.’”
On the legal side, she said Advancement Project is looking into suing if “regressive” voting measures are enacted. Proposals being considered would, for example, limit early voting and carry a tax penalty for North Carolina parents if their child registers to vote at a college address.
“This is a really, really ugly agenda and it seems almost gratuitously ugly in terms of its effort to oppress people who are already vulnerable,” Hair said.
“I believe that the people of North Carolina are not in favor of these measures. … Multiracial crowds are coming to protest this.”
Hair blamed the election of the overwhelmingly Republican leadership on redistricting that “packed voters of color into a few districts and created other districts that are electing reactionary, tea party representatives,” and the money that was “poured” into elections in North Carolina after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Multimillionaire GOP power broker Art Pope was appointed the state’s budget writer by McCrory.
If the state’s current voter-friendly election system is changed, said Hair, then “people will have no way to have a voice.” She said she is hopeful that “the legislature and/or the governor will wake up and see that there’s a reason why these folks are coming to the capital, putting their bodies on the line and that it will impact their decision-making, and they will hear the moral message.”
More protests to come
There is more to come, said Barber. He said “Witness Wednesdays” will join “Moral Mondays,” starting with this week’s commemoration marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. “We’re going to honor Medgar Evers and other martyrs – white and black — who fought for people’s rights,” he said.
The latest effort is sure to add to the growing national coverage. MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry devoted an hour of her show on Saturday to developments in North Carolina, and featured interviews with Barber, lawmakers and protesters.
Also on Wednesday, Barber said, there would be a formal announcement of a summer voter registration campaign, “calling on all of our allies to engage in the most massive voter registration campaign we have seen,” from June 12 to Aug. 28, the anniversary of the March on Washington.
Barber said coalition politics “is the only politics that ever changed the South, the only politics that can change the nation.”
Follow Mary on Twitter @mcurtisnc3
