Meanwhile, back in North Carolina (57 arrested in 4th Moral Monday)

[mmonk]

RALEIGH — The crowd inside the state North Carolina Legislative Building has grown larger each Monday as has the number of demonstrators arrested by General Assembly police.

The Rev. William Barber, the head of the state NAACP and chief architect of the weekly Moral Monday demonstrations in the capital city, watched from behind the police line on Monday evening as demonstrators united in message to the GOP-led General Assembly waited to be walked out by the approaching officers.

The chanting, songs and political speeches that had rumbled through the second-floor rotunda were muted by the repeated zip, zip, zip of General Assembly police pulling out plastic ties to bind the wrists of the protesters.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/20/2906393/nc-demonstration-against-gop-lawmakers.html##storylink=cpy

[marions ghost]

1. Good article--160 arrested so far...

"Since April 29, nearly 160 people have been arrested while protesting at the Legislative Building. The first Moral Monday demonstration brought 17 arrests, the next brought 30, then 49. This week, General Assembly police took nearly 60 protesters to the Wake County Detention Center, where they will be jailed briefly and given a date to appear in court. The official number of arrests Monday was not available at press time.

The first wave of protesters are scheduled to appear in Wake County court on June 24, but lawyers representing some of them plan to challenge the authority of the General Assembly police to charge the demonstrators with trespassing, disorderly conduct and failure to disperse during a peaceful demonstration.

The courts will be asked to weigh whether the demonstrators’ First Amendment rights to assemble peaceably and petition their lawmakers were violated by a General Assembly police force citing building rules not encoded in state statute as their basis for arrest."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/20/2906393/nc-demonstration-against-gop-lawmakers.html#storylink=cpy

[mmonk]

2. Should be an interesting day concerning legal arguments.

In the meantime, these days will keep going.

[mmonk]

3. Video outside the General Assembly and then the entrance two by two.

[marions ghost]

4. Wow impressive

"let them see the faces of the people they are hurting..."

This video takes a few minutes but I hope some here will watch it--love the part where the people cheer for those who are entering the building knowing they will be arrested.

I hope they keep this UP--this action is worthy of the best of North Carolina.

[mmonk]

5. When the system becomes too gerrymandered and crooked,

this becomes the only way to be heard. The voice taken away becomes the loudest in time.

[marions ghost]

10. If the hijacking of NC continued without protest

I think we could give up on NC.

If this continues I hope there will be national support like in Wisconsin.

[mmonk]

11. Our plight has largely gone ignored until recently.

But our system has been hijacked and changed one of the most.

[marions ghost]

13. It's easy for people who don't know how this was done by ALEC et al

& Art Pope to just chalk it up to "what do you expect from a backward state?"

Actually that is way too simplistic a view.

[mmonk]

14. Exactly. They don't really understand until it happens to them.

They weren't expecting Wisconsin. But because of stereotyping, they ignore North Carolina. They probably don't even know Democratic candidates for Congress received more votes than Republicans, but because of gerrymandering, the final outcome was that 9 Republicans were elected and 4 Democrats. This is democracy in reverse.

[marions ghost]

21. When this story is written

it will be, "how to steal a state" and like you say, put it into reverse.

People around the country need to understand what is happening in NC.

Democrats and progressives need to support the protestors in Raleigh.

This is NOT southern conservatism as usual. This is a deliberate, well-funded, rightwing extremist hijacking.

[bemildred]

6. This is how you do it.

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!

[hobbit709]

7. Every person arrested should demand a jury trial.

[mmonk]

12. That would be an effective tactic.

[okaawhatever]

36. I think there's rules for that. In TN you have to be facing a fine of more than $50 to qualify. But,

it might help get any fine down if they have a similar rule. Demand a jury trial if there's a fine more than the cut off. Now, I think the protesters could appeal, that would probably give them the most leverage.

[marions ghost]

38. Good Idea

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/18-7

In the case in this article the fine was $375 in New York.

[MineralMan]

8. Civil Disobedience requires arrests to be effective.

If there are no arrests, there is no impact.

[mmonk]

9. Yep.

It otherwise becomes a forgotten exercise.

[LeftInTX]

15. Kick!!

[Matariki]

16. I wish the article had a little more info on what their goals are

what they're protesting.

For those of us not from North Carolina.

[Matariki]

17. Answering my own post...

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP's fourth straight week of protests at the state legislature resulted in 57 arrests Monday evening.

Arrests have grown every week of what the group calls "Moral Mondays," totaling 153.

The NAACP and other activists have directed their anger at policies on social programs, voting rights, education and tax reform. They argue decisions to refuse Medicaid expansion, cut unemployment benefits, require photo identification at the polls, and other actions show a disregard for the state's most vulnerable residents.

http://www.wral.com/nc-naacp-enters-fourth-week-of-legislative-protests/12463599/

[mmonk]

18. All of our laws are being changed by ALEC.

Our nationally recognized school system in Wake County has been attacked (due to its socially economic diversity the tea party attacked). We had one of the most stringent environmental law structures in the United States and they are dismantling it. They refused Medicaid expansion. They are attacking all labor laws and standards. Many more but you get the picture. We went from a moderate state (and a legislature that hasn't been Republican since reconstruction) to a tea party state by force.

[Matariki]

19. "by force"?

How did that happen? From Democratic to Tea Party Republicans?

[mmonk]

20. They won in 2010.

They then gerrymandered the system and are now working on voter ID. In 2012, we out voted them and lost due to gerrymandering. It currently is in the hands of the courts but meanwhile, we can't vote them out unless Republicans (a minority) vote them out. In other words, we are under minority rule and all their legislation is partisan or corporate.

[Matariki]

24. Oh man.

That really really sucks. I'm afraid we're going to see more of this unless something is done. It's the only way republicans are going to be able to ever win, considering their dwindling popularity. Ugh.

[mmonk]

27. I'm now a big proponent of proportional voting.

I'm trying to join all organizations that support it.

[marions ghost]

23. This video explains what the issues are:

"...More arrests are expected on May 20, the next "Moral Monday" called by the N.C. NAACP and its coalition partners in protest of the Republican supermajority's ramrodding of nearly 2,000 bills -- many of them designed to decimate public education, deny/restrict access to health insurance, kneecap labor rights, seize local control from elected municipal governments, restrict women's access to reproductive healthcare, expand firearms permissions, eviscerate oversight boards, permit exploitation of public lands, implement "fracking" and other environmental abuses, and suppress voter rights -- through the state legislature since the end of January.

Here's a great video published online by UpWorthy that tells the story of those arrested and why they chose to make this statement. This is not a small effort. The 96 people who've chosen to sit, stand, and sing in the hallways of the N.C. General Assembly are backed by thousands of North Carolinians who are coming to the NCGA to be heard. (See the footage around 6:50 into the video clip.)*

This is the beginning of a groundswell moment in North Carolina history: the tipping point at which Tar Heelinians let our legislators know, in no uncertain terms, that they either serve the state with the consent or the governed or we will withdraw our consent. But we will not back down. We will not go back. We've worked too hard and paid too much to be dragged back in time by the "secret political societies" our state's constitution authors warned us about.

Many of these bills are taken verbatim from the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) "model legislation" playbook. All of this is made possible now that our newly elected Republican governor, Pat McCrory, has named Art Pope the state's deputy budget director. Pope's long been known as an ALEC vizier; his bankroll seeded the campaigns of many of the lawmakers now working to implement ALEC plans in North Carolina.

Yesterday, May 16, was Crossover Day at the N.C. General Assembly: the date when bills that pass the N.C. House of Representatives cross over to the Senate side, and when bills that pass the N.C. Senate cross over to the House side. Once bills have made their way through both houses intact, they are delivered to the governor's desk for signature (although in some cases, Gov. McCrory has allowed bills to become law without his signature).

According to the Raleigh News & Observer, here are just a few of the odious bills that survived crossover. Yes, this is an exhaustive list. In less than 12 weeks (from January lawmaker installation to bill submittal deadlines late in March and early in April), nearly 1,000 bills were submitted in the N.C. Senate and more than 1,000 in the N.C. House..."

More about the bills: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/17/1209879/-N-C-civil-disobedience-Nearly-100-arrested-so-far-for-protesting-ALEC-ification-of-state

*Video:

[Matariki]

25. thanks!

[johnnyreb]

22. Go, North Carolina!!!

We are spreading word of your fight.

Love, your many friends in South Carolina.

[marions ghost]

26. NC can't fight this Juggernaut alone

"A juggernaut in colloquial English usage is a literal or metaphorical force regarded as mercilessly destructive and unstoppable. Originating ca. 1850, the term is a metaphorical reference to the Hindu Ratha Yatra temple car, which apocryphally was reputed to crush devotees under its wheels. The word is derived from the Sanskrit Jagannātha (Devanagari जगन्नाथ "world-lord", one of the names of Krishna found in the Sanskrit epics.

The term is often applied to a large machine, or collectively to a team or group of people working together (such as a highly successful sports team or corporation), or even a growing political movement led by a charismatic leader—and it often bears an association with being crushingly destructive." (Wiki)

[mmonk]

28. My cousin is in Charleston. Thanks much!

[freshwest]

33. Send our awe and respect to your cousin. I love Barber, tne NAACP and these North Carolinians!

This is what it takes, showing up again and again.

[mmonk]

39. Will do.

[marions ghost]

29. The people who got arrested this time

are barred from the building next Monday. So it looks like there has to be a fresh crop every time.

Is this how it was in Wisconsin?

[mmonk]

30. I would like to know what statute they are getting that from.

Never heard of it. I get their strategy though.

[marions ghost]

31. Wondering that too

you mean the strategy of "they'll run out of gas once their main civil disobeyers get arrested"--that strategy?

People need to keep coming, keep coming. An ongoing vigil. It's the only way.

[mmonk]

32. Agreed.

I know duty will call me to take the walk soon.

[marions ghost]

34. Come back & tell

[octoberlib]

35. This is so awesome!

I've been thinking about making a trip up there from Charlotte. Thanks for posting.

[marions ghost]

37. K&R