Moral Monday movement needs to remember what worked before against NC Republicans | Opinion
The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber kicked off the revival of the “Moral Monday” protests this week with a stirring speech on the south lawn of the State Capitol.
“It’s time for the thunder one more time,” he told the crowd of more than 300. “We can’t – we won’t – be silent anymore as long as justice is held back.”
But the person whose voice may have most captured the essence of the occasion was a young Black singer, Raven Newton. Taking the stage before Barber and backed by a bluesy band that included Raleigh’s street saxophonist Freddy Greene, Newton sang Sam Cooke’s 1963 Civil Rights anthem, “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
With a powerful voice that belied her diminutive size, Newton sang to the crowd gathered amid the oaks of the Capitol grounds on a soft April evening: “It’s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come, oh yes, it will.”
It was a fitting theme for a movement that burned bright in 2013, when protesters led by Barber descended on the Legislative Building for 13 consecutive Mondays. They protested against the right-wing actions of the Republican-controlled legislature and called for Medicaid expansion, environmental justice, voting rights, women’s rights, immigrant rights, gun control and other progressive causes. The protests resulted in more than 1,000 arrests and drew national attention.
Barber, then a Goldsboro minister and president of the NC NAACP, is now president of Repairers of the Breach, and is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival.
In Monday’s speech, Barber listed what he counts as accomplishments of the protests: the repeal of the notorious House Bill 2, the “bathroom bill” that discriminated against transgender people; the 2016 defeat of the governor who signed it, Pat McCrory; court victories against gerrymandering and the approval this year of Medicaid expansion.
But this year, the 10th anniversary of the protests, the setbacks and lack of action eclipse that list: Conservatives have taken control of the state Supreme Court, Republicans have regained a legislative supermajority, schools remain chronically underfunded, private school vouchers are being expanded, tax cuts favoring corporations and the wealthy continue, the permit requirement for handgun purchases has been repealed, gerrymandering is about to get worse and new bills targeting transgender people are moving in the legislature.
Cooke’s song told that story too: “Then, I go to my brother, and I say, Brother, help me, please. But he winds up knockin’ me back down on my knees.”
After the speech, the crowd marched to the Legislative Building, but they found the lawmakers gone and the entrance blocked and guarded. They left three pages of demands on the doorstep. The stymied approach underscores the futility of protesting against this legislature. This Republican majority will not be shamed and they’ve locked themselves into power.
The Moral Monday movement should focus elsewhere. HB2 was not repealed because of protests outside the Legislative Building. Republicans retreated after major league sports, the NCAA and big businesses applied pressure with boycotts of the state.
That is where the pressure should go now. Those who believe in fair elections, well-funded schools and individual rights should recruit or cajole businesses to join them. What’s being done to North Carolina isn’t good for North Carolinians. And it isn’t good for business.
Business leaders understand that a strong workforce requires strong public schools and a flourishing university system. Computer and biotech companies considering coming here know their employees won’t be drawn to a state that’s lax on guns and restrictive of abortion rights and voting rights. Remaking a state that prided itself on being a leader of the New South into a model of the Old South is taking the state’s image backward and its economy will follow.
When corporate leaders protest as powerfully as the Rev. Barber, they’ll be heard. And, the results won’t be a long time coming.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-829-4512, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com
