They call it Moral Mondays. And in North Carolina, this means a movement of civil disobedience led by Reverend Dr. William Barber, a local head of the NAACP. Why protest? That’s because, for the first time since 1870 — yeah, that’s right, 1870 — the Republicans have their hands on all the levers of power there, the Governor’s office, and both houses of the legislature, and they’re on a tear to keep it. One of their first efforts was to attack voting rights and similarly, redistricting, thus to block voters from the polls and to redraw districts to isolate and weaken those who make it through to vote. They slashed unemployment benefits to some 170,000 people, so much so that they no longer qualify for federal unemployment programs. North Carolina, the eighth state to cut such benefits. Social programs have also been hit, and that’s just the beginning.
And so, demonstrations at the Capitol have attracted hundreds of protesters. Nearly 1000 people have been arrested in Raleigh, proving that we aren’t as far as we think, from the Civil Rights days. It is one of the ironies of history that a party built on Black suffrage and Black freedom has now become one designed and determined to strip Blacks from the voting rolls, despite the people in the streets and over 900 arrests, national coverage is slight and fleeting. Perhaps that may be because they’re so busy covering 50-year anniversaries featuring reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, instead of what’s happening now right beneath their noses.
You may not see it or hear of it, but a movement is blossoming in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s called Moral Mondays. From in prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
