an internationally known AIDS researcher from UNC.



The historians, doctors, preachers, lawyers, raging grannies, students and others gathered around the second-floor fountain inside the Legislative Building and belted out “This Little Light of Mine” and other songs.

They were diverse in age and backgrounds but united in voice as part of a protest movement gaining numbers in recent weeks.

<snip>

The dissenters plan to gather weekly at the state legislature for “Moral Mondays” – a series of demonstrations that have resulted in 50 arrests so far. They acknowledge that their concerns might be tuned out by the supermajority against them. But the protesters hope to persuade others to rise up with them and raise their voices to a future that might bring a political shift in 2014.

Thirty demonstrators were taken to the Wake County jail on Monday after capital police cited them for trespassing and disorderly conduct. A week before that, 17 people were arrested at the demonstration organized by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/10/2883118/nc-protesters-willing-to-risk.html#storylink=cpy



I posted another thread yesterday with the opinion piece detailing the protests/arrests written by two NC Historians (Professors at Duke and UNC) that appeared in yesterday's N & O. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251304297

Nice to see that this movement is gaining steam. NC is one of 12 states with no recall process so the first opportunity to reverse
the trend of all this regressive legislation will come with the election of 2014.

The disaster that has been unfolding in NC as the Repub Governor and Repub controlled State house
have been at work turning the clock back and dismantling every type of progressive program or policy
they could think of has been shared--in dismay--with members of DU.

How refreshing to open the local Raleigh paper this a.m. to see an opinion piece written by two
leading historian/educators in NC who got themselves arrested protesting!



This week, we were arrested at the General Assembly. We chose the path of civil disobedience – along with 29 others – as a means of calling attention to the headlong assault on our state’s history by the governor and the state legislature.

We are not radicals. Each of us has been president of the Organization of American Historians, the leading professional organization of all American historians. We cherish the history we have spent our lives studying. Yet now we see a new generation in Raleigh threatening to destroy the very history we have spent our lives celebrating.

During the last half century, North Carolinians helped pave the way for racial justice, educational leadership and fairness for all citizens.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/08/2880510/an-nc-history-worth-preserving.html#storylink=cpy