54 'Moral Monday' Protesters Expect Arrests in Civil Disobedience Over 'Extreme Public Policy'

North Carolina NAACP leads fourth wave of direct action at state capitol to protest General Assembly’s Extreme Package of Legislation.

Members of the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus show their support for protesters and those arrested for walking into "The People's House" (N.C. General Assembly) and refusing to leave. Photo courtesy: Daily Kos

(RALEIGH, NC) - In the fourth week of nonviolent civil disobedience at the North Carolina General Assembly, today at 5:30 pm a group of at least 54 individuals will assemble to oppose extreme policies pushed by the state legislature. Led by the North Carolina NAACP, today’s “Moral Monday” pray-in and teach-in will largely focus on the constitutional right of equal protection under the law.

Among an avalanche of other measures, the legislature has passed and introduced bills this session to:

• Restart the death penalty in North Carolina
• Repeal the Racial Justice Act, which allowed death row inmates to appeal their sentences on the grounds of racial bias in the court system
• Take away the right to vote from people with felony convictions after they have completed their sentences
• Reject federal funding to expand Medicaid to cover 500,000 North Carolinians without health insurance

"None of their attacks on black, Latino and poor white people work in silos,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the NC NAACP. "The issues of criminal justice and healthcare are closely tied together, for instance. Last night, the North Carolina Senate introduced a budget that slashes Medicaid access and services across the board. They have further attacked our public schools, with a hand-out plan to their private schools, with a fancy name called 'vouchers.”

Participants in today’s direct action include ministers, college students and professors, anti-death penalty advocates, labor union leaders, veterans and other concerned citizens from across the state. In other demonstrations during the previous three weeks, more than 100 other protesters have already been arrested and jailed.