NAACP-led protests resume at North Carolina Legislature
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- November's election results did not go the way Moral Monday organizers had hoped, but protesters returned anyway Wednesday morning proclaiming "The army is here!"
They marched like an army, two-by-two, silently into the Legislative Building where the demonstration quickly turned louder for what organizers referred to as pray-in and teach-in.
The group of about 75 liberal and progressive religious leaders and citizens came bearing a list of similar demands. They want what they call the state's "voter suppression" laws rolled back and Medicaid expanded under the Affordable Care Act.
However, Republicans who backed the measures had voters on their side in November. They retained their supermajorities.
Nash County Democratic Sen. Angela Bryant said she's gratified to see Moral Mondays return despite the defeat at the polls.
"All of us would not be human if we didn't feel deflated. I know a lot of people felt deflated. I felt deflated," Bryant said. "When all seems lost, [the protesters] provide us that faithfulness to go forward."
Wilmington protestor Sandy Younce was arrested in last year's Moral Monday demonstrations. His arrest was thrown out of Wake County Court along with hundreds of others after several judges ruled General Assembly police violated protesters constitutional right to assemble.
Younce rejoined the protests Wednesday morning undeterred by Republican victories in November.
"I think the public is beginning to see what we see," Younce said. "Well [the election losses are] probably our fault. My fault for not being more of a messenger."
While there were no arrests Wednesday, there was a tense exchange between General Assembly police and Moral Monday leader Rev. William Barber. As protesters made a lap around the Legislative Building, police feared they would block entryways.
"We're not in front of the doors and we didn't plan to go in front of the doors," Barber exclaimed to his followers. "Later, we might engage in that kind of civil disobedience, but right now we came here for a specific purpose."
Barber did allude to staging some kind of civil disobedience against the legislature on Feb. 4. The group is also planning to recruit hundreds of protesters for what's being billed as a Mass Moral March on Raleigh on Feb. 14.
