The Moral Monday protests, which started in the US state of North Carolina (NC), are fast spreading to many other states in the country and will soon pop up in the powerful house of Congress.
The protests, which are in response to several actions by the government of NC, such as claims of blanket unfair treatment, discrimination, and adverse effects of government legislation on citizens, has moved beyond the borders of NC and is gradually becoming a national social justice movement across the US.
The protests are characterized by engaging in civil disobedience, entering the state legislature building and protesters being peacefully arrested by police.
The president of the North Carolina Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the leader of the Moral Monday campaign, Rev. William Barber, took advantage of the NAACP’s “Journey for Justice” from Selma, Alabama, to the federal capital, to announce the planned protest. The protest is aimed at correcting some sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The “Journey for Justice” is expected to be concluded on September 16th, with a rally and a “massive advocacy and lobbying,” which will ultimately push for a new national agenda that includes a criminal justice reform, expanded economic equality, and restoration of voting rights.
Rev. Barber added that he has been in conversations with others nationwide, including the clergy, about Moral Monday-type action in the halls of Congress; the action will be centered around the denial of Congress to fix the Voting Rights Act.
The movement’s planned storming of Congress will be primarily to protest against Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who in June this year, introduced the Voting Rights Advancement Act. If enacted, the Voting Rights Advancement Act will restore the vital protections lost in the Shelby County v. Holder decision. Although Congress has refused to schedule a hearing on that bill, observers have said the Republican dominated Congress is likely to vote in favor of the bill.
The weekly Moral Monday actions first sprang up North Carolina, in the spring of 2013, in response to policies enacted by Republican Governor Patrick McCrory and the GOP-run General Assembly—including cuts to social programs, conservative education reforms, a rejection of federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage, and changes to voting laws—which protesters called “an assault” on the state’s poor and unemployed.
The Common Dreams reports, that on February 2014, the movement rally drew an estimated 80,000 people. Protests under the Moral Monday banner are increasingly appearing in Georgia and South Carolina, as well as a number of northern cities including Albany, Chicago, and Ferguson.
During protests in 2013, 924 members of the movement were arrested at NC’s legislature building for trespassing, failure to disperse on command, and posting or displaying signs and placards in violation of legislative building rules.
However, the Wake County District Attorney has offered to defer prosecution against the protesters. Reportedly, the deal will consist of protesters paying $180 in court costs and performing 25 hours of community service in exchange for having their charges dismissed.
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