‘Moral Monday’ demonstrators took their fight back to the state capitol building again this week and eleven people were detained and cited for refusing to leave as they attempted to lobby Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to help end the legislature’s frontal assault on the health of the state’s people and its environment.
The demonstrators gathered in the building in hopes to deliver letters to McCrory, but because the usual legislative session was not held, police closed the building early and demanded that the crowd disperse. The focus of the protest was the governor’s continued refusal to expand the state Medicaid program as well as recent environmental policies, including a vote to open the state to fracking while ignoring the growing problem of coal ash dumping.
As these protesters exhibit:
“We recognize that reversing these actions will not solve every problem that our state faces,” one of the NAACP letters for McCrory stated. “We ask that you reverse course because your actions have made challenging situations even more painful for so many. We call on you today to reverse course by repenting, repealing and restoring our state to higher ground by eliminating the laws and policies pushed by this N.C. Legislature, led by Speaker Tillis and Senate Leader Berger and signed by you.”
Watch as officials try to clear the capitol rotunda:
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