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What’s Happening in North Carolina
“…a grim recital of the current reactionary takeover of state government.” – Hodding Carter
To North Carolina’s Governor Pat McCrory and to the extremist majority of the State Legislature almost anyone who isn’t a rich white man is the enemy. The war against drugs has given these men an excuse for using physical force against African Americans and other men of color. However, political and economic forces have become as effective as the police, the courts and the prisons at controlling the rest of the people of North Carolina. Consider what the extremists have already accomplished there:
- 900,000 North Carolinians have lost their hard earned-income tax credit
- 500,000 North Carolinians have lost their Medicaid coverage
- 170,000 North Carolinians have lost their unemployment benefits
- 30,000 North Carolinian children have lost their pre-K programs
- North Carolinian women are victims of “the most draconian anti-choice” laws
- North Carolinian voters are victims of the nation’s worst voter suppression law
- North Carolinian voters must show strict voter IDs
- North Carolinian voters have lost same-day registration and early voting
- North Carolinian public schools saw $90 million switched to voucher schools:
- Public financing of judicial races has been axed
- Death row inmates cannot contest racially discriminatory verdicts
- Taxes have been lowered for the one percent (1%)
- Taxes have been raised for the ninety-nine percent (99%).
Fortunately, various justice organizations in North Carolina have united under the Moral Monday Movement banner to confront the extremists in their state.
Unfortunately, extremists in every state are hard at work finding ways to set back the clock on civil rights and all too few concerned Americans are concerned enough to protest.
