Since Republicans gained control of the North Carolina legislature in 2011, judges have emerged as some of their staunchest adversaries. Now lawmakers want to curb state court powers. Originally published in The American Prospect. THIS FALL, IN A DISPUTE OVER GERRYMANDERING, federal judges stripped North Carolina lawmakers of the power to draw their own state district lines. […]
Durham Residents Counter White Supremacists
The fear was that Klansmen would come to replicate the violence that had just racked Charlottesville. Originally published in The Nation. LAST FRIDAY MORNING, A REPORT spread through my hometown of Durham, North Carolina, that white supremacists were descending on downtown. “We are carefully monitoring the situation,” said an all-points bulletin to city workers, “and are taking precautions […]
Toppled! Ridding Durham of Its Racist Monument
The liberal city wanted it down; the GOP state legislature forbade that; activists found a way to end that impasse. Originally published in The American Prospect. JILLIAN JOHNSON WAS OUT of town Monday night, as a group of young activists were yanking the Confederate soldier statue off its granite pedestal in downtown Durham, North Carolina. She learned […]
Articles about North Carolina politics
2018 By Whose Authority? (Carolina Alumni Review, March 2018) Politics and higher education have long been entangled. Where’s the line between setting policy and micromanaging? (Opens as a PDF.) After the Progressive Revolution (The Nation, March 2018) A dispatch from Durham, North Carolina: on the challenges of governing a bright-blue city in the middle of […]
N.C. on the Brink: Repeal of Anti-Trans Bill Falls Flat
At ground zero in the fight over LGBTQ rights, a special legislative session to repeal the state’s House Bill 2 devolved into name-calling and hostile stalemate. Originally published in The American Prospect. DURING THE LONGEST NIGHT of the year—after what had felt like the longest day—North Carolina Governor-elect Roy Cooper walked into a Raleigh news conference […]
History Matters
North Carolina’s jarring GOP power grab feels familiar. Originally published in The Washington Post. ONE OF THE MOST SURREAL moments during last week’s fracas at the North Carolina legislature came during a news conference called by the state NAACP. The civil rights organization was blasting the Republican legislative majority for its brazen efforts to strip authority from […]
Counterprotests Swamp KKK Celebration
A Ku Klux Klan gathering both recalled North Carolina’s racially troubled history and demonstrated the strength and diversity of the state’s civil rights movement today. Originally published in The American Prospect. IN THE END, SATURDAY’S “Victory Klavalkade”—a celebration of Donald Trump’s presidency by the North Carolina-based Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan—turned out […]
A New Suppression Tactic: Voter Defamation
As they challenge the results of a governor’s race, North Carolina Republicans lay the groundwork for a Trump-era assault on voting rights. Originally published in The New Republic. MY NEIGHBOR LUCIA FOSTER was surprised when I emailed her on November 18. “Are you aware,” I asked, “that your name is on one of the election […]
Democrats Make Gains in North Carolina Against Backdrop of Voter Suppression
Changing demographics, combined with the three-year effort by state Republicans to suppress minority and youth turnout, led to close races. Originally published in The American Prospect. BY 12:30 a.m. WEDNESDAY, THE RALEIGH where North Carolina Democrats had earlier been whooping in anticipation of a presidential victory had nearly emptied out. Stragglers were sitting on the […]
Equality Becomes a Talking Point in North Carolina Gubernatorial Race
With the state’s demographics and political makeup shifting, backlash against anti-LGBT law may help send Democrat Roy Cooper to the governor’s office. Originally published in The American Prospect. IAN PALMQUIST WAS RUNNING ERRANDS last Tuesday when the North Carolina gubernatorial debate came on the air. As the 39-year-old gay activist drove around Raleigh, listening to his […]
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