Fifty years after the murders of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, North Carolina activists move from civil disobedience to big voter mobilization push.. Originally published in The American Prospect. All photos © 2014 by Jenny Warburg. “I NORMALLY WEAR CUFF LINKS,” the Rev. William Barber II told the 75 activists, black and white, who filled the […]
Moral Monday Capitol Showdown
Fifteen protesters have a breakthrough night in North Carolina’s long-running budget battles. Originally published in The American Prospect. BRYAN PROFFIT KNOCKED ON the door of North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger’s office. It was locked and no one responded, which seemed odd considering that the Senate was about to open its Monday night […]
Meet the Doctor Who Went to Jail to Save North Carolina Lives
Originally published in The American Prospect. NEXT MONTH IN RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, physician Charlie van der Horst is scheduled to appear before a Superior Court judge and jury to appeal his second-degree trespassing conviction stemming from his participation in the Moral Monday protests that filled the state legislature building last year. Van der Horst, an […]
Moral Monday Movement Gears Up for Round 2
As the North Carolina state legislature reopens on May 14 with no ideological reversal in sight, the Monday takeovers of the rotunda will resume. So, likely, will the arrests. Originally published in The American Prospect. ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, THE NORTH CAROLINA legislature will open its 2014 session. It will be hard for the Republican majority to […]
Reports from Moral Monday
During 2014, I reported on North Carolina’s Moral Monday movement, a faith-based organizing effort that is becoming a national model. The movement is spearheaded by the state NAACP with broad support from churches and issue-based organizations, including women’s, immigrant, environmental, LGBT, and labor groups. Most of the articles were published online by The American Prospect, illustrated by […]
A Mighty Shout in North Carolina
The Moral Monday movement entered its second year with a bang on Saturday. But can it channel that upbeat energy to reverse a conservative tide? Originally published in The American Prospect. All photos © 2014 by Jenny Warburg. GEOFFREY ZEGER DIDN’T ATTEND last year’s Moral Mondays, the series of civil-disobedience events at which more than […]
The End of Moderation?
To some Duke professors and alumni, the North Carolina legislature’s recent rightward is a dismantling of Terry Sanford’s legacy. Originally published in Duke Magazine. UNDER A MOONLESS SKY in the North Carolina mountains, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate named Terry Sanford stood on the steps of the Henderson County courthouse and made a proposal that seemed […]
Rebel Towns
Call it municipal disobedience: communities facing environmental threats are defying laws they deem illegitimate. Originally published in The Nation. THE 600 RESIDENTS OF SUGAR HILL, New Hampshire, have done a laudable job of keeping the vulgarities of modern life at bay. There are no fast-food restaurants, no neon signs. Instead, the former iron-mining town has […]
R.I.P. Off
A funeral-industry scandal that’s fleecing thousands of Americans. Originally published in AARP The Magazine. IN 1975 AUDREY AND CARL BREWER PURCHASED what they thought was peace of mind—both for themselves and their family—when they bought two pre-paid funeral plans from Forest Hill South, a mortuary and cemetery in Memphis. Their plans cost them a total of $1,298, […]
When Is a Corporation Like a Freed Slave?
In rural Pennsylvania, township supervisors battling sewage sludge and hog manure stumble up against one of the biggest mysteries in constitutional law. Originally published in Mother Jones. LICKING TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA, IS A ROLLING SWATH of soybean fields and pastures in Clarion County, two hours northeast of Pittsburgh, with 500 residents and quite a few more cattle. Drive […]
