Joy Boothe’s inspiring journey to Moral Monday Originally published in The American Prospect WHEN JOY BOOTHE SHOWED UP at last week’s Moral Monday rally in her hometown of Burnsville, North Carolina, she was fighting both sleep- and sun-deprivation. Boothe had just driven in from Asheville, 35 miles away, where her husband was recovering from a […]
Court: NC Voting Rights Rollback to Stay In Place
Since taking control of state government in 2011, Republicans rolled back North Carolina’s progressive voting laws. A new regime of fewer voting days and voter ID requirements will be in place for November’s legislative and congressional elections. Originally published in The American Prospect A FEDERAL JUDGE HAS TEMPORARILY authorized North Carolina to implement a sweeping new […]
Courtroom Drama: Voting Rights Paid for in Blood Under Siege
“It was, bar none, the worst legislative process I’ve ever been through,” Rep. Rick Glazier told the U.S. District Court. Originally published in The American Prospect. AT THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT IN WINSTON-SALEM, Rick Glazier, a Democratic state legislator, took the witness stand on Tuesday, the second morning of a hearing on North Carolina’s restrictive new […]
Shifting Tactics, Moral Monday Movement Launches a New Freedom Summer
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 […]
