Massive Resistance Required Against NC Taliban

The Koch Brothers now own North Carolina state government, and until that changes, the rights of NC citizens will be subjected to any number of schemes to limit free speech, the right to demonstrate, and to express grievances against the John Birchers who would like to return North Carolina to the era of Jim Crow social policy and the politics of McCarthyism. 

From the Charlotte Observer:

Last week, a group of three dozen teachers marched in Raleigh in an effort to draw attention to the appalling lack of basic educational materials available in their classrooms. When Governor McCrory refused to meet with them, 14 of these dedicated educators were arrested for sitting down in the street in protest. Under a new Senate bill, teachers who are arrested for failure to disperse could potentially lose their teaching licenses.

Senate Bill 867’s intent is stricter background checks for teachers applying for teaching licenses in North Carolina. Its current language requires the Department of Public Safety to provide criminal histories on individuals who apply for licensure to the State Board of Education. The board then makes a determination on whether the aspiring teacher has the “moral character required for professional educators” before issuing the teaching license.

The majority of the crimes listed in the bill make perfect sense if the goal is – as it should be – to keep our students safe. Few would argue that individuals who have been convicted of homicide, arson, prostitution, or misconduct in public office should be allowed to mold the young minds of tomorrow.

But the inclusion of Article 36A, which includes the act of remaining “at the scene of ... disorderly conduct by an assemblage of three or more persons, following a command to disperse,” departs from that sincere desire to protect our children. It means that individuals who have been arrested for protesting the lack of textbooks and toilet paper in North Carolina schools could be denied teaching careers, and those already teaching could potentially have their licenses revoked due to such an arrest. . . .

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article85880232.html#storylink=cpy

Taking Down Dixie's Last Political Stand in North Carolina

North Carolina is so everything that the current covey of Koch Brothers stooges in charge of the state are not: temperate, reasonable, accommodating, caring, committed to fairness.

And just as Wake County reclaimed its schools from the ideologues sent in to destroy socioeconomic integration of schools, the voters of North Carolina will do the same.

From Alternet, a nice piece.  A clip here:

It was a proud day for this Raleigh native. On Saturday, a crowd of riled-up citizens the North Carolina NAACP estimated to be upwards of 80,000—the largest such gathering in the South since the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march—headed to the state capitol to protest the extremist policies of North Carolina's GOP-controlled legislature.

Black and white, young and old, gay and straight, the people gave voice to a full roster of outrages, from racist attacks on voting rights to the state government's refusal to expand Medicaid to half a million vulnerable Tar Heels to limitations on women's reproductive freedom. From a four-year-old girl carrying a sign that read "Nope to Pope!" (referring to Art Pope, the state's multimillionaire budget director and Koch ally) to the indomitable Rosa Nell Eaton, a 92-year-old veteran of the Civil Rights movement, they were united with one message: "Forward together, not one step back."

The Moral March on Raleigh, organized by the North Carolina NAACP, was the eighth annual march of what is known as the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People's Coalition, and a continuation of the Moral Monday demonstrations that took place in 2013, in which nearly 1,000 people (including my 81-year-old mother, a retired educator) were arrested.

There will be much chatter in the progressive media about this event (though there appears to be disappointingly little in the national press), some of it from people who have little experience with the South in general, or North Carolina in particular. Since the region's peculiar contradictions — and triumphs — were on full display Saturday, let me share a little perspective from one who grew up in these parts. . . .