120 Arrested in Latest Round of Moral Monday Protests

[marions ghost]

Source: wral.com

Raleigh, N.C. — After more than 550 arrests, the so-called "Moral Monday" protests at the state legislature show no signs of stopping. State Capitol Police said 120 people were arrested Monday in the eighth round of demonstrations, which attracted an estimated crowd of about 2,000 – the largest showing to date.

Protesters are coming out in growing numbers to decry the rightward tilt of the state since Republicans gained control of the state legislature and the governor's mansion — the first time they've held both branches of government at the same time since 1870.

At rallies before entering the General Assembly to face arrest, they rail against decisions to forego Medicaid expansion under the federal health care overhaul, cut unemployment benefits, pursue tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy and other policies.

Protester Philip Diehl said his unemployment benefits will soon be wiped away as he continues his recovery from cancer.
"Luckily for me, I'm in remission," he said. "Making these changes with unemployment is not right ... I'm a real person in North Carolina, and I matter." Republicans have dismissed the protests and vowed to hold firmly to their agenda.

Read more: http://www.wral.com/naacp-120-arrested-in-latest-round-of-moral-monday-protests/12588918/

---

670 arrests in all now. The rallies are attracting national media attention--both MSNBC and Fox News had reporters at Monday's event.

Also check out:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/how-to-get-arrested-on-moral-monday-a-north-carolina-ministers-protest/277070/



Video from last week's Moral Monday June17:

June 3:

[blkmusclmachine]

1. And ZERO banksters who destroyed our economy were never arrested

?

[marions ghost]

2. Today's coverage by Chris Matthews on MSNBC was excellent:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/24/moral-mondays-in-north-carolina/

Story and good video.

[freshwest]

10. This is great. I hear an old chorus in my mind. Cheers for the protestors. In the spirit of Martin.

I cannot hear his voice without breaking into tears.

[marions ghost]

17. Martin is there

We Shall Overcome. Again.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

[marions ghost]

3. MSNBC is on it--

Other reports today--June 24, 2013:

The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/how-to-get-arrested-on-moral-monday-a-north-carolina-ministers-protest/277070/

MSNBC: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/24/moral-mondays-in-north-carolina/

Melissa Harris-Perry: http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/moral-monday-protesters-nc-targeted-art-pop

Womens Rights: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/06/24/moral-monday-protests-grow-in-north-carolina-with-support-for-womens-rights-advocates/

[wordpix]

4. "Republicans have dismissed the protests" - like they dismiss people unless they're corporations

Yup, just dismiss protesters who can't buy food b/c they have cancer and can't work and have no more unemployment benefits. Repugs dismiss them as if they don't exist. Thank goodness people are protesting these POS Repugs and their policies.

[marions ghost]

5. NC RethugliCons

have no compassion or concern for the people who are suffering.

All they care about is pandering to corporations & fracking, denying voting rights, and pushing their extreme rightwing social agenda.

It is immoral what they are doing to North Carolina.

[GReedDiamond]

6. This deserves much more attention...

...Kicked and recc'd.

[marions ghost]

7. Thank you!

"Until."

[freshwest]

12. I wish I could give more recs to give this. It should be on the greatest page. True activism.

I X-posted part of the OP in the BOG.

[marions ghost]

15. Thank you

for the support.

morning kick

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. K&R!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

9. K&R. That takes courage, getting arrested. It's sad anyone has to just to stop

things happening that the majority of Americans are against. The game is rigged.

[freshwest]

11. With all due respect, it's not a game. It's as old as the animal kingdom. Predator vs. Prey.

The only way the Prey or the Weak can overcome the Powerful, is through unity. And the need to survive ends cynicism. Faced with annihilation or oppression, those who organize in large groups can protect themselves.

If their hearts grow faint or they give in to fear or division amongst their class or group, they won't make it. Not all will get all they want, if they don't unite they will be picked off on at a time.

It's the story of life on Earth. We are here. We can do this.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

13. Game=Metaphor. As for the unity idea--the Powerful know that better than we do, or they wouldn't be

so determined to prevent it and we wouldn't let them stop us.

I get discouraged because it seemed we were heading in the right (correct) direction. Look at what happened after the Tirangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Look at how we beat back the robber barons. Look at how we elected a black president. But now regulations and unions are getting destroyed, the top 1% has just about all of our nation's wealth, and blatant racism is practically acceptable again.

I thought we were on the right track. But I fear we have been derailed.

[freshwest]

14. Media is paid to make us think that. Some struggles take generations. But I hear you.

Although I still think the media is working to demoralize us all the time. Nothing in this world is black and white, nothing si settled. Things build up and things fall down. They reorganize and change and it's never, ever over.

I understand too, that the rich can wait us out and we used to discuss this in our socialism classes. It was chilling but we had to understand. We get older, our bodies wear out, while those with power can continue to mess with up. We have to work on these things with the only power that we have, each other.

We wish it was simple, good grief, we wish we could rest. There are ways to rest and rejuvenate one's spirit that have been available to every generation that ever lived on this planet.

Some people don't believe in the kind of thing that the folks in Raleigh are doing, they expect some magical or evolutionary awakening will make the rich give up and utopia will arise. It's never been that way as far as I know. For those who believe 'the game is rigged' as the song goes, that was the one I meant, they are praying for something that has never been and have admitted defeat.

I used to listen to my high school Chicano friends whose ancestors lost a lot due to the Mexican war and beyond. Their motto was 'It is not over. It is never over. We are here and will not leave. We will survive and we will thrive.' They did.

Anyway, take good care of yourself. I've go to rest myself. Nice talking to you.

[hue]

16. K&R!!!

[marions ghost]

18. Thank you hue

[Ash_F]

19. Meanwhile, Democrats on DU sing the praises of the American justice system. /nt

[marions ghost]

20. Guess they don't want to see that so much needs to be fixed

--the American Justice System is a mess from the bottom up.

[Ash_F]

21. Well most of them are mysteriously absent from this thread.

People have to want to help themselves first, before they can help America.

[marions ghost]

22. People who think it's all gonna be OK

if we just trust the system -- don't seem to have a good sense of boundaries to me. They don't know when the rug is being pulled out from under them.

How anyone can be OK with secret courts, the secret data-mining, theft by the bankers, the abominations in the prison system, and now the assaults on voting rights, etc etc... don't they realize what it adds up to?

It couldn't happen here. But it is.

[marions ghost]

23. Video from June 24