SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Moral Monday Sit-In Equates People's Health with Eco Health
'Yes to Medicaid!... No to Fracking!': A refusal to expand healthcare while paving the way for gas drilling is two sides of the same 'regressive' coin, say demonstrators
Jun 03, 2014
' Moral Monday' demonstrators took their fight back to the state capitol building again this week and eleven people were detained and cited for refusing to leave as they attempted to lobby Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to help end the legislature's frontal assault on the health of the state's people and its environment.
The demonstrators gathered in the building in hopes to deliver letters to McCrory, but because the usual legislative session was not held, police closed the building early and demanded that the crowd disperse. The focus of the protest was the governor's continued refusal to expand the state Medicaid program as well as recent environmental policies, including a vote to open the state to fracking while ignoring the growing problem of coal ash dumping.
As these protesters exhibit:
"We recognize that reversing these actions will not solve every problem that our state faces," one of the NAACP letters for McCrory stated. "We ask that you reverse course because your actions have made challenging situations even more painful for so many. We call on you today to reverse course by repenting, repealing and restoring our state to higher ground by eliminating the laws and policies pushed by this N.C. Legislature, led by Speaker Tillis and Senate Leader Berger and signed by you."
Watch as officials try to clear the capitol rotunda:
RAW VIDEO: "Moral Monday" demonstrators stage sit-in at state capitolEleven demonstrators stage a sit-in Monday inside the North Carolina capitol. A group of people concerned about the ...
"Our General Assembly continues to pass bad policy after bad policy without regard to the people whose health they are damaging," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP and spokesperson for the Forward Together Moral Movement. "This week, Speaker Thom Tillis, Senate Leader Phil Berger, Gov. Pat McCrory and their extremist colleagues put corporate interests ahead of real people when they rammed through an end to the moratorium on fracking in our state. They put corporate interests ahead of real people when they proposed a budget that takes vital Medicaid support from the elderly and the disabled. We are going back today and we will be back every Monday of this short session until this General Assembly listens to the People's call to repent, repeal and restore confidence in our government."
After police cleared most of the building, eleven demonstrators refused to leave. After several hours, though not arrested, they were cited with 2nd degree trespassing, a misdemeanor, and escorted from the building in handcuffs before being released outside.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
north carolinamedicaidenvironmentthom tillisfrackingrev. william barber iiinaacpmoral mondaypublic health
' Moral Monday' demonstrators took their fight back to the state capitol building again this week and eleven people were detained and cited for refusing to leave as they attempted to lobby Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to help end the legislature's frontal assault on the health of the state's people and its environment.
The demonstrators gathered in the building in hopes to deliver letters to McCrory, but because the usual legislative session was not held, police closed the building early and demanded that the crowd disperse. The focus of the protest was the governor's continued refusal to expand the state Medicaid program as well as recent environmental policies, including a vote to open the state to fracking while ignoring the growing problem of coal ash dumping.
As these protesters exhibit:
"We recognize that reversing these actions will not solve every problem that our state faces," one of the NAACP letters for McCrory stated. "We ask that you reverse course because your actions have made challenging situations even more painful for so many. We call on you today to reverse course by repenting, repealing and restoring our state to higher ground by eliminating the laws and policies pushed by this N.C. Legislature, led by Speaker Tillis and Senate Leader Berger and signed by you."
Watch as officials try to clear the capitol rotunda:
RAW VIDEO: "Moral Monday" demonstrators stage sit-in at state capitolEleven demonstrators stage a sit-in Monday inside the North Carolina capitol. A group of people concerned about the ...
"Our General Assembly continues to pass bad policy after bad policy without regard to the people whose health they are damaging," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP and spokesperson for the Forward Together Moral Movement. "This week, Speaker Thom Tillis, Senate Leader Phil Berger, Gov. Pat McCrory and their extremist colleagues put corporate interests ahead of real people when they rammed through an end to the moratorium on fracking in our state. They put corporate interests ahead of real people when they proposed a budget that takes vital Medicaid support from the elderly and the disabled. We are going back today and we will be back every Monday of this short session until this General Assembly listens to the People's call to repent, repeal and restore confidence in our government."
After police cleared most of the building, eleven demonstrators refused to leave. After several hours, though not arrested, they were cited with 2nd degree trespassing, a misdemeanor, and escorted from the building in handcuffs before being released outside.
' Moral Monday' demonstrators took their fight back to the state capitol building again this week and eleven people were detained and cited for refusing to leave as they attempted to lobby Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to help end the legislature's frontal assault on the health of the state's people and its environment.
The demonstrators gathered in the building in hopes to deliver letters to McCrory, but because the usual legislative session was not held, police closed the building early and demanded that the crowd disperse. The focus of the protest was the governor's continued refusal to expand the state Medicaid program as well as recent environmental policies, including a vote to open the state to fracking while ignoring the growing problem of coal ash dumping.
As these protesters exhibit:
"We recognize that reversing these actions will not solve every problem that our state faces," one of the NAACP letters for McCrory stated. "We ask that you reverse course because your actions have made challenging situations even more painful for so many. We call on you today to reverse course by repenting, repealing and restoring our state to higher ground by eliminating the laws and policies pushed by this N.C. Legislature, led by Speaker Tillis and Senate Leader Berger and signed by you."
Watch as officials try to clear the capitol rotunda:
RAW VIDEO: "Moral Monday" demonstrators stage sit-in at state capitolEleven demonstrators stage a sit-in Monday inside the North Carolina capitol. A group of people concerned about the ...
"Our General Assembly continues to pass bad policy after bad policy without regard to the people whose health they are damaging," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP and spokesperson for the Forward Together Moral Movement. "This week, Speaker Thom Tillis, Senate Leader Phil Berger, Gov. Pat McCrory and their extremist colleagues put corporate interests ahead of real people when they rammed through an end to the moratorium on fracking in our state. They put corporate interests ahead of real people when they proposed a budget that takes vital Medicaid support from the elderly and the disabled. We are going back today and we will be back every Monday of this short session until this General Assembly listens to the People's call to repent, repeal and restore confidence in our government."
After police cleared most of the building, eleven demonstrators refused to leave. After several hours, though not arrested, they were cited with 2nd degree trespassing, a misdemeanor, and escorted from the building in handcuffs before being released outside.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.