Vowing mass civil disobedience if North Carolina’s Republican governor attempts to thwart the will of the people and “steal this election,” hundreds gathered in a candlelight vigil outside the North Carolina Capitol building Monday evening.
Governor Pat McCrory, who lost in the November election to Attorney General Roy Cooper by roughly 9,700 votes but has refused to concede, has been the subject of demonstrations throughout his tenure. His policies have crippled public education, anti-poverty, and health programs, while he oversaw some of the most blatant state-sanctioned discrimination efforts, in the form of the anti-LGBTQ “hate bill” HB2 as well as the state’s discriminatory voter ID law.
Addressing McCrory before the crowd on Monday, Rev. William Barber, head of the state NAACP and leader of the Moral Monday movement, declared: “[A]fter four years the people took your report card and failed you.”
In the run up to November’s election, North Carolina was the site of a fierce voter suppression effort. Meanwhile, the state GOP was caught celebrating low early voting turnout by African Americans.
“The ways of the Old South are changing here,” Barber continued. “Governor, you might as well change with it.”
But, as the News & Observer explained, McCrory has refused to accept his loss. Rather,
“If you try to steal this election, we will have mass civil disobedience,” Barber vowed.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT