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NAACP Leader Jailed For Protesting Budget Cuts; Attacks on Voting
Rights
Similar Right Wing Agenda Being Advanced In Dozens Of States
The leader of the NAACP North Carolina State Conference, Reverend
Dr. William Barber II, was handcuffed and taken to prison last week
along with six other leaders for attempting to speak in the North
Carolina house against attempts by right wing, Tea Party-backed
legislators to push through draconian cuts that would dramatically
affect the poor and middle class.
The cuts are the latest in a coordinated move in the state to
advance a radical agenda including resegregating schools, eroding
voting rights, and cutting back on education funding.
“Our state can do better than the direction we are headed,” remarked
Barber, who was released the day after the arrest. “The State of
North Carolina has come too far to go back to the dark ages of
segregation and economic despair. Our coalition of civil rights,
faith, labor and civic organizations will continue to organize,
educate and empower communities across the state to keep North
Carolina moving forward.”
The efforts by Tea Party legislators in North Carolina mirror
attempts throughout the country to restrict voting rights, deplete
education funding and eliminate civil rights in the workplace. These
extreme actions disproportionately impact African Americans who are
more likely to lack qualifying photo IDs, attend the poorest
schools, and suffer discrimination in the workplace.
In Florida, newly enacted laws disenfranchise minorities, the
working poor, and young Americans in the voting process by cutting
the number of days for early voting by more than half, imposing
overburdening regulations on voter registration organizations and
denying newly released felons immediate restoration of their voting
rights. In South Carolina, a new voter ID law adds another
unnecessary obstacle to vote for older citizens who may have never
acquired a driver’s license in their life.
In Pennsylvania, the target appears to be education funding. Newly
elected Governor Tom Corbett proposed cutting over $1.2 billion from
the state’s education budget while simultaneously raising prison
spending by nearly 11% and requesting construction of three new
prisons.
In the Midwest, it is the rights of workers that are under attack.
Last month, Missouri legislators tried to raise the threshold for an
employee to file a discrimination lawsuit against an employer. And
in Wisconsin, Tea Party-backed officials tried to eliminate the
right of public employees to organize.
“From Florida to Wisconsin, Missouri to Arizona, we are seeing a
coordinated attempt to turn the clock back on our nation’s
progress,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. The
NAACP will not sit idly by with so much at stake.”
And it hasn’t. As in North Carolina, civil rights, labor and faith
organizations have taken a stand. From lawsuits in Florida, to
rallies in Pennsylvania, to a letter writing campaign in Missouri
that led to a governor veto of the bill that would promote workplace
discrimination, the NAACP and its allies have fought to prevent the
radical agenda from taking hold.
“We must fight against these cruel measures that only serve to hurt
the middle class and the poor and will not make our nation better,”
stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “The courage
of Reverend Dr. Barber and other leaders across the country show the
unyielding resolve that we must all exhibit to protect America’s
promise for hard-working families.”
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