Raleigh, NC – On January 17, Darryl Tyree Williams was tased to death by six Raleigh Police Department officers who have since been put on administrative leave, essentially a paid vacation.

The six officers named in the incident are C.D. Robinson, J.T. Thomas, D.L. Aquino, J.R. Scott, D.L. Grande, and B L. Ramge. As of writing, no bodycam or dashcam footage has been released to the public or the family. The preliminary police report attempted to smear Tyree Williams saying, “This location has a history of repeat calls for service for drugs, weapons and other criminal violations,” a common police tactic against victims of police violence. There was no apparent reason for police to demand to search Williams’s car besides blatant racial profiling.

Tyree’s family organized a vigil on January 19, where dozens of attendees released balloons in mourning “We love you Boo-boo”. Organizers held a protest during the Raleigh city council meeting on January 25 calling for Justice for Darryl Williams and defund the Raleigh police department.

Police approached Tyree’s vehicle while they were doing what Raleigh police call “preventative policing.” One family member said, “he was an innocent Black man minding his business” when police dragged him out of the car, “They tried to George Floyd my brother,” she said.

Police say they tased Tyree three times while Williams pleaded with police to stop and was heard saying “I have heart problems.” This police murder comes just two weeks after Los Angeles police murdered a teacher, Keenan Anderson, with a taser. Studies have repeatedly shown that tasers can cause heart problems in the people they strike. Often, victims have little control over their limbs which police will then point to claim they were resisting.

The Refund Raleigh Freedom Committee condemned the police murder and called for divestment from the police department and investing in Black lives by funding “affordable housing, healthcare, fair wages, childcare, and quality education.” The Refund Raleigh Freedom Committee is a community organization that has been calling for years for cuts in the police budget and moving that money to affordable housing developments, a city worker minimum wage of $25 per hour, and for the introduction of a mental health response unit separated from the police department, similar to Denver’s STAR program.

From Memphis to Atlanta to Raleigh to LA, racist police violence has continued unabated and police departments have continued to receive large budget increases at the expense of public schools and other public services. May Darryl Tyree Williams, Tyre Nichols, Keenan Anderson, Tortuguita, and the many victims of the brutal policing regime rest in power.

#RaleighNC #PoliceBrutality #StopPoliceCrimes #ProsecuteKillerCops

Raleigh, NC – Chants of “Free, free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” rang out at the North Carolina Capitol grounds today, July 19, as about 250 people rallied to protest the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza. Many protesters waved Palestinian flags and distributed leaflets to passersby.

So far over 300 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli assault on Gaza. Among the dead are dozens of children.

Speakers at the rally denounced Israel's siege of Gaza and the U.S. support for the occupation. They spoke out in solidarity with the people of Palestine. “I will not apologize for the right to self-defense,” one speaker emphasized as the crowd cheered. “We should never forget we have a right to resist occupation.”

Organizers with the Justice for Rasmea Odeh campaign (http://www.stopfbi.net) collected petition signatures and distributed information to people at the protest, many of whom were outraged at the government's prosecution and committed to support the campaign as the trial approaches on Sept. 8 (http://www.stopfbi.net/events/9-8-14/all-out-detroit-defend-rasmea-odeh).

#RaleighNC #Raleigh #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #Israel #NorthCarolina #RasmeaOdeh #MiddleEast

Raleigh, NC – An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people mobilized early in the morning of Feb.8 for the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street in Raleigh, organized by the NAACP. This march was in conjunction with the start of the Moral Marches for 2014, intended to continue the momentum from last year's Moral Monday movement, in which thousands of protesters demonstrated at the doorstep of the state capitol. Over 900 people were arrested during acts of civil disobedience during the 2013 protests, refusing to give up their right to assembly.

Buses came from over 18 cities all across North Carolina. “Following the powerful Mountain Moral Monday last summer, seats quickly sold on five busses from Asheville alone. It is clear that the fight back against extreme attacks on workers, women, immigrants, teachers and students from our state legislature is getting off to a strong start in 2014,” said Sarah Buchner, of Asheville.

Despite the gusting wind and freezing temperatures, Civil Rights veteran 92-year-old Rosanell Eaton led the crowd in chants of “Fed up, fired up!” to kick start a spirited march through downtown Raleigh.

Organizers of the march made five demands:

1. Secure pro-labor, anti-poverty policies that insure economic sustainability.
2. Provide well-funded, quality public education for all.
3. Promote health care for all, including affordable access, the expansion of Medicaid, women's health and environmental justice in every community.
4. Address the continuing disparities in the criminal justice system on the basis of race and class.
5. Defend and expand voting rights, women's rights, immigrants' rights, LGBT rights and the fundamental principle of equality under the law for all people

Erin Byrd, a member of Black Workers for Justice spoke to the crowd, “We march for women. We march for every single woman who has lost unemployment benefits and still pushes their children forward. We march for every women who sends their child out into the world praying that they get home safely and aren’t gunned down because they’re playing their music too loud, or because they’re wearing a hoodie, or because they’ve got skittles in their pocket. We march for every woman who knows stand your ground laws don’t make your child any safer. Women are the 54%, that’s why we have to march and why we have to mobilize and why we’ve got to vote.”

One of the largest contingents in the march was the fast food workers, who have a campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Organizers came from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia wearing red “Raise up” hats and carrying banners that said “Raise up for $15”, “We are worth more” and “Organize the South”.

The turnout and spirit of the event indicates that 2014 will be a year of increased struggle in North Carolina.

#RaleighNC #Labor #AfricanAmerican #HkonJ

Hundreds of people held signs saying “Justice for Trayvon!” and “Stop the war on Black America!” One young woman gave a passionate speech, “All of us here are resisting a system of white supremacy that killed Trayvon Martin. This system – that demands no remorse or empathy from racist murders, that kills and incarcerates and brutalizes bodies of color – is in action in our state right now. We can see it in the repeal of the Racial Justice Act, the racists’ redistricting plans, in the voter ID laws and the end of unemployment benefits.”

Holly Jorden, a high school teacher from Durham declared, “I teach hundreds of kids like Trayvon every day, and the message about themselves that this verdict sends absolutely breaks my heart. Now society is not just sending a negative message to Black boys – it’s doing the same thing to Latina girls, Native girls, Asian girls, white girls and the many Black girls that I teach. These young women are being told who they are and are not – what they can and cannot become. When the legislature takes away a woman’s freedom to control her own body, when they limit her vote, when they take away unemployment benefits and her access to health care when they take money away from her schools, they are telling that woman she is unworthy. They are telling her that her needs and voice do not matter.”

The July 15 rally came on the heels of a devastating week for women’s rights in North Carolina, where the legislature snuck anti-abortion language at the last minute into an anti-sharia law bill (HB 695 http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/PDF/H695v4.pdf) and then onto a motorcycle safety bill (SB 353 http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/Senate/PDF/S353v3.pdf). This will result in only one clinic, located in Asheville, that would meet the proposed guidelines for the entire state of North Carolina.

Leading up to 7:00 p.m. session, when the House legislators convened to continue their agenda against workers, women, African Americans, Latinos and others, the crowd marched out into the street behind the radical drum line, Cakalak Thunder, shouting “Whose house? Our house!” Those entering the General Assembly risked arrest.

According to the General Assembly’s police chief, 101 new protesters were arrested for acts of civil disobedience, bringing the total to over 850 since the first Moral Monday. The 12th Moral Monday on July 22 will focus on the extreme attacks on voting rights by the leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly.

#RaleighNC #WomensMovement #OppressedNationalities #AntiRacism #TrayvonMartin #GeorgeZimmerman #InjusticeSystem #abortion #WomensRights

Raleigh, NC – “Whose house? Our house!” That was the chant voiced by over 5000 North Carolinians who came to Raleigh June 24 to protest the right-wing agenda and unjust laws being passed by the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature.

The June 24 rally was the eighth wave of Moral Monday protests organized by Reverend William Barber and the North Carolina NAACP. It was largest so far. The wave of protests began on April 29, with a protest of about 100 people and 15 arrests. Since then, protests of thousands and arrests of 80 to 100 people are a common occurrence on any given Monday afternoon in Raleigh. 120 people were arrested for civil disobedience June 24, bringing the total to over 600 arrests in these waves of demonstrations.

The focus of the June 24 protest was labor, women and economic justice. United Electrical Workers Local 150, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Southern Workers Assembly, SEIU, Communication Workers of America and NC Association of Educators were among the unions represented at the protest. The AFL-CIO issued a call for all unions to mobilize for the demonstration. NC AFL-CIO president James Andrews joined the group of protesters who were arrested for civil disobedience.

Speakers denounced the legislature's attacks on workers' rights, as well as the right-wing attacks on women. “When it comes to control of a woman's body, who decides? She decides, not politicians!” said one speaker to loud applause from the crowd.

People need to protest, said Linda Suggs, a member of Black Workers for Justice and the Alliance for Retired Americans. “Unjust policies are being passed day by day, minute by minute, hour by hour. But we are not taking it lying down, no way!”

#RaleighNC #MoralMonday

Raleigh, NC – 84 people were arrested today, June 17, during the 7th wave of Moral Monday protests, while over 1000 rallied outside the North Carolina legislature to protest the right-wing policies being carried out by the Republican majority. While police loaded up buses with the arrested protesters, hundreds chanted, “You're gonna need another bus, 'cause baby there are more of us!”

With devastating efficiency, the Republican majorities in the House and Senate and Republican Governor Pat McCrory are rolling back progressive laws and regulations across the board: workers’ rights, equal access to education, unemployment benefits, environmental protection, health care access, voting rights and racial justice are all under unprecedented attack from a legislature that is dominated by ‘free market' ideology.

The June 17 protest was the seventh in a wave of weekly protests organized by Reverend William Barber and the North Carolina NAACP. The theme of this week's protest was on environmental and health care justice. Thousands have mobilized from across the state to protest the legislature since the first Moral Monday on April 29. To date more than 480 people have been arrested for acts of civil disobedience.

Evan Kolosna, an organizer with the University of North Carolina-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the North Carolina Student Power Union, told Fight Back!, “This is directly affecting us as students – the budget cuts are targeting our schools, so I would say to other fellow students: 'Come out here and fight for your education and your future.’”

There were about two dozen health care workers at the demonstration today, holding signs saying “Health care is a right” and “GOP Rx for NC = Bad medicine.”

“What is happening with the legislature now, with the Republican majority, is a travesty of justice,” said Mohan Chilukuri, a health care worker, “because they are denying healthcare to 500,000 people that would have been eligible under the Affordable Care Act.” Chilukuri called on physicians to come out and protest the legislature and Governor McCrory.

With next week's demonstration focused on workers’ rights and the attacks on organized labor by the legislature, the Moral Monday protests are set to continue for the coming weeks. The rallying cry of the demonstrators is, “Forward together, not one step back!”

#RaleighNC #civilDisobedience #workersRights #MoralMonday

In recent years, state legislatures have debated laws that would mandate drug testing for people on public assistance, that restrict where folks receiving welfare can spend money, and in the case of one proposed in Minnesota, would make outlaws out of poor people with cash.

This right-wing measure is one of many laws introduced across the U.S. in recent years that aim to blame poverty on the poor, and to pit the employed against the unemployed.

#RaleighNC #PoorPeoplesMovements #welfare #StopTheWarOnThePoor #RepublicanAgenda #PaulStam #lottery

Raleigh, NC – Over 1000 people gathered on the State Capitol grounds today, Oct. 15, as part of the [Occupy Raleigh demonstration](http://www.occupyraleigh.org). The rally lasted four hours, as speaker after speaker stood to denounce the budget cuts and austerity measures being forced upon working people of North Carolina.

At 1:00 p.m., 500 people left the State Capitol to march through downtown Raleigh. As protesters passed Bank of America, a roar rose up through crowd as hundreds chanted in unison, “The banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” and “Hey hey, ho ho! Bank of America has got to go!” Passers-by waved and signaled support to protesters as they chanted, “We are the 99%!” and “How to fix the deficit? End the wars and tax the rich!” The marchers went past Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other banks and corporations before returning the main rally at the State Capitol.

Citing deregulation of corporations, union-busting and political corruption, Sarah Appel, a teacher at Duke University, said she was motivated to attend the protest to be part of a movement waking up to organize for change in the face of “the complete bankruptcy of the bi-partisan political system.”

Seth Keel, a youth organizer with NC HEAT (Heroes Emerging Among Teens), told the hundreds assembled at the State Capitol, “We are the 99%, but the 1% owns us all and it's time to break down that system.” Keel emphasized, “The youth are here, and our futures are at stake.”

As people cheered, Keel continued, “This system is buying out students’ futures. Our tuition is going up and up as the corporate-bought politicians cut budgets, lay off teachers and cut teachers' salaries. Resources are taken out of classroom and students are falling behind because of these budget cuts. The Koch brothers and Art Pope continue to use their monetary influence to put people in office who want to privatize our education.”

Another march left the Capitol grounds at 2:30 p.m. and gathered support from passers-by in downtown Raleigh. As the permit for the protest expired, a general assembly of 300 people convened on the capitol grounds and protesters discussed next steps for the movement. Dozens of Raleigh police and State Capitol police encircled the assembly, watching and listening.

By nightfall, about 70 people had remained. 20 people had decided to defend their rights to assembly and speech and refuse to leave the capitol grounds. Raleigh police moved in to arrest these 20 at 7:00 p.m.

*Fight Back!* spoke with Eddy Samara, one of the people arrested at Occupy Raleigh, shortly after Samara posted bail. Samara said, “We'll be back. I felt strongly enough to stay because we have to stand in solidarity with all of the peoples' movements – from Wall Street to Madrid to right here in Raleigh. We have to assert our right to assemble and put forward a people's agenda instead of a 1% agenda.”

Occupy Raleigh organizers plan to convene the next general assembly at noon on Sunday, Oct. 16. All who participated in the day's protests were inspired to continue fighting for justice and solidarity against the economic and political policies of the richest 1%.

*Read more [Fight Back! coverage of Occupy Wall street](http://www.fightbacknews.org/news/special-coverage/occupy-wall-street) and follow [@fightbacknews](https://twitter.com/#!/fightbacknews) for live updates from #OccupyWallStreet protests around the country.*

#RaleighNC #WellsFargo #BankOfAmerica #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyRaleigh #NCHEAT

Kosta Harlan, an organizer with the Occupy Durham movement said, “Working people did not cause this crisis, but we pay for it every day while the 1% get richer and richer. The 1% tell us there is no money for people's needs – healthcare, education, jobs – yet they find the money for two wars, endless bank bailouts, and tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. Enough is enough!”

The Occupy Raleigh movement [applied for a permit](http://www.scribd.com/doc/68766221/Occupy-Raleigh-Permit) to camp out at the Capitol grounds until November 5, but the permit was denied on Oct. 12 by North Carolina Department of Administration. A spokesperson for the department, Jill Lucas, [cited budget cuts to the State Capitol Police force](http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2011/10/14/occupying-raleigh-for-at-least-a-few-hours-2/) as a primary reason for denying the permit. This sets the stage for the State Capitol police and Raleigh police to attempt to shut down the demonstration when the permit expires at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

Youth organizer Monserrat Alvarez with NC HEAT (Heroes Emerging Among Teens) told *Fight Back!*, “It's important to mobilize for this event because students and workers are some of the people that are greatly affected by the capitalist government. Student's education is put last in the capitalist agenda because they understand that if we receive an education we will break out of this cycle of oppression.”

Alvarez continued, “By cutting funding they guarantee that only high income students receive an education, make it difficult for working class students to receive an education, students graduate with high amounts of debt from raising tuition, and are not able to get a job in this capitalist society.”

*Read more [Fight Back! coverage of Occupy Wall street](http://www.fightbacknews.org/news/special-coverage/occupy-wall-street) and follow [@fightbacknews](https://twitter.com/#!/fightbacknews) for live updates from #OccupyWallStreet protests around the country.*

#RaleighNC #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyRaleigh #NCHEAT #OccupyDurham

Raleigh, NC – A massive crowd of 8000 teachers, youth and community members wearing red shirts swelled outside the North Carolina State Legislative Building on May 3 to protest cuts to education. The rally was organized by the North Carolina Association of Educators. Dozens of community and grassroots organizations, including the NAACP, Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Students for a Democratic Society, mobilized to show their support for public school teachers and to defend education from attack by right-wing legislators.

About an hour into the rally, a lively contingent of 150 students from the North Carolina Defend Education Coalition arrived in the plaza after marching from North Carolina State University, chanting, “No cuts! No fees! Education should be free!” Five youth with North Carolina Defend Education were later arrested while unfurling a banner inside the legislative building while legislators were debating the cuts to education.

“The cuts that have been proposed are absolutely outrageous and will devastate education as we know it,” said Ana Maria Reichenbach, a member of the University of North Carolina Students for a Democratic Society and an organizer of the student contingent. “We see this as larger attack on public services that benefit the working class; it is a direct transfer of wealth to the rich and the corporations.”

The North Carolina Association of Educators noted in their press release for the rally that “3000 education positions are on the chopping block, class size continues to grow, healthcare costs are skyrocketing and national board and master’s degree pay are in jeopardy.” Thousands of participants at the rally came from 100 counties across North Carolina to echo this message.

Cathey Stanley, a former student-teacher at Carrboro High School, said her message to the legislators debating the cuts to education is, “Get in the classrooms, see the people you’re affecting and see the students your harming and the teachers you’re doing a great disservice to who are teaching your students and your children, who are the future of this state.”

#Raleigh #RaleighNC #SDS #PeoplesStruggles #Protest #PublicSectorUnions #education #students

Raleigh, NC – Over 4000 people marched in downtown Raleigh on Feb. 12 for the 5th annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) protest, organized by the NAACP and the HKonJ Coalition, which is composed of 107 civil rights, religious and social justice organizations. Buses and caravans converged from across the state of North Carolina for the annual protest which centers on a 14-point political program [http://hkonj.com/] for economic justice and civil rights.

Some of the major issues of this year's rally were the ongoing struggle over re-segregation of Wake County schools; the racist attacks on immigrant youth and the struggle for immigrant rights; the effects of the economic crisis on the Black and Latino communities in the state; education cuts to primary schools and higher education; the Racial Justice Act and the disproportionate use of the death penalty against oppressed nationalities; and the lack of collective bargaining for public sector workers in North Carolina.

Addressing these issues, the Reverend William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, told a cheering crowd, “We will challenge Democrats who are not progressive. We will challenge Republicans who attempt to revise history.” Republicans are the majority in the state legislature for the first time in 100 years, but the state has a democratic governor, Bev Perdue. In his speech, Rev. Barber said Gov. Perdue should “Veto everything that's wrong.”

Ben Jealous, president of NAACP, marched on Jones Street and spoke to the crowd about segregation. “We're still fighting the old Jim Crow,” Jealous declared. “When they come to you and start preaching 'separate but equal', [remember] it was a lie then, it's a lie now.”

One of the most powerful speakers of the day was Loida Ginocchio-Silva, a young activist with the North Carolina DREAM Team, an immigrant rights organization. In her bi-lingual speech, which brought roars from the crowd, Ginocchio-Silva said, “I'm a human being. And no human can be illegal. On this stage, I am breaking the law. But I say, an unjust law is no law at all. We know that the Jim Crow laws were also laws in this country. I'm here to represent the thousands of undocumented youth whose humanity is currently being criminalized!”

Several of the speakers referenced the democratic struggles of the Egyptian and Tunisian peoples, which brought cheers from the crowd.

The demonstration showed a powerful unity between many nationalities, organizations and causes. The thousands who marched together promised to continue fighting for justice and to support the struggles of all the oppressed in North Carolina.

#RaleighNC #HKOnJ #NAACP #AfricanAmerican #NorthCarolinaDREAMTeam

Raleigh, NC – Over 80 people gathered here, Feb. 1, outside the North Carolina General Assembly to voice strong opposition to HB11. Undocumented students are already faced with the burden of paying out-of-state tuition. This bill, proposed by Rep. George Cleveland, would go further in barring undocumented students from having access to any community colleges and universities in the state. Because of North Carolina's new Republican-majority legislature, the bill is likely to pass.

But those who took part in the vigil and organized the rallies across the state are determined to stop the passage of HB11.

Protesters held signs that read, “Don't let HB11 get to debate,” and “We don't want another Arizona!” while several powerful speakers talked about their experiences being undocumented and struggling for their right to education. Rep. Paul Luebke of Durham also spoke and denounced the draft bill as “mean-spirited.”

The vigil in Raleigh was one five actions that took place across North Carolina. Other rallies took place in Asheville, Greenville, Greensboro and Charlotte. The vigils also honored the 51st anniversary of the historic 1960 Greensboro sit-ins, which helped lead the path to de-segregation in the 1960s.

The Raleigh vigil was organized by the Adelante Education Coalition, with the presence of the North Carolina DREAM Team and El Centro Hispano, among other progressive groups.

Mauricio Castro, with the North Carolina Latino Coalition, closed the rally by stating, “We have a lot of work to do, but we shall overcome. History is on our side, and the future is waiting for all of us.”

The vigil ended with chants of “Education not deportation!” and, “What do we want? Education! When do we want it? Now!”

#RaleighNC #DREAMAct #HB11 #AdelanteEducationCoalition #NCDreamTeam #NorthCarolinaLatinoCoalition #ElCentroHispano

Raleigh, NC – About 250 immigrant workers, youth and their allies marched on the State Capitol building here, on July 29, in protest of Arizona's SB1070. Protesters chanted and held colorful signs reading, “Stop deportations,” “No to SB1070” and “No more racism!”

After the march, several community leaders addressed the demonstration to express their solidarity and support in the struggle.

One of the members of the North Carolina DREAM Team, Viridiana Martinez, stressed, “No one can speak for us, we have to speak out for ourselves,” and urged everyone at the demonstration to continue the struggle for justice.

James Andrews, president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO, said, “The North Carolina labor movement supports each of you in the struggle for immigrant rights, human rights and labor rights.” He added, “We will continue to stand with you as long as we see this kind of abuse and exploitation [of your community].”

The protest was organized by North Carolina ICE Watch in partnership with Black Workers for Justice, the Father Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House, North Carolina DREAM Team, North Carolina Justice Center, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Pueblo Unido, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Student Action with Farmworkers and other immigrant justice organizations. Other organizations including the Umbrella Coalition, the NAACP, United Electrical Workers Local 150 supported the rally.

#RaleighNC #FarmLaborOrganizingCommitteeFLOC #SB1070

Raleigh, NC – Three young immigrant women are on day six of a hunger strike to demand that North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (Democrat) support the DREAM Act. The women, Viridiana, Loida and Rosario, of central North Carolina, have vowed to continue their hunger strike until Senator Hagan publicly endorses the DREAM Act.

The DREAM Act would provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 1.5 million undocumented youth in the United States. Immigrants’ rights activists across the country have been pushing Congress to take action on the bill.

The hunger strikers, who are known as the North Carolina Dream Team, urge supporters to call Senator Kay Hagan's office and leave a message stating support for the DREAM Act and for the hunger strikers. Senator Kay Hagan's D.C. number is 202-224-6342 and the Raleigh office number is 919-856-4630.

The following interview was conducted with Viridiana and Rosario on day six of the hunger strike at their encampment at the North Carolina State Capitol.

#RaleighNC #StudentMovement #DREAMAct #SenatorKayHagan

Joanna Banegas, a student at NC State University, and Monserrate Alvarez, a student in Raleigh, kicked off the fast on May 28 with a rally at the North Carolina Capitol building. At the rally, Banegas declared, “I am fasting because I believe it is a way to demonstrate how vital the DREAM Act is for everyone, not just for undocumented students.”

Even as the 1.5 million second hunger strike ended, a new one by three North Carolina students began on June 18 in downtown Raleigh, also targeting Kay Hagan to support the DREAM Act.

The DREAM Act would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth that entered the U.S. before the age of 16, have no criminal record, and complete a college degree or two years of military service. Many in the immigrants’ rights movement are opposed to the military duty requirement and want to see community service instead.

The hunger strikes are part of the “Senator Hagan Co-Sponsor my Dream Campaign”, a movement to ask Democratic Party Senator Kay Hagan to become a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act. Nayely Perez-Huerta, a community organizer for El Pueblo and a supporter of the campaign, said, “Our youth and allies have decided to fast because they recognize the importance of the DREAM Act. We believe in the benefits this legislation would bring not only to the undocumented students that have grown up in this country, but also to the wellbeing of our state and nation.”

The passage of the DREAM Act would be an important victory for the immigrants’ rights movement and provide real benefits to millions of undocumented immigrant youth. While pushing forward the struggle for partial reforms such as the DREAM Act, progressives in the immigrants’ rights movement continue to demand “Legalization Now!” and full equality for all undocumented youth and workers.

#RaleighNC #StudentMovement #DREAMAct

North Carolina NAACP President Reverend William Barber was one of those arrested, along with Reverend Nancy Petty of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, activist Mary Williams and Timothy Tyson, a researcher at Duke Divinity School.

Wake County's new all-white school board majority, which came to power thanks to funding from right-wing foundations in the state, voted to terminate a pro-diversity busing policy in favor of keeping students in schools in their neighborhoods. This will lead to segregated schools and low quality, poorly-funded schools in communities of oppressed nationalities. Protesters have been waging a sharp struggle against this policy for months. On March 23, 70 students and youth marched on the board's meeting to demand an end to racism and resegregation efforts.

A statement from the North Carolina NAACP on the June 15 civil disobedience action said in part, “We are willing to break a lesser law and accept our punishment in order to protect the larger law embodied in the federal and state constitutions and to defend the children of our community... If it is necessary that we be locked up to resist policies that will lock down our children in resegregated, high-poverty and unconstitutional schools, so be it.”

The NAACP has played a leading role in opposing the resegregation scheme, along with a broad united front of progressive organizations and peoples in North Carolina. In a statement in March, the NAACP noted that the attempts at resegregation represent “a clear call to our community – Black, White, Latino, Asian – to employ all the moral, political, and legal means at our disposal to stop it before it’s too late.”

#RaleighNC #PoorPeoplesMovements #NAACP #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #Resegregation #ReverendWilliamBarber

Raleigh, NC – Raleigh sanitation workers changed tactics, after months of protests to city management fell on deaf ears. The sanitation workers held a four-hour and a two-hour temporary work stoppage on Sept. 13 and 14, forcing city management to address their concerns. An important struggle has unfolded in the weeks since.

The sanitation workers, the overwhelming majority of whom are Black, face exhausting 14-hour days and are understaffed and overworked. Forced overtime and harassment of workers by management is commonplace. Sanitation worker Daron Green emphasized, “We need to have our management looked at. We have very bad management overall. We need new management, period.”

The Raleigh sanitation workers put forward five demands to city management: An immediate end to forced overtime; overtime pay after 40 hours work and not compensatory time; make temporary employees permanent and hire more workers to reduce workload; end the harassment against workers for speaking out against problems; city to meet-and-confer with the elected North Carolina Public Service Workers Union (UE Local 150) representatives in sanitation. The sanitation workers gave the city council one week to meet their demands.

Meanwhile, community organizers began rallying mass support for the workers – from the NAACP to religious groups to student organizers, who drove a sound truck through Raleigh neighborhoods to raise support for the sanitation workers’ struggle. Unions and community organizations from all over North Carolina passed resolutions declaring their support for the sanitation workers.

The city council met to discuss the situation on Sept. 20. In a hall packed with supporters, organizers with UE 150 and over 40 sanitation workers presented their demands and stressed the need for collective bargaining. Under a 1959 North Carolina state law, collective bargaining is prohibited for public sector workers – a holdover from the Jim Crow era, when higher numbers of Black workers were concentrated in the public sector in the South.

Jerry Ledbetter, a spokesperson for the sanitation workers, said, “We are asking for collective bargaining, to meet and confer with city council of Raleigh. We are ready to cooperate. We are here in good faith. But we have to be treated fairly, and be treated like human beings.”

Jimmy Gaye, who has worked in the Sanitation department for 22 years, told the city council, “It’s so much of a work overload that we have, we’re doing two to three jobs a day. We take the truck out, we go back in, we take the truck out, we bring it back in, until it gets so late in the day that you can’t do it any more.”

Gaye continued, “We’re thinking about our future here. We can’t grow if you don’t let us grow. Raleigh grows, and we know that we’re going to be expanding out, we’re doing Durham County, we’re out in Raleigh, we’re out to parts of Morrisville, we’re out in parts of Cary. We cover those areas. Those are big areas that you trying to cover, that you’re allowing to be annexed into a part of Raleigh now that the growth is here. Now, what about us? We want to grow too – can you let us do that?”

Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker and the city council, under pressure from workers and the community, stated that a “complete overhaul” of solid waste services management was necessary, and agreed to meet the demands, including recognition of UE 150. The city council promised to send city manager Russell Allen to meet with the workers on Friday, Sept. 22, to discuss their grievances.

The sanitation workers were optimistic about the hearing at the city council but stressed that the struggle was by no means over. Ledbetter said, “I thought the meeting went real well. Only thing we can do now is wait. You know anyone can say a thing, but you got to wait and see if they live up to it.”

But Friday’s meeting was a disappointment to the workers as city manager Allen balked on most of the demands and ignored the key issue of union recognition.

As a result, the alliance of labor, religious groups and student activists mobilized again. Over the weekend, Black Workers for Justice, UE 150 and other organizations held a community forum to rally support for the sanitation workers’ struggle, with 60 people attending.

Community organizers gave powerful speeches, noting that this was not just a struggle for workers’ rights, but also a fight for real equality for African-Americans. Many also made the connection between the Raleigh sanitation workers’ struggle and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while rallying support for sanitation workers there.

On Monday Sept. 24, over 100 workers and their supporters, including Reverend William Barber, president of the state NAACP, took to the streets in a picket of the city council. They demanded a shake-up of the solid waste services department management and that the city council meet the workers’ demands. Mayor Meeker emerged from City Hall to publicly state that he supported the demands and would recognize the elected union leadership.

Less than a week later, Gerald Latta, the director of the sanitation department, announced he was stepping down, while Lash Hocutt, the operations superintendent, was transferred out of the department. Soon after, eleven temporary jobs were made permanent in the sanitation department, while the city council voted to make any city job longer than six months a permanent position – a victory for all of Raleigh’s city workers. Over half a dozen jobs were added to the solid waste services department, with plans to add more in the future. Sanitation workers are now receiving overtime pay, while an audit is set to take place of the city’s solid waste services department to determine how to reduce their workload and improve work conditions. In addition, Mayor Meeker has met with the sanitation workers’ union leadership.

UE 150 now represents 85% of the city’s sanitation workers, and is reaching out to organize other departments in the city. By standing together to put pressure on the city, Raleigh’s sanitation workers and their supporters have scored major victories – winning important concessions for the workers and building a fighting union.

But the struggle continues. City manager Russell Allen is still refusing to recognize the elected union leadership of the sanitation workers, and management still tries to pressure workers into forced overtime. Finally, as mentioned above, North Carolina has a long-standing legislative ban on collective bargaining for public sector workers. Many workers and activists involved in the sanitation struggle have decided to continue the fight for the rights of public sector workers, and that the time has finally come to overturn this unjust Jim Crow law.

#RaleighNC #NAACP #AfricanAmerican #SouthernLaborMovement #UE150 #unionRecognition

Raleigh, NC – “We’re in the middle of an historic crisis,” the president of the North Carolina Public Sector Workers Union (UE 150), Angaza Laughinghouse, told Fight Back!. “It requires a historic response from unions, youth groups, faith groups and community organizations to develop the fight back.”

That sentiment is what brought an important mobilization of over 160 community, labor, faith, and political organizations to the state capital on June 15. 300 workers and community members gathered after work to rally on Jones Street before marching into the North Carolina General Assembly to talk to legislators about the budget cuts.

The message, says Jeff Shaw from the North Carolina Justice Center, is simple: “We cannot balance the budget on the backs of the poor. Low-income and minority communities suffer the most in an economic crisis. And budget cuts in times like this will only make things worse.”

“Morally and economically,” Shaw added, “the right thing to do is invest in our community.”

Reverend Barber, the president of North Carolina’s NAACP, agreed. In a powerful speech at the rally, Barber emphasized, “We need to move from talking about tax cuts and tax raises, to a discussion about investing in children, care for the sick, protecting the mentally ill and supporting workers.”

The rally was organized by Together NC and the Historic Thousands on Jones St (HKonJ) Network, two coalitions that are uniting a broad spectrum of organizations, communities and social classes to oppose the budget cuts that will impact workers and oppressed nationalities. North Carolina currently faces a $4.6 billion budget shortfall. Instead of taxing corporations and the wealthy to raise additional revenue, the House is cutting funding from social services and laying off workers.

Public sector workers face layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs. Insurance premiums are going up and some workers are losing their 401k and pension contributions. In addition, the university system’s budget is being cut by 11%. The Department of Health and Human Services is slated for 465 layoffs under the current budget.

Angaza Laughinghouse emphasized that the way out is for workers to organize their communities to raise pressure on the legislators, with a strong message: “We need to tax corporations and the wealthy and make a budget for working people.”

In the coming weeks, organizers with Together NC and HKonJ will be holding town hall meetings around the state and engaging in communities to gather input on the budget process. Organizers are excited with the turnout and enthusiasm among the participants of June 15’s rally and will continue to struggle for a budget – and a budget process – that serves the majority of North Carolina’s people, not the wealthy and the corporations.

#RaleighNC #CapitalismAndEconomy #News #BudgetCrisis #capitalistCrisis

Raleigh, NC – Over 4000 people, the majority African American, marched in downtown Raleigh, Feb. 14, in a show of force organized by the North Carolina NAACP. This is the third year that “HK on J” (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) has taken place, bringing together over 85 grassroots organizations, trade unions, coalitions and churches around a 14-point program for change. The 14-point program is centered around addressing the needs of the African American community, low-income people, immigrants rights and ending the war.

“We are gathering to continue to remind our state legislators and other elected officials that our 14-point agenda and more than 80 action items are still relevant. The people of this state who turned out in record numbers to vote last November want to see real change,” said North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William Barber. “And further, we are coming to further say, in the midst of this current financial crisis, ‘Do not balance this budget on the backs of the poor.’”

Hundreds of students and trade unionists from across North Carolina mobilized for the protest. The program also featured speeches from workers who won union recognition at the Smithfield processing plant and UE union members who occupied their factory in Chicago.

Dr. Barber and other leaders of the HK on J movement urged the thousands in attendance to keep building the grassroots movements for change. In particular, the speakers emphasized the importance of building as broad a movement as possible to oppose massive cuts to social services and people’s needs.

#RaleighNC #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #Labor #News #HKOnJ #NAACP #BlackLiberationMovement #BudgetCrisis #capitalistCrisis