More than a thousand demonstrators marched toward downtown Raleigh on Monday, resulting in 151 arrests at the largest Moral Monday protest yet.
The protestors gathered behind the North Carolina State Legislative building where they held up signs and criticized Republican-backed legislature.
“Forward together, not one step back” was the mantra of the crowd throughout the event.
Moral Mondays started on April 29 and has resulted in over 300 arrests since. Demonstrators’ concerns covered charter school funding, removal of same-day voter registration, Sunday voting and cuts to early education funding.
After the protestors gathered behind the legislative building, Rev. William Barber, president of the N.C. NAACP, made a speech covering issues ranging from voter ID laws to Senate Bill 677, also known as the N.C. Fair Tax Act.
“It’s disturbing what’s going on when you cut taxes on corporations, personal income tax, and then raise sales tax that makes us pay for hair-do’s and haircuts and food and prescription drugs. Something is wrong with that…this is extreme politics…this is regressive politics,” Barber said, referring to Senate Bill 677.
Currently, the Fair Tax Act would reduce personal income tax from 7.75 percent to 4.5 percent while expanding sales tax to cover many services exempt under current laws.
Shortly after the speeches concluded, the protestors marched into the General Assembly. Some protestors wore green wristbands, signifying their intention to get arrested.
When police told them to disperse, demonstrators with the wristbands remained.
In total, 151 people were arrested, including an N.C. State student and numerous alumni.
Ryan Thomson, a member of the N.C. Student Power Union, and a graduate student at N.C. State was among those arrested. He was released at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning with the help of the NAACP.
According to Thomson, he was charged with trespassing, holding a sign, and failure to disperse.
“I have made dozens of friends in a very empowering experience, in addition to the three misdemeanor charges that will likely be thrown out,” Thomson said a few hours after his release. “I learned a good bit about myself personally. Most of the time we spent was either being processed, joking with one another, or watching TV while the magistrate takes their time processing everyone.”
In addition to students, the elderly and people from various church groups were major groups participating in the rally.
More than 1,000 people participated in the rally—about five times more than the previous protest.
During the arrests, some attendees continued to sing gospel songs and participate in prayer as their numbers slowly dwindled.
At the conclusion of the arrests, the onlookers dispersed as it started to rain.
Nicole Welsh, a senior in anthropology at UNC-Chapel Hill attended to support her friend, Josh Orol, a senior from UNC-CH majoring in communication, who was arrested Monday night.
“The North Carolina legislature has chosen to be unresponsive to the will of the people of North Carolina, and that’s a problem,” Welsh said. “I hope that our movement will create a reminder to the state that they are responsible to the people.”
