From the NC National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 5, 2013

For More Information:  Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

                     Atty. Jamie Phillips Cole, Public Policy Coordinator, 919-682-4700

For Media Assistance:  Laurel Ashton, Field Secretary, 828-713-3864

Convicted For Our Convictions

Statement by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II regarding December 4, 2013 Verdict

DURHAM - On December 4th, 58 years and 3 days after the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott and the arrest of Rosa Parks, twelve of us in the original seventeen Moral Monday arrestees were convicted for our convictions. Although the judge dismissed one charge and openly stated that several rules of the NC legislature were vague and unconstitutional, we were found guilty of second degree trespassing and breaking legislative rules. The rationale for our civil disobedience still stands and our lawyers have filed an appeal to Superior Court for a jury trial. We believe our lawyers made tremendous constitutional arguments that must be heard in a higher court, not a district court. 

We do not believe that our actions were unjust but that the extremism of Governor Pat McCrory, Speaker Thom Tillis, Senate Leader Phil Berger, and Budget Director Art Pope and their fellow extremists who have denied Medicaid to 500,000 people, cut unemployment benefits for 170,000 struggling North Carolinians, took away the Earned Income Tax Credit from over 900,000 poor families, passed the worst voter suppression bill in the nation since Jim Crow, attacked women's rights, and cut public education are unjust. These actions are constitutionally inconsistent, morally indefensible, and economically insane. We, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, Rev. Curtis Gatewood, Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, Rev. Nelson Johnson, Maria Teresa Palmer, Rev. Larry Reid, Sr., John (Bob) Zellner, Perri Morgan, O'Linda Gillis, Margaretta Belin, Dr. Timothy Tyson, and Barbara Zelter, like other Moral Monday arrestees before us, were convicted for our convictions. 

We are glad to be in a state where people will stand up for the poor, the sick, children, labor rights, women, and fundamental economic, social, and gender equality. We will continue to mobilize and carry our moral message across the state.

On December 23rd, we will return to Raleigh for a Mass Moral Monday to either celebrate that the governor has rescinded his opposition to Medicaid expansion and restored unemployment benefits by convening a special "Redemption Session" of the legislature or we will come to protest how these laws will negatively impact hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.

We will also mobilize for the February 8th Moral March on Raleigh Historic Thousands On Jones St. Peoples' Assembly. Our fight has only just begun. Our commitment to standing against extremism is unwavering. Our love for those that tried to persecute us is still intact. Our commitment to the cause of justice is even stronger.

Forward Together, Not One Step Back!

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