At 5:30 p.m. in downtown Raleigh on Monday night, a dozen musicians stood on a stage, trumpets blaring as singers belted out lyrics like “We won’t be silent anymore.” Before them, hundreds waved signs and flashlights in the air.
The crowd gathered to oppose Senate Bill 382, a controversial measure that was drafted in secret and rushed through the legislature last month. The bill, titled a disaster recovery measure, includes some funds for Hurricane Helene relief. However, it simultaneously proposes drastic power shifts, stripping authority from incoming Democrats including the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction.
Rev. William Barber, who led the protest, took the stage, calling SB 382 a “legislative coup,” “a political hurricane,” and “a damnable, moral shame.” He argued that the bill exploits hurricane victims, turning them into pawns in a partisan political game.
“We don’t need a disastrous bill,” Barber said. “We need a bill for the disaster.”
Bill includes sweeping changes to state elected offices
Bill includes sweeping changes to state elected offices When Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina in late September, it left a trail of destruction that is expected to take years and billions of dollars to repair. SB 382 would transfer $227 million from the state’s rainy day fund to a newly created Helene Fund.
The proposal comes after two earlier state relief efforts that allocated a total of $877 million for Helene recovery. Governor Cooper’s Office of State Budget and Management estimates that rebuilding from Helene’s damage in Western N. C. will cost $53 billion.
Activists argue that SB 382 provides insufficient recovery funds and fails to adequately support renters facing eviction or struggling local business owners.
But their biggest gripe is that the hurricane is only mentioned in the first 13 of the bill’s 132 pages.
The ensuing pages propose a variety of drastic changes to state power structures. Notably, the bill would strip newly elected Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, of his power to appoint members to the State Board of Elections. The bill instead transfers that authority from the governor to the state auditor. The incoming state auditor, Dave Boliek, is the first Republican to hold the office in 16 years.
The bill would also block the incoming Democratic attorney general, Jeff Jackson, from taking stances in court that conflict with positions held by the Republican-controlled legislature. It would make changes to the electoral process as well, requiring counties to tally ballots more quickly and shortening the window of time for voters to fix ballot errors—among a range of other sweeping changes.
After the bill was rushed through the legislature, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed it, calling it a “sham” that violates the constitution.
But on Dec. 2, the state Senate quickly overrode Cooper’s veto with minimal debate—unless you count the shouts from protesters who were subsequently removed from the gallery.
The state House, where Republicans also currently hold a supermajority, is set to consider an override on Wednesday. Republicans currently hold 72 seats in the House, the exact number of votes needed for a successful veto override. But three House Republicans, Majority Whip Karl Gillespie (R-Macon), Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Swain), and Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood), initially voted against the bill.
Though it’s unclear how the House will vote, Republicans haven’t hesitated to exercise their veto-override power this year. SB 382 is the 12th bill Cooper has vetoed this year, and lawmakers have overturned each of his previous 11 vetoes.
The arithmetic changes next month, however, when newly elected legislators take office. Beginning in January, Republicans will be one seat short of a supermajority in the state House.
‘A slap in the face to Western North Carolina’
Barber, who led Monday’s protest, is a minister and professor at Yale Divinity School best known for spearheading the Moral Mondays movement, a series of mass civil disobedience protests against GOP rollbacks of progressive laws in the state. At their height in 2014, the protests drew an estimated 80,000 people to Raleigh and inspired similar demonstrations nationwide.
Monday’s turnout couldn’t rival the Moral Mondays movement at its peak, but protestors hope that the demonstration will encourage the House to reconsider the override.
The crowd included spiritual leaders from across the state, university students, retired couples, and children in strollers. Speakers from Western N. C. traveled to Raleigh by bus to share stories of loved ones suffering in the wake of the hurricane.
“I have run out of adjectives to describe the devastation for you,” said Vicki Meath, director of Just Economics in Asheville. “It is painful to live through the worst disaster in North Carolina’s recorded history.”
“Then, to have our pain and devastation used as a front for a bill that does not deliver the needed aid to my community, but rather subverts our democracy as a power grab and ignores the will of the people,” she continued. “That is a slap in the face to Western North Carolina.”
Jen Hampton, an organizer with Just Economics and Asheville Food and Beverage United, recounted the story of a single mother in her union facing eviction after Hurricane Helene destroyed her livelihood.
“She is likely to be served an eviction notice this week and will be living in a car with her seven-year-old daughter by Christmas,” she said. “This little western North Carolina family was doing fine before Helene. Now, this mother is struggling, trying to get warm sleeping bags so her child doesn’t freeze to death.”
Barber said that his organization, Repairers of the Breach, would pledge $25,000 to struggling families like the one Hampton described.
“Woe unto you who legislate evil, rob the poor of their rights, and make women and children your prey,” Barber said. “I fear for you.”
Protesters cheered the speakers on, waving signs into the air. Emily Holloway of Fuquay-Varina carried a homemade, painted sign with the words “Veto, we have the power” atop an American flag. She hopes the protest will help raise awareness about the bill.
“So many people don’t have a clue what’s in the bill,” Holloway said. “When I started reading, I was shocked. So we do what we can. We use our voice.”
Maple Osterbrink, a 70-year-old Chapel Hill resident and community activist, carried a large duck head and a sign attached to her stomach that read, “Don’t Duck Us.” Harry Taylor, who commuted from Charlotte to Raleigh, wore a backpack carrying a five-foot tall inflatable puppet and toilet seat that read “Flush Gerrymander.” Taylor is a Moral Mondays veteran—he attended the early rallies in 2013 and has attended six since.
As for the toilet seat? “You’ve got to capture people somehow, and get them to think,” he said. “People don’t read books, so this is how I get people’s attention.”
Following an hour of impassioned speeches, protesters signed letters addressed to the N.C. General Assembly. They marched the letters over from the Capitol to the General Assembly and delivered them in a heap in front of the building gates.
As the protestors shone multicolored flashlights into the legislative building, leaders emphasized the importance of the impending vote.
“I need to see you all back here on Wednesday at 10:30 to set it off again,” said Sangria Noble, a community organizer with Repairers of the Breach. “Shine a light on them.”
The House is scheduled to consider the SB 382 override on Wednesday.
Above: Rev. William Barber led protests in Raleigh on Monday ahead of a vote in the legislature this Wednesday. Photos by Kulsoom Rizavi — The 9th Street Journal
