On September 29, about 50 moral activists and leaders gathered with Repairers of the Breach in Raleigh to call out North Carolina’s Congress members who are refusing to re-open the federal government and standing against restoring funds to Medicaid and SNAP benefits.
Participants also called on Gov. Josh Stein to veto the so-called crime bill that increases the chances innocent people will be put to death by limiting appeals and speeding up the timeline. It also tightens bail rules, making it more difficult for poor and low-wage people to await trial outside of jail. Nothing in the law would have prevented the death of the woman for whom the bill was named.
Among the speakers were a young man with severe disabilities who could land in an institution if his Medicaid services are cut, the mother of a young man who died because he lacked insurance and a man who was wrongly convicted and spent 14 years on Death Row.
Participants walked the four blocks to the building that houses Sen. Ted Budd’s local office. The door to the building was locked and the people were denied entry. Rather than turn away, they chanted, sang, and prayed before dispersing.A week later, the federal government is still shut down and Gov. Stein has signed the crime bill into law.
We will not be silent!
– Leslie Boyd, Western Circle NCPPC
Photos and video courtesy of Franklin Golden
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