I thought Roy Cooper was a good guy. When I moved to North Carolina, I learned there were two groups of politicians — ones who would move North Carolina forward and those who would take us back.
I want a Democrat in office, but it’s wrong to support Roy Cooper just because he’s a well-known Democrat.
My father moved our family here when I was starting high school, and I was desperate to move back north as soon as possible. I grew up in Rochester, New York, a liberal bubble.
For the first year that I lived here, North Carolina was just a place I’d inhabit for four years before moving back north for college.
By the time I graduated high school, I was head over heels. That summer I took the family Subaru and drove from Charlotte to Raleigh for the Moral Monday protests. These protests are where I learned about the big issues impacting North Carolina. Speakers at Moral Monday addressed immigration rights, teacher pay, voting rights and access to health care. I realized North Carolina was a place I wanted to fight for.
While listening to speeches and meeting other activists, I learned that there were those who were holding North Carolina back, like Gov. Pat McCrory, and those who could help us move forward: unions, religious groups, activist groups and sometimes politicans.
One of the politicians I heard about was Roy Cooper. We all expected he would run for governor, and at the time the prospect was exciting. When he announced his candidacy, I signed up for his email list and thought about volunteering for his campaign.
I still love North Carolina’s progressive movement, but I no longer put my hope and trust in Roy Cooper. Yes, he is a Democrat whose goal is to unseat a governor whose policies I believe are bad. But North Carolinians who have been arrested for acts of civil disobedience, who have protested police brutality across the state, who have fought to keep abortion clinics open, deserve a better candidate than Roy Cooper.
Cooper is largely in support of McCrory’s disgusting position on barring refugees. I won’t vote for a candidate who wants to press “pause” on allowing people into North Carolina who are fleeing terror and violence.
