Forward Together movement picks up pace of resistance efforts

The Forward Together movement is beginning another summer of demonstrations opposing the agenda of North Carolina’s state leadership.

Since 2013, the movement has pushed against the Republican-led N.C. General Assembly and its legislation through Moral Monday protests across the state.

The Rev. William Barber II, the president of N.C. chapter of the NAACP, said the coming months will continue that fight.

Already this summer, three events were held to rally around continued issues — like access to health care, education, voter rights and economic justice.

Barber said this summer they will focus on registering voters for 2016, supporting a court case in July against voter ID laws and traveling to localities to induct legislators into the “Hall of Shame.”

In the past two years, thousands of protestors have demanded change at Moral Monday events in Raleigh and other N.C. cities.

It is the movement’s focus on morality that Barber said makes the movement attractive to many North Carolinians.

For Kaori Sueyoshi, a recent UNC graduate, her participation was fueled by discontent with voter ID laws.

Since her parents are Japanese immigrants, Sueyoshi is the only person who can vote in her family.

“I take the right to vote very seriously. I do not take it lightly,” she said. “It can not be tolerated when voting rights are stripped away.”

Dinesh McCoy, another recent UNC graduate and former Campus Y co-president, participated in Moral Monday events over the past two years. McCoy said he was first moved to action as a student because of the lack of state support for higher education institutions like UNC.

Barber said he has seen multiple successes since 2013. He said Moral Monday-inspired movements have spread to about 15 other states — as part of what he calls a “third Reconstruction” in the country.

Barber said when people compare the priorities of both the Forward Together movement and the General Assembly, they find the movement’s goals ones of hope and inclusivity.

“People are waking up. They’re seeing the damage that’s being done by this extreme agenda,” he said.

As the movement moves forward, it faces challenges in making tangible impacts on N.C. policies.

To Sueyoshi, one of its biggest challenges has been mobilizing those that are most directly affected by policies.

Sueyoshi was arrested in a march last summer in Winston-Salem but said that sacrifice might be more risky for others.

“They don’t have the means to get arrested. That’s a challenge when you want to uplift the people who are being affected the most,” she said.

Barber said getting people to see the movement as nonpartisan activists has been difficult.

“We’re not just fussing because the Republicans happen to be in office. We’ve had Republicans that have gone to jail with us,” he said.

To Sueyoshi, the movement’s greatest strength is its resiliency.

“From day one, they were fighting against something bigger than them — power structures that they’ve tried to change before,” Sueyoshi said.

“The fact that it’s still ongoing and building and growing — that process alone goes to show their strength.”

state@dailytarheel.com