Let’s face it, North Carolina is a hot mess. It’s been a political quagmire for a while now, but what went on last week was utter bullshit. First the GOP legislature kneecapped incoming Democratic Governor Roy Cooper before he even takes the oath of office. Cooper is hinting that there may be court challenges to the constitutionality of the laws, but that will take time to file and sort out. And then they put the cherry on the sundae in a cowardly and craven move to back out of an agreement to get rid of HB2 after Charlotte had already done their part of the bargain.
How in the hell can they get away with this? Two simple words, “Super Majorities”. The GOP has a super majority in both chambers of the legislature, so they can ram through anything they like, and even if the Governor vetoes it, they have the necessary majorities to simply override it and make it a law anyway. Roy Cooper would have been on a short, mostly ineffective tether even if the legislature hadn’t gone through their vengeful, sour grapes power grab on his authority.
But there is hope, on two fronts. First of all, as reported in SALON a federal court ordered the legislature to redraw 28 legislative districts in both houses as having been gerrymandered with “almost surgical precision” to minimize minority voters, and to have it done by March 15th. This has already been appealed to SCOTUS, where a 4-4 likely deadlock would leave the lower court ruling standing. The special elections are supposed to be held in either August or September.
Look, I don’t live in North Carolina, so I don’t know the exact split in the legislature, but I’m making an educated guess that even a clean sweep in the lower house would not give us a majority, although it might in the Senate. But what we can do is to win enough seats to get rid of the Super Majority in at least one if not both houses. That will give Governor Cooper a way to put the brakes on some of the revolting shit that the legislature is ramming down the throats of the people of North Carolina. And it will lighten the load to finish the job and flip the state legislature in 2018. We have to focus early, and stay focused on winning as many of those races as possible.
But there’s something we can do right now, starting today, and that’s to put the local pressure on, and keep this whole thing in the spotlight. The disastrous “Bathroom Law” has already cost North Carolina hundreds of millions of dollars. The Reverend Dr. William Barber has done a magnificent job with the “Moral Mondays” movement, bringing national attention to the inequalities and injustices going on in North Carolina. We desperately need those to continue, and to expand and get even bigger to keep the national pressure on.
But there is something we can all do, even if we don’t live in North Carolina. Everybody knows that Republicans are extremely sensitive to big business, they are among the biggest contributors to the GOP. A few days ago, DocDawg put out a brilliant DIARY where he listed more than 20 brands that are centered in North Carolina. Some of them actually produce there, some only have their corporate headquarters there. Screw ‘em all. Reverend Barber is already preparing to call for a NAACP boycott of North Carolina, let’s take that one step further.
Please go to that diary and take a look at the list of companies. Almost all if not all of them make products you can get from someone else. Stop buying those brands, wherever you live, and then go on social media and announce what you’re doing and invite others to join you nationwide. Go to the companies websites, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds and tell them what you’re doing. Companies are very sensitive to social media, especially on their own feeds, not only is it a gauge of public opinion, but other people can read what’s posted on their pages. Hold their feet to the fire.
And I’m sorry, but I don’t want to hear any of that “But they have nothing to do with it” shit. These companies are not in North Carolina for the mild temperatures and sporadic hurricanes. They are there for the “business friendly” culture provided by the government of North Carolina. Starting in the 1960’s, but peaking in the 1980’s, the pressure mounted, and then reached the boiling point for individuals and companies to divest their business interests in and stop buying krugerrands, South African gold coins in protest of the nations apartheid policies. Those people were protesting for basic human and civil rights, which is exactly what the people of North Carolina are doing right now. It’s time to use the same tactics that worked way back then.
North Carolina is in a buttload of pain right now politically, but it’s a situation that can be remedied. Keep an eye on the upcoming NC special elections this fall, and then mobilize, and diary the hell out of those races to start to minimize and correct the damage. Boycott businesses that produce goods in or are headquartered in North Carolina, and tell them exactly why you’re doing it. Those companies have influence in North Carolina, let’s use it for the citizens benefit for once. We have a long field to hoe, and North Carolina is as good of a place as any to start getting our mojo back again.
Thanks as always for reading, you are all the wind beneath my wings!