Media Contact:
Steve Hartsoe
steve.hartsoe@duke.edu
Summary: Monday is the 10th anniversary of a movement known as “Moral Monday,” during which thousands protested against a more right-leaning agenda at the North Carolina General Assembly. A “Recommitment Rally” was scheduled for Monday at the state capitol to mark the anniversary. The comments below from Duke University historian Nancy MacLean are available to use in your coverage.
Quotes:
“In 2010, the far right targeted North Carolina as a state where they could implement their radical agenda, from ending Wake County schools’ successful desegregation program to implementing extreme gerrymandering, voter suppression, measures toward school privatization and more,” says Nancy MacLean, a professor of history and public policy at Duke University, whose scholarship focuses on the role of social movements in changing American culture and public policy.
“The Moral Monday movement shined a powerful light on how this would harm our state and its people. But for its efforts, North Carolina would likely have had a Republican governor during the pandemic, which would have made it much more deadly, as we can see from other states in our region where the MAGA wing of that party had the governorship as well as both houses of the legislature.”
“The timing of this 10 anniversary is uncanny: Just as Republicans in the General Assembly have gained the ability to override Gov. Cooper’s veto to impose an agenda of extreme abortion restriction, efforts to undermine the integrity of our flagship state university, curbs on the freedom of teachers to teach and of students to learn honest history (my field) and more. I hope this gathering will alert our state to the need to pay attention before it is too late to alter course.”
Bio:
Nancy MacLean is a professor of history and public policy. MacLean’s scholarship focuses on the role of social movements in changing American culture and public policy. Her 2018 book, “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America,” was described by Booklist as “perhaps the best explanation to date of the roots of the political divide that threatens to irrevocably alter American government.”
For additional comment, contact Nancy MacLean at:
nancy.maclean@duke.edu
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