Speakers at Tuesday's demonstration organized by the North Carolina chapter of the Poor People's Campaign had a unifying message, repeated in call and response with the assembled group: "Forward together, not one step back."
The Poor People's Campaign, founded by Rev. William Barber of North Carolina, has launched a mobilization effort in 31 states to boost turnout among voters who support progressive policies, such as raising the minimum wage, increasing funding for public school and early childhood education, and protecting ballot access.
"Our society is, unfortunately, built upon the wealthy making their wealth off of the backs of the poor," the Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler, Jr., director of the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation and a professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, told WUNC after Tuesday's rally. "And this is something that we've got to change."
Demonstrators railed against legislative policies backed by the North Carolina General Assembly's Republican majority, including cuts to the corporate income tax rate while opposing a minimum wage increase and election law changes, such as the elimination of a grace period for counting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day.
The voter mobilization effort is supposed to culminate in a day of nationally-coordinated marches on state capitals, including in Raleigh, on Saturday, March 2, the last day of in-person, early voting for the primaries in North Carolina.
Progressive groups are not alone in trying to boost voter turnout this year. Last year, Republicans launched their "Bank Your Vote" campaign, to encourage GOP-leaning voters to cast ballots by mail and at in-person, early voting sites.
