The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is circulating a petition with hopes that the new leadership in Raleigh will govern moderately in the face of extremist political influences in the state. The petitions will be delivered later this month to the leadership of both parties in the N.C. General Assembly and the governor by the N.C. NAACP and members of the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People’s Assembly Coalition.

The petition reads, in part:

“We believe in order to fulfill this constitutional mandate, to rule ‘for the good of the whole,’ our leaders must commit themselves to the following nonpartisan values: 1) Economic sustainability, addressing poverty, full employment, living wages, disparate unemployment and labor rights, affordable housing, targeted empowerment zones and fair tax reform; 2) educational equality – every child deserves a high-quality, well-funded, constitutional, diverse public education – and access to community colleges and universities; 3) health care for all and ensuring access to Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and providing environmental protection; 4) addressing the continuing inequalities in the criminal justice system for black, brown and poor white people; and 5) protecting, defending and expanding voting rights for all people.

Persons wishing to sign on to the petition can click on bit.ly/118nGnU

Click on bit.ly/V3e2zN for the full text of this petition.

The Rev. William J. Barber

Durham

The writer is the president of the N.C. NAACP.