Governor vetoes anti-protest bill and anti-truth bill GOP is calling strike at critical race theory – By Lauren Floyd (Daily Kos) / Sept 14 2021
As a resident of Georgia, I’ll take any reminder I can get that there are still governors in the South who actually aim to serve the people. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper served just the jolt of optimism I needed in vetoing two pieces of legislation that unfortunately made it to his desk, but fortunately not passed it. With HB 805, North Carolina Republicans attempted to make the state the 37th in a list of 36 states that have passed anti-protest legislation, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks such legislation. The state bill left the door open for police to further criminalize protest and attach felony charges to protesters who “engage” in a riot that leads to death, serious bodily injury, or property damage, according to a summary of the bill.
“People who commit crimes during riots and at other times should be prosecuted and our laws provide for that, but this legislation is unnecessary and is intended to intimidate and deter people from exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest,” Cooper said in a statement released on Friday. Another North Carolina bill, HB 324, was aimed at restricting public school teachers from teaching the truth: that race and sex historically and currently impact a person’s experience in this country.
“The legislature should be focused on supporting teachers, helping students recover lost learning, and investing in our public schools,” Cooper said in a news release. “Instead, this bill pushes calculated, conspiracy-laden politics into public education.”
The bill is yet another attempt by Republican legislators to further whitewash history instruction in schools. Acting under the guise of protesting critical race theory, the crafters of thoughtless legislation making its way through the country seldom actually even mention critical race theory by name. They opt for broader language banning, for example, “the concept that a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist” or “that all Americans are not created equal.” I don’t want to say if you’re Black you should be rolling your eyes, but I’m Black, the descendant of those once legally deemed three-fifths of a person. So, yeah, I’m rolling my eyes.
