NAACP President Rev. William Barber and others, arrested following a protest of the state budget

State NAACP president arrested in N.C. House protest
Wednesday, May 25 2011, 9:06 am
Associated Press
RALEIGH (AP) — The president of North Carolina's NAACP and six other demonstrators were arrested Tuesday after some of them disrupted a session of the state House of Representatives shortly before a rally attacking the chamber's proposed budget.

The Rev. William Barber was briefly detained in the legislative building before being led outside in handcuffs by police officers. The NAACP said that those arrested with Barber included the state NAACP's second vice president, the Rev. Curtis Gatewood; and Kojo Nantambu, the leader of the organization's Charlotte chapter.

The demonstrators were taken to the Wake County Public Safety Center to be booked on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing, according to General Assembly Police Chief Jeff Weaver.

The episode began Tuesday afternoon during a House floor session on an unrelated bill, when protesters stood in the gallery and began shouting at the lawmakers. A police escort removed them from the gallery, and some of the demonstrators began chanting "Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God." The words are paraphrased from a verse in the biblical book of Micah.

The protesters are unhappy with a number of legislative actions this year, but the passage of the House budget bill most provoked their ire. The NAACP and affiliated groups charge that the cuts in the proposed spending plan will disproportionately hurt poor and middle class North Carolinians.

Barber said he's been trying to meet with House Speaker Thom Tillis to discuss the proposal, but to no avail.

After Tillis ordered the men removed from the gallery, he told the assembled lawmakers he had agreed to meet with the demonstrators, but that the group had canceled. About an hour later, Tillis and Barber inadvertently came face-to-face as the civil rights leader was being led away in cuffs and the Mecklenburg County Republican was coming down an adjacent flight of stairs.

"When I get a respectful request, I'll be happy to meet with them," Tillis told reporters and demonstrators. "When they treat my House with respect."

As Tillis walked away from the protesters, Barber called after him, "Don't run from the people, Mr. Speaker!"

"We don't have to do this," Barber said, shortly before being led into an elevator by police. "We can be better than this as a state."

The rally went on without Barber and the others, with over 100 people gathering in an auditorium to hear speakers denounce the proposed House budget and call on lawmakers not to cut education funding, along with airing other concerns.


reported by the Star. Footage by Wesley Morris, Beloved Community

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